What’s the best music to workout to? The short answer is something with loud drums, heavy bass, shredding guitar, and maybe some exciting vocals. Over the past year I’ve experimented with different genres and artists to find the right music to kill a workout. Music that makes you want to yell at the beginning of…

This song holds a special place in my heart. When I first heard it I was extremely nervous, sometimes playing jazz does that to you. Playing jazz around serious and talented musicians brings an element of excitement. It makes it harder to get into a groove, your rhythm, or the coveted ‘zone’, but its so…

Recently I noticed the limits in learning to play like I’ve described above. It has occurred to me that since I am not pursuing music in college, or really in any professional sense after high school, I may want to switch my focus on what I’m trying to play. If given the opportunity I would…

Alone, melody is a string of random notes floating in space. With harmony melody is interpreted. When melody is heard in the context of the harmony it is understood the emotions  and purpose the composer intended with his original motif. The piano adds to both rhythmic and harmonic aspects of the music, and there are…

I have been led astray. Well this may be a bit of an overreaction but as of today I am feeling my skill set within jazz piano (if that’s what I’m calling) is not as applicable to the stage of pianist I am set to soon enter as it could have been.  The large majority…

Recently I had the privilege of listening for a few hours to two freshman representatives to the Iowa House of Representatives. They talked much about their new day to day work lives as public servants, speaking at length about their committee assignments and bills they have been assigned to, but also discussing how they got…

I’m really not sure if other people think about these kinds of things, but I find myself considering it often enough. Who represents me? Who do I relate to? Who is depicted in a way that is comparable to how I feel about my position in relationships, success, fortune, etc? I believe taking a look…

I’m having a hard time believing that Ron DeSantis is a better option than Donald Trump. I’ve noticed an attitude developing among fellow democrats that DeSantis is so much better than Trump, for all the reasons the high ups in the GOP and all anti-trumpers have adopted. He’s less unpredictable and extreme, seemingly rational, calculated,…

When traveling, there exists a fundamental divide, resulting in two very distinct types of people. There are those that elect comfort, the guaranteed air conditioning, the prepaid meals, the housekeeping. And there are those who choose the unknown, the spontaneous, the hostel. Where exactly you will spend your time away from home, work, responsibility, routine,…

The vast majority of humans alive today take for granted the progress of Homo Sapiens as a species. No other animal has achievements remotely close to those of ours. Excelling in nearly every area we have become masters of technology, champions of art, expanding to and exploring every last corner of the globe. Our efforts…