Subject Indexes to The Sound of One Hand 148 Koans Collection

 The Sound Of One Hand (SOH)

The Sound of One Hand: 281 Zen Koans with Answers. Translation, research and commentary by Joel Hoffmann. Introduction by Dror Burstein. NRYB, 2016, 304 pages. VSCL, Paperback.

There are 144 koan cases, starting on page 75. The full text for each case is followed by possible acceptable answers or responses to the koan. The first 74 pages are very brief questions and answers regarding 137 other cases, without the full text for each case. Therefore, the total cases discussed are 281 koan cases. I have indexed only 148 Cases.

Indexed by Michael P. Garofalo.

Subject Index to the Sound of One Hand 148 Koans. PDF, 10/26/2023, 30 pages.

Case Number List to the Sound of One Hand 148 Koans. PDF, 10/26/2023, 6 pages.

Case Title List to the Sound of One Hand 148 Koans. PDF, 10/26/2023, 6 pages.

Subject Index to 1,975 Zen Buddhist Koans
Indexing and webpage by Michael P. Garofalo.
578 pages, December 28, 2024, PDF

Buddhism: Bibliography, Links, Information, Resources. Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

Taoism: Bibliography, Links, Resources, Information. Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo.

 

Love in Full Effect

"Here I go, I’m on my way
With my Love glasses on
Here I go, I’m on my way
I see more clearly and I feel strong

More, More, More, More
There’s got to be so much more to this life
My heart is racing just to know what it is like
More than I could expect
Anticipate or imagine
I’m willing to believe
Amazing things are still happening

I’m going to live the rich life
The full and blessed life
So if you all know what I mean
Put your hands up and declare with me
Love In full effect, L'Chaim
I’m going to live the good life
Beautiful and glorious life
So if you all know what I mean
Put your hands up and declare with me
Love In full effect, L'Chaim

Here I go again on my mission to give it all
Give it all, give, give it all, all
Cause I’m aware that what I share
Will come back good measure
Pressed down, shaken together and running over

Life is whatever I receive it to be
Why not jump over doubt and dive into belief?
More than I could expect
Anticipate or imagine
I’m willing to believe
Amazing things are still happening

I’m going to live the rich life
The full and blessed life
So if you all know what I mean
Put your hands up and declare with me
Love In full effect, L'Chaim
I’m going to live the good life
Beautiful and glorious life
So if you all know what I mean
Put your hands up and declare with me
Love In full effect, L'Chaim

No eye has seen nor ear has heard
My faith is breathing only because
I hear these words
Exceeding and abundantly
More than we could even ask or think
Surpassing all human understanding
I’ve been given this amazing peace
This amazing peace

I’m going to live the rich life
The full and blessed life
So if you all know what I mean
Put your hands up and declare with me
Love In full effect, L'Chaim
I’m going to live the good life
Beautiful and glorious life
So if you all know what I mean
Put your hands up and declare with me
Love In full effect, L'Chaim"

The Song "Life" by Beckah Shae
Lyrics by Jonathan Shocklee and Rebecca Wilson
Download MP3 "Life" from Amazon

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 35

Daodejing, Laozi
Chapter 35   


"One who holds fast to the Great Symbol
Gains the whole world
Bestows purest peace
Serenity and bliss.
Yet the hasty wayfarer
Attracted only by outer characteristics
Tastes Tao and is not aware of it
Sees Tao and does not perceive it
Listens to Tao and does not hear it.
But whoever
Grasps and holds it
Amid impermanence
Is grasped by the permanent
And attains duration."
-  Translated by K. O. Schmidt, 1975, Chapter 35



"Reside in the center
where understanding does not require words or images,
and folk will come to you to be taught
how to be serene.
Where there is good music and food
people stop to rest and regain their energy.
But though the Tao seems unmelodious or even bland
it is an inexhaustible source of refreshment."
-  Translated by Crispin Starwell, Chapter 35


