Bowing

I bought another new bow . . . Yes, I did . . . A carbon-fiber one. Very pretty. Snakewood frog, sterling silver hardware, very pretty white abalone. It's a beautiful thing.

And it got me thinking about the right hand again. And I certainly don't mean to be biased against any lefties out there - so let me just say by "right hand" I mean the hand that generates the sound by plucking or bowing. I guess I will always be obsessed with the right-hand part of playing, the textural side of technique. The right hand is responsible for more than half the tone. You can have an incredible violin, but if you have a bad bow, you're going to sound bad. You can have a so-so violin, but if you play it with a fantastic bow, you'll sound great.

Same with the guitar - you can know all the chords in the world, but if you can't keep time, or if you play the wrong strings when you strum, you'll sound awful. Likewise, if you approach a so-so guitar with command and confidence, it'll sound like a good guitar, but if you play timidly, even a super nice guitar will sound thin and hollow.

The left hand is the intellectual, mathematical part of playing, the knowing of the scales and chords, which are like equations and formulas. The right hand is the emotional part of playing, the painter daubing notes of color. We say great players draw or pull or coax notes from their instruments, which are emotional, tactile, verbal things, and have everything to do with the way great players use their right hands.

In some traditional kinds of Witchcraft, the left hand is the receptive or invoking hand, while the right hand is the sending or evoking hand, the hand that throws the fireball, so to speak. The left hand reaches out into the Universe for the knowledge, energy, or power needed, and the right hand puts that energy into action once it has been imbued with the Witch's will. The musician uses the left hand to make the intellectual decision about which notes to play, and uses the right hand to send those notes out into the world.

May your right hand know what your left hand is doing . . .

Music and therapy

Sometimes I think of what I do as a healing practice rather than a creative one. Especially teaching lessons. Lessons are by their very nature therapeutic. When you play a musical instrument, you engage both sides of the brain, release endorphins, stimulate deep learning centers, awaken sleeping senses . . . And you can learn so much about who you and how you learn. Helping people navigate those processes can be beautiful or terrifying, brilliant or frustrating, rewarding or exhausting. Depends on the student.

I almost never get frustrated with students unless they don't want to learn. I have every kind of student from whizz-bangs to those who struggle mightily. And it seems that the ones who really struggle, who are really fighting hard to do this, are the ones who are the most engaged--because they are fighting for what they truly love and desire to do. I would rather teach 100 students with Down Syndrome, or senior citizens who have never even picked up an instrument, or autistic students who don't talk to me and never look me in the eye but play with such feeling, than five students who have the capacity to learn it easily but don't care whether they learn it or not.

Desire is the key. Desire to do it, willingness to try, and commitment to practice. My challenged students will probably never play Carnegie Hall, but for me, every baby step they take feels exhilarating. I don't care how long it takes to learn one thing--I don't care if they never memorize a single song--because the most important thing to them is the joy they feel making music, and that's what music is all about.

Furious Activity

This winter sucked. And it sent me so far down a black hole I didn't even know where out was . . . I am not somebody that gets dysfunctionally depressed, but holy crap. I was in trouble.

Fortunately, I'm not someone who lets dysfunction stand in the way of a good time, so . . . I'm back. With a lot of help from my partner and a few kindly but no-nonsense spirit guides, I have recovered. Whew.

"What's happening?" you may well ask. Lots . . . First of all, stay tuned for the launch of gayladrake.com - coming soon to a browser near you! The Aunt G and the Stone City Nephews record is back on track, Pete is mixing like a madman, and we're going to aim for late-spring/early-summer release. Look for the fundraising campaign to begin very soon. The amazing John Rathje has some outstanding t-shirt designs, and a beautiful RECORD cover - YES! VINYL!!! - to entice you to help an auntie out. Can't wait.

I've taken the winter off from gigging, so I'm ramping that back up as well. Natalie Brown and I played at Uptown Bill's Coffeehouse in Iowa City last weekend, and WOW what a fabulous gig that was! Packed house, wonderfully attentive audience, dancing in chairs . . . It was incredible. Next I'm with my old friend Dan Johnson at the NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids, March 20, 5 to 7:45PM - which is, appropriately enough, the first day of spring, and certainly there needs to be music! Then March 28 I'll be at Mendoza Wine and Music in downtown Coralville from 8-10, and on April 3 at the ass-crack of dawn I am getting in my car and heading for Fort Collins, CO, to play some music to support my dear friend Kevin Houchin's gallery opening on April 4, and to do a riotously fun house concert on April 5. Then back home April 6 to celebrate my son's 22nd birthday. April 19 Johnson and I are at Cafe Paradiso in Fairfield.

So hang tight, stick around, kick back . . . I'll keep you posted on everything. Life is good!