Goodbye 2020!

Let's play a game. Make a list of 10 musical adventures that would inspire you to get busy, get moving, and stay at it. Then pick one from the list and get going.

My 86 year old father just signed up for cello lessons, the first since high school. They are going well. He can barely speak of anything else. He called up the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and asked for a recommendation. He got one.  

My wife, who will be retired when this is published, just completed her first violin exam at the Royal Conservatory of Music. It was a big success. She could barely wait to start the next level. See this link for a full description. My first violin exam - David Story Online Toronto Piano Teacher .

In the reality series "Travels With My Father, "daddy" is 80 and he's game. 

So, if you are healthy enough to move, get moving I say. 

I'm off to practice, 

​David

So much proverbial ink has been spilled on the topic of motivation and motivating the unmotivated.

• intrinsic motivation: from within
• extrinsic motivation: from without
• compulsion: at the point of a gun, a subset of extrinsic motivation. Recall Hollywood drill sergeants 

​"Intrinsic motivation is motivation that is animated by personal enjoyment, interest, or pleasure. As Deci et al. (1999) observe, “intrinsic motivation energizes and sustains activities through the spontaneous satisfactions inherent in effective volitional action."
Author: Emily R Lai
Cited by: 83
Publish Year: 2011

This is an interesting article for all musicians and teachers. Some of the research driven theories covered include the role self-belief or " self-efficacy plays in success. Self-efficacy is the “judgments of how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations”.

And, the role of the desire to achieve an end for it's own reasons and the desire to impress, or draw favorable attention to one's self.  As stated in the article, "mastery goals" or "performance goals". Intrinsic and extrinsic.

Regardless of the type of or nobility of the the desire, the strength of the desire leads to action or "volition".  In other words getting off one's butt and moving forward in the belief it is possible.

​David
 

Louis Armstrong is reported to have remarked, "musicians don't retire, people just stop calling". Then we move into community groups of various sorts. Rarely do we hang up the horn completely. 

Over the last decade, as a both pianist and drummer, I have played in:

1. community concert bands
2. community big bands
3. community trad bands
4. avant-garde improvisation groups large and small
5. pub pop trios
6. weekend warrior recording sessions 
7. basement bands of all sorts
8. community jazz jams in pubs around the world, including a few famous jazz haunts
9. oodles of online recordings
10. an occasional "arts" concert
11. classical duos
12. jammed trad Scottish music in Scotland
13. community blues band
14. solo in my basement
15. jazz duos

In these settings I have met countless career musicians. Long after the roar of the crowd has dimmed, we are still at it: playing, jamming, practicing, and swapping tall tales.

We the musicians. 

Cheers, 

David