When I first started thinking about moving from the “North Country” in upper upstate New York, about 65 miles south from the Canada border, I was thinking some about how sedentary my life had become. About how “boring” and free from challenge each day offered as I climbed out of bed each morning destined to the same old routine, rarely deviating from the rut. Mary felt pretty much the same. She had mentioned several times that it was the longest she’d ever stayed in one place. Her life...

Music is organized auditory information. Hearing music is different than listening to music. To truly enjoy music, one has to listen to it; to pay attention to it. Focusing attention to our selected music deepens our concentration on listening. We begin our listening experience by calling our sensory elements into play. Our pleasure is excited by the familiar structure of Bluegrass chords on the guitar, or the incessant recurring dominant notes of the banjo rolls. Tension begins to build in our...

Here's a picture of my Bluegrass Music Recording Studio When I operated it in Jay, NY. Much has been sold and some put in storage so that I could move down to eastern TN and get "serious" with my banjo. I love it here.

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I had a blast pickin' in Unicoi on Saturday afternoon for an ice cream social. Later I picked for several hours in Rheatown at the store. It was a busy pickin' Saturday. Here are some pictures Mary took during the day.

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Whether its performing on stage in front of a live audience or practicing your bluegrass instrument in the privacy of your own home, concentration is a very important component of music making.

Focusing one's attention completely, to the exclusion of most everything else is an important dimension of playing a musical instrument or singing if one hopes to enjoy the optimum experience that music might offer. Rejecting all irrelevant information going on around one while pickin' certainly...