Frank O'Connor

I want to share with you the music of one of our new MySpace friends. Frank O'Connor is originally from Ireland but now located in San Francisco, California. His music is a reflection of his heritage - Celtic/Ambient.

Frank O'Connor also refers to his music as "Healing and Easy Listening," so shares the premise on which Music 2 Work 2 is based - - Music is good for you. The tin whistle gives a hauntingly beautiful sound to his music.

There are three selections of his music available to hear on his MySpace page. My favorite of the three is The Rainbow Song, although I have to admit Amhrain Do Rae Son... is a close second. I would recommend checking out this lovely music for yourself.

Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman is not only one of our MySpace friends, but also an influence of Music 2 Work 2. Music 2 Work 2 sessions are often compared to his music.

Michael Nyman's music is in the classical genre. Of the four selections available on his MySpace page, two are vocal pieces, two instrumental. I especially like the instrumental pieces, "Chasing Sheep" being my favorite. It has an almost regal sound about it. This piece reminds me of Music 2 Work 2's Arrival in that they both evoke the image of the heralding of a great event.

Many of the musical artists and bands found on MySpace.com attribute Michael Nyman as being an influence on their work.

This has been a sad day. My friend and partner in Music 2 Work 2 has lost Lola, one of his dogs. She had an illness from which she could not recover. She was a sweet, loving little dog. I know she was a source of joy for her family and they loved her very much.

Caring about people, having friends, means that when they are hurting, you hurt also. It is a helpless feeling to watch friends in pain from a loss, knowing that no words or acts can make the hurt go away. You just hope that their knowing that you care about them and share their pain will somehow help a little.

When I lost my dog, Cassie, about 6 months ago, Andrew gave me the wonderful gift of a piece of music written just for her. I don't have the ability to do anything like that for him; I can only send him and his family love and wishes for comfort and strength during this time of loss.

eTheReal Soul Productions

One of the more unique bands among our MySpace friends is eTheReal Soul Productions. It is a fusion band from Los Angeles. The music is collaborations of different musicians, musical instruments and music styles.

Each of the four musical pieces available on their MySpace page is a different sound. I particularly like Barryesque and Free Flow. Both of these are instrumental pieces, sort of relaxing, chill music. Listening to Free Flow something about it reminds me of Music 2 Work 2's Ex Er Cise.

I really enjoy listening to the different compositions and presentations of the music of our MySpace friends.

You know the kind of day that, when it's over, you realize you were busy all day; you are tired; but you can't see a lot of accomplishments to make you feel good about your day. That is the day that I have had.

I was able to work on MySpace.com for Music 2 Work 2 a little but most of my time was spent "putting out fires." The organization I do volunteer work for seemed to be confronted with one problem after another. Maybe it's the time of year, maybe it's the weather - - whatever it is that causes all the problems to occur at one time has certainly been in full force for the past few days.

I suppose all I can do is hope for calmer, less frustrating, more productive days ahead.

New session

A new session has been added to the Music 2 Work 2 web site. Identification is a commissioned piece for an event concerned with identification.

This session consists of piano and strings. It is a beautiful, slow, relaxing musical piece. The composer's explanation of the thought process and theories used in composing this session is very interesting reading.

You can hear this new session under "Free Music" by registering on the Music 2 Work 2 web site. It's simple to do, and it's free!

Century of Aeroplanes

Most of our MySpace friends have something about them in common with Music 2 Work 2 - the type of music, their influences, their sound, their understanding of the benefits of music. One of our friends whose music I enjoy and have found interesting is Century of Aeroplanes out of Louisville, KY. It is a band made up of 6 members playing piano, violin, electric bass, electric guitar, viola, percussion and double bass.

Their music is in the classical, ambient genre. It is lovely music and is unique in its sound. Of the four selections available on their MySpace page, the two that I like best are Andrea's Windowsill and White Room Sessions 6. Just wanted to share this band with our blog readers. See what you think!

A quick note -

Things are coming along with Music 2 Work 2 - I am still looking for friends on MySpace.com; there will be some new music available on Music 2 Work 2 in the near future; and we are still having new people register on the web site.

If I had written this earlier in the day, it might have been a longer blog. At the present time, I am dealing with a migraine, so just wanted to write a quick note to say that all is going well. Hopefully, I can do a better job with this tomorrow.

Noah Baerman

Noah Baerman is one of our MySpace friends and also a personal friend. He is a fantastic jazz pianist.

In 2003, he recorded the album "Patch Kit" to raise awareness and funds for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a connective tissue disorder which he has. In spite of the pain and limits placed on him by this debilitating disorder, Noah continues to compose and record great jazz.

May is Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Awareness Month. I hope readers of this blog will check out Noah's music and also read about Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a little known disorder which affects 1 in 5000 individuals. I also have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, so I can especially appreciate Noah's determination to continue his marvelous music and to use it as a tool to spread the word about EDS.

Doogan vs antibiotics

Today has been an exhausting day. I am having to give my little dog, Doogan, liquid antibiotics for an infection. The vet told me that the medicine tasted terrible, as most antibiotics do, but he is small and liquid would probably be better for him than having to take it in pill form, due to the fact that the pill is large.

They gave me a syringe to just squirt the liquid in his mouth, which should be easy enough. Wrong! This little 15 lb dog has the strength of a bull! I have never seen such a little dog with such strength. He is supposed to take the medication every twelve hours. It was a major "fight" this morning to get the medication in him - - well, at least most of it got in his mouth. But tonight I struggled with him for nearly half an hour. I needed 4 hands - to hold him, hold his head, hold the syringe and get his mouth open. After that I was completely exhausted - - he, however, was fine and ready to play.