"To him who holds to the Great Form all the world go.
It will go and see no danger, but tranquility, equality and community.
Music and dainties will make the passing stranger stop.
But Tao when uttered in words is so pure and void of flavor
When one looks at it, one cannot see it;
When one listens to it, one cannot hear it.
However, when one uses it, it is inexhaustible."
-  Translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao, 1904, Chapter 35 


"The owner of the biggest image attracts the whole world.
When all who come have been safely settled,
The world will then be peaceful.
Melodious music and delicious food
Can only attract passers-by.
But the Way is, when put into one's mouth, tasteless,
When looked at, colorless,
When listened to, uninteresting,
And, when used, limitlessly bountiful."
-  Translated by Liu Qixuan, Chapter 35 


執大象, 天下往.
往而不害, 安平大.
樂與餌, 過客止.
道之出口, 淡乎其無味.
視之不足見.
聽之不足聞.
用之不足既. 
-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 35


zhi da xiang, tian xia wang.
wang er bu hai, an ping tai.
le yu er, guo ke zhi.
dao zhi chu kou, dan hu qi wu wei.
shi zhi bu zu jian.
ting zhi bu zu wen.
yong zhi bu zu ji.
-  Pinyin Romanization, Daodejing, Chapter 35 

"Hold the Great Symbol
and all the world follows,
Follows without meeting harm,
And lives in health, peace, commonwealth.
Offer good things to eat
And the wayfarer stays.
But Tao is mild to the taste.
Looked at, it cannot be seen;
Listened to, it cannot be heard;
Applied, its supply never fails."
-  Translated by Lin Yutang, 1955, Chapter 35 

"Apprehend the inimitable conception, you attract the world;
coming it receives no harm, but it tranquil, peaceful, satisfied.
Like transient guests, music and dainties pass away.
The Tao entering the mouth is insipid and without flavour;
when looked at it evades sight;
when listened for it escapes the ear.
Yet, its operations are interminable."
-  Translated by C. Spurgeon Medhurst, 1905, Chapter 35 


"The owner of the biggest image attracts the whole world.
When all who come have been safely settled,
The world will then be peaceful.
Melodious music and delicious food
Can only attract passers-by.
But the Way is, when put into one's mouth, tasteless,
When looked at, colorless,
When listened to, uninteresting,
And, when used, limitlessly bountiful."
-  Translated by Liu Qixuan, Chapter 35 

"El Tao carece de forma y aroma;
No puede ser visto ni oido,
Y su aplicación no puede ser agotada.
Si ofreces música y comida
Los extraños se detienen a tu lado;
Pero si estás de acuerdo con el Tao
La gente del Mundo te mantendrá
En seguridad, salud, compañía y paz."

-  Translated by Antonio Rivas Gonzálvez, 1998, Capítulo 35 


"If you offer music and food
Strangers may stop with you;
But if you accord with the Way
All the people of the world will keep you
In safety, health, community and peace.
The Way lacks art and flavor;
It can neither be seen or heard,
But its benefits cannot be exhausted."
-  Translated by Peter Merel, 1992, Chapter 35

"Hold fast the idea of "The Great,"
Then all men will be drawn to you.  
They will come to you and receive no hurt,
But rest, peace and great calm.
When you provide music and exquisite food
The traveller will stay with you gladly.
When the Tao flows out from you to him
By his palate he does not detect its savour,
By his eye he cannot perceive it,
By his ears he cannot hear it,
But in using it he finds it to be inexhaustible." 

- Translated by Isabella Mears, 1916, Chapter 35 

Chapter 35, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

English Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Spanish Language Daodejing Translators' Source Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List


A Philosopher's Notebooks 

Northwest Passage

 

Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers.  Performed by the Water Boys.

