Bayside Middle School made a big deal out of Eight Grade Graduation. I remember my dad had just gotten a new car; a very light yellow four-door sedan with tan leather interior. Although he had owned it just a few short weeks it already held his scent, a unique alchemy of leather, freshly hewn grass [...]
I have few clear recollections of my early years. But one day I recently remembered with remarkable clarity is the day I learned to swing by myself. I must have been around four years old. One thing that was wonderful about my childhood was the physical location of where it took place. We had [...]
One of my musician friends has perfect pitch. I met him on the American Idol tour two years ago and talked to him about it. Perfect pitch is the ability to identify a pitch simply by hearing it. It’s a great party trick; while someone is moaning about a particular roll in backgammon, for [...]
Remember show and tell? One thing I loved to bring to show and tell year after year was one of the small pieces of the Kitty Hawk fabric that had been divvied up to the members of the Orville Wright’s estate. We had two small pieces that were mounted on certificates of authenticity and [...]
I have this vague geometric model in my head that represents in an abstract way the return home from any destination. I see the trip back as passing through a funnel that gets increasingly narrower as I approach Milwaukee. The actual plane that lands in Milwaukee is the neck of that funnel and contains [...]
It was a sound I had to have. I remember hearing it for the first time in songs like Spyro Gyra’s Morning Dance and Catching the Sun. By this time, I was already a fairly accomplished trumpet player and enjoying the instantaneous popularity only afforded to those kids who carted over-sized instrument cases on [...]
When something is sacred it is said to be “regarded with reverence” and “properly immune to interference.” We all consider certain things in our lives to be sacred; from the objectively frivolous but subjectively important to relationships with our children, to the hallowed promises of God. I recently heard Emerson misquoted “consistency is the [...]
In a rare occurrence, the four Konnor kids are gathered here around my dad’s bed. The nurses and doctors have told us to expect dad to die in the next day or two, so we’ve all silently agreed that we need to stay here, or probably more accurately to not leave at least for [...]
Whenever I have the opportunity to visit an art museum I haven’t seen before I generally head to the Impressionists. The National Gallery is a really serious museum with a wonderful collection of art that spans many, if not all of the major periods of art. This is a real contrast to the art [...]
After working though Chloe’s piano materials and tucking her into bed, I came back down here to the piano to work on a couple things I’ve started. I’ve been working on one song in G minor. Written music has two major categories, major and minor. Major and minor refer to the key in which [...]