I will have to come up with a different approach for giving him this medication from now on. I can't take the struggle any more. He is a dear, sweet little dog............but 15lbs of pure muscle!

A MySpace friend

Federico Balducci is another of our MySpace friends whose music I enjoy. He is from Spain and composes and plays classical type music. The music is piano, organ, and piano mixed with strings.

Of the four musical pieces on his MySpace page, my favorites are Theme and Variation, and El caballo vigila a.... It has been a pleasure communicating with him.

You might like his music also - check him out!

Changes

Some more changes have been made to the Music 2 Work 2 MySpace page. The logo that you will now see associated with Music 2 Work 2 is the water drop rather than the notes. I love the water drop; I think it is perfect for the sessions of Music 2 Work 2.

I also put up a clip from Paul-55. This session was composed at the end of last year. I had a hard time knowing where to end the clip - the entire session is so good. But, I finally just chose a section that is a particular favorite and hope visitors to our MySpace page will like it also. It is a really lovely piece of piano and strings.

One of our new MySpace friends is Douglas McCann Music from Carlsbad, California. The music is listed as Classical, and the sound is slightly similar to some Music 2 Work 2 sessions.

The music is a combination of piano and violin, with one of the pieces available on MySpace, "Love Rules" featuring the violin as the prominent instrument. I enjoy listening to this lovely music. I think my favorite of the four musical pieces is "Les Anges Voces." It is very interesting to read the profile about Douglas McCann and the music. You might want to check out this musician's work.

I pretty much took the day off yesterday, in celebration of my birthday. That is the reason no blog was posted.

Birthdays are strange times when you reach my age..........depressing on the one hand because you realize so much of your life is over. I have gone through many really horrible times in my life, so I should actually be thankful to have made it through all that and to have reached this age. At times, I am kind of amazed that in spite of too many surgeries to count and all the pain I have lived with since I was born, that I am actually still here, keeping on keeping on.

The good part about birthdays, even at my age, is the realization that so many friends care enough about you to remember your birthday and wish you well. I am extremely grateful for the friends in my life, who have gone through so many of the bad and difficult times with me; and for my family who has been a part of them all, who has stuck by me, made accommodations for me when my physical limitations have been a problem, and who take on additional work doing things for me, as well as what they need to do for themselves. A great deal of credit goes to friends and family that I have managed to reach this age..............No, it's not 80, 70 or even 60 - -- between 50 and 60 - - but at times it seems like 100!

We have received some really nice responses from other MySpace musicians who we have invited to become our MySpace friends. It is exciting to me to read positive comments from people who have never heard of us, but after checking out our web site or MySpace page, really compliment the music. Of course, I have nothing to do with the music, except uploading it onto web sites. I know it's wonderful - I tell Andrew that all the time. It makes me feel good when others like it as much as I do, and I'm sure it must be very satisfying for Andrew to hear the compliments from his fellow musicians.

I will continue contacting people, inviting them to be our friend. It is a slow process, but rewarding to have people who truly appreciate the music and the concept of Music 2 Work 2, responding so positively.

It is the start of another week and many of the same tasks continue. I do hope to get a couple of new Music 2 Work 2 sessions cut down so that they can be uploaded on MySpace or other web sites.

This is a busy time of year for the non-profit organization in which I do volunteer work. It may end up demanding more of my time than I would like, but it will all work out.

Still concentrating on working on our MySpace friends. The new look to our MySpace page is now finished; I really like it.

One thing that I have found with MySpace.com is that they don't give enough information about the features of the site. The FAQs and the "Help" link talk more about the MySpace accounts than they do about managing the features available.

On the world map, the icon indicates that I'm not even in the United States. I spent quite a while trying to find some information about how it could be changed. I guess I'm just dense or blind, but I finally noticed that the World Map is handled from a whole different web site.

Maybe the problem is not with the "Help" section of the MySpace web site. Maybe I just need more help than most people.

Music on MySpace

Today, I changed some of the music on our MySpace page. I removed a piece that has been up since first signing up with MySpace and replaced it with Beautiful, a lovely, earlier composition of Music 2 Work 2. I plan to be making some other changes as well, as soon as I can cut down a couple other sessions.

We can only have 4 pieces of music on the MySpace page at a time, so I'll just be rotating off some of the ones that have been up longest and uploading different ones. Watch for more new ones.

Heath

There were four new sessions posted on Music 2 Work 2.com during the month of April. I have written about the others; the fourth one is Heath. It is piano and strings and has a moderate tempo.

Listening to this session, the image it evokes for me is of a gentle rain; not a storm, but just the steady falling of raindrops to the earth to nourish and refresh nature. It reminds me of the kind of rain that leaves everything looking green and alive.

May Day

Happy May Day! Some people associate May 1st with the beginning of summer; in some countries it is associated with labor and worker's rights. In the USA, it has been adopted as a focus on immigrant workers' rights.

For me, May 1st is more an indication that we have seen the last of winter weather - no more freezing temperatures to kill the flowers and newly sprouting foliage. I usually feel pretty confident about planting flowers after May 1st, knowing the risk of their being killed by an unexpected freeze is over.

May brings with it sad memories on Mother's Day and my mother's birthday, knowing that I no longer have her here to celebrate her special occasions. And, it brings the depressing knowledge of my increasing age. I remember dancing around the May Pole when I was in elementary school at the May Day Festival. How could so much time have passed since then?