It's funny how music catalogs so well where I am, where I've been, or even where I'm headed.  In this season of job interviews, of sentimental doors closing and exciting new doors opening, there is so much about which I could write (& I likely will at some point).  But for now I'll leave you with a few songs (recorded iPhone-style).  New & upbeat diddlies are on the way, of course--how can one *not* feel inspired by all this sunshine we've been having as of late? 

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>>>Ukulele bits
Given that my tenor uke had been gathering some dust, I decided to break it out at the end of January for a test-run cover one evening.  Because everyone sits around playing ukuleles in their living room, right??  (Don't answer that.)

This piece is one that keeps coming back to me this year.  It's by an artist named Priscilla Ahn, and when she sings she absolutely gives me chills.  (I've recorded it since for piano, but figured I'd share this one first...as both a starting place, and something a bit more akin to the original work.)  I only hope to one day be as masterful on the guitar as she is!  Not to mention, branch out into some lesser-used instruments:  her incorporation of harmonica in the original "Dream" is stunning, for instance!

Please pardon the apparent frog in my throat that day.  When I get the piano version up, I'll post it, too (really want to do her song a little better justice!):

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>>>And now on to something different:  PIANO bits (slightly more polished than the above, thank goodness!):
These remaining two songs were recorded a little over a month ago. I'd been asked to lead the music for a retreat called Awakenings--one that has been very near and dear to my heart since I first attended in 2004.  And after all the retreat attendees and fellow staff had gone to sleep, I decided to sneak away into Fr. Bill's old parish across the street for some good music saturation time.  For the longest time, I'd been feeling a bit far away from the whole "faith" thing, but thanks to a good dousing that weekend, I plugged right back in to where I needed to be.  Plus, it was really just the perfect way to bid farewell to place that had long grown to be a part of me.  I think it really hit me when I was playing this next song, hence the couple "vocal breaks" toward the end...(I know you are all sooooo thrown off by my intimidating rough exterior, but I have my moments now and then. )

The following recording is my mom's favorite song of the church-esque repertoire.  After hearing it on a retreat I just HAD to show it to the band I started back at my home parish, so this clip is mostly for her.    It's by Adam Bitter, a quite-talented music minister from Chesterfield:

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The final piano snippet's a bit more solemn sounding, but since I hadn't had the opportunity to make a proper-ish solo take of Markéta Irglová's "The Hill" yet (my favorite song from the film, Once), I figured it was the perfect time to give it a shot:



Stumbling upon these again...I can't even convey amazing it felt playing around in that empty cathedral with these SOARING ceilings that made every sound almost tangible in a sense.  (I admittedly played random songs in there so late that it was almost dawn by the time I left, whoops!)  But I know I can't even recall the last time I found a place with better acoustics--and it's now one of the more lovely parishes I've ever seen, freshly renovated.  All it really needs now is a real piano!  Pretty sure I'm going to have to find an excuse to make it back there one day.

...More later.  Back to the books!

I haven't been able to play with my old band at school in a while, and we're doing a gig for a bunch of high school kids this evening, so we decided to whip out an iPhone to record ourselves sans sound system during practice.  This is the recording that was left behind.  Our voices were basically squeaks by this point and our fingers and strings tired (which only contributed to my buzzing guitar which was waaaaaay too close to the speaker to sounds normal), but if I listen to this one with headphones, it was still a fun snapshot of the how jam sessions can just...take you over and take you somewhere else entirely.

Oh music, you're too great.

In other news--
Tomorrow I teach my last day of my first class!  It's so cool to see folks grow like that in their writing.  If this was just one semester for them, who knows what else they can all accomplish in their college years to come!

Happy December to you all,
dj