Dublin - New Year 2007

YEAH!!!!!!! Happy New Year everybody, welcome to 2007.

I'm sitting in an Internet cafe in Dublin - lubricated with Guiness and listening to "Richard My Brother" which I will have available for download soon - you know - life could be worse!!! The vacation is going superbly - so many cultures to dip into - had a wonderful afternoon listening to music at Oliver St. John Gogarty's in the Temple Bar - Charlotte would have loved it. Guitar, Whistle and Flute - beautiful stuff - all very similar but wonderful to listen to live.

Live music is such an inspiring experience to me - it makes me want to go and sit at a piano and write - I'm thinking in 6/8 and 3/4 time - movement, green grass and rolling hills - oh and the rain!!! Britain and Ireland are such extremes when compared against California - the weather is cold, the rain freezing and the wind biting - but the pints and the hospitality seem all the warmer for it.....

Looking forward to 2007 - can't wait actually -

We wish you all a wonderful and happy new year

Andrew

Scotland

It's 10:30 pm and tomorrow we leave for Dublin - it is unlikely that I will get to a computer to post before the new year - so - I wanted to leave a couple of thoughts in 2006 and write our intent for 2007:

For 2007 - we strive to be happy - to smile a lot, to laugh often and to deal with hardship courageously.

It’s been a crazy year – it has been the year that music2work2 actually came into being – the website – the music – everything. At this point we have over 100 people on our mailing list that we don’t know – and we are seriously excited about this.

I cannot wait for 2007 – I, Andrew, cannot imagine anything better that I would want to be doing with my time – I am full of hope and optimism for the future. I love the music that is coming out, I love the idea of “music2”, I love working with Charlotte, …it is just a dream project for me and I hope that my enthusiasm, energy, delight and passion is reflected in the music.

2006 has been a year of building, it has been a year of struggle, of focus and of course, many, many questions. If you haven’t yet registered at www.kelli.com, please do so, I love the music there and it will be a huge part of my life next year.

None of this would exist without Charlotte – the music would, but this whole entity: the new sessions, the blog – the business – would not exist. I cannot thank her enough for her belief in this music, this whole idea and of course – in me! ;-) Thank you Charlotte – and btw – you’re not allowed to reply to this one ;-)

We both wish you a happy, healthy and harmonious 2007.

Paul

Paul, one of the newer sessions on music2work2.com, I find to be unique from most of the other musical pieces – there is a dramatic change in tempo and style in the latter parts of the piece, and the composer has said that there is space left in the session where he plans to add another voice. The slow, melodic beginning of this session seems to me to be questioning; it evokes an image of searching for an answer, a meaning. I think times of intense emotions often lead to questioning, and perhaps I hear this in the piece because of the very emotional time I have been going through lately.

The second half of the session has a different rhythm and feel to it. This part seems to be suggestive of the answer or understanding that was being searched for in the preceding parts. It is upbeat, indicating the joy of understanding or the revelation that has come...... or maybe that the answer is a positive one. It leaves me with the feeling that whatever is being questioned turns out ok.

I am anxious to hear the additions to this session that will be made. I wonder if the addition will change the way I am hearing this piece. Perhaps by that time, I will be in a different place emotionally, and will find out exactly how much of a part my own feelings have played in the way I hear it and the images it evokes.