[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

[Verse 1]
Westward from the Davis Strait
'Tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient
For which so many died
Seeking gold and glory,
Leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones

Chorus

[Verse 2]
Three centuries thereafter
I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso
Where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me
Then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer
Driving hard across the plain
Chorus

[Verse 4]
How then am I so different
From the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life
I threw it all away
To seek a Northwest Passage
At the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again

[Chorus]
Ah, for just one time
I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

Adam Hurst and His Cello

While waiting in the Portland airport in August of 2017, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Adam Hurst.  He composes for and plays the cello, and has numerous albums to his credit.  

I now have four MP3 digital music albums by Adam Hurst.  I really enjoy his compositions.  In the background, they help make for a nice ambiance in my home office.  

Obscura

Ritual

From Silence

Elegy

Musicality

I enjoy playing harmonicas as a minor hobby. One book that I recently read was of great benefit to me: Musicality: How You Too Can Learn Music Like a Gifted Prodigy, Unlock Your Musical Instinct, and Unleash Your Inner Natural. By Christopher Sutton. 864 pages, Musical U, 2024. A wide range of good ideas, principles, and tips for a enthusiastic musician. The unlocking and unleashing aspects were excellent, and "gifted prodigy" means a very hard working, confident, informed, and dedicated musician.

My Harmonica playing Notes:

https://www.egreenway.com/Harmonica/HarmonicaStudies2.htm

Why I Don't Practice With a Chromatic Harmonica

 

 

I have very little experience with using a chromatic harmonica. I have purchased two chromatic harmonicas in the Key of C Major, 12 holes, 48 tones/notes, in the past. I have considerable experience with diatonic harmonicas.

After playing the chromatic harmonica for a year, after studying, learning, and using the different layouts for blow/draw notes/holes (Richter vs Solo), after listening to the different sound of the diatonic and chromatic, after sensing the different feel of the size and shape of these two types of harmonicas, and after experimenting with the slide, etc.; I've come to a conclusion. I have decided to focus on playing, learning, and advancing my musical skills in using only a diatonic harmonica.

I have decided not to play a chromatic harmonica anymore. Why?

All chromatics are much larger and heavier than a diatonic. They are considerably less portable than a Hohner Thunderbird or Hohner Rocket diatonic. Most good chromatics have 12 or 16 holes, and diatonics have 10 holes. A typical chromatic is not a carry in your pocket anywhere harmonica, they are more a carry in your backpack musical instrument.

A chromatic, in my opinion, does not play chords as well as a diatonic harmonica.

If you can't manage the chromatic's slide well, then a chromatic can sound really bad. A diatonic is more forgiving of mistakes.

I do enjoy experimenting with a wider ranges of notes/sounds available on the chromatic harmonica vs a diatonic harmonica (48 notes vs 20 notes without bends or overblows); however, I find that using my decent electronic MIDI keyboard offers vastly more experimental options for an adventuresome sound explorer.

Good chromatic harmonicas are typically more expensive than good diatonic harmonicas. Some good chromatic models cost from $150.00 - $250.00 or more. A decent diatonic harmonica can be purchased for under $50.00.

Both chromatic and diatonic harmonicas are available in a variety of different keys, both in standard and low tuned. However, most good chromatics come in the Key of C Major. And, with a higher degree of skill, you can play in many keys on one C Major Key chromatic. However, in my opinion, it is just far easier to play a diatonic in the key you want to play, rather than mastering playing in different keys on one chromatic harmonica.

It is easier to bend or overblow on a diatonic harmonica, rather than on a chromatic without using the slider. Seems to me that the degree and control of notes with bends and overblows, excluding slider functions, is more capable of refinement on a diatonic.

Chromatics are favored by classical and jazz harmonica musicians. Diatonics are favored by blues, rock, folk, and country musicians. I play tunes I enjoy the most being played on a diatonic harmonica.

Using the chromatic slider properly is a refined skill requiring considerable practice, and adds another challenging layer of refined learning and practice demands for typical home solo players.

In is far easier to us a variety of cupping techniques on a diatonic, rather than on the larger chromatic.

Shifting between chromatic and diatonic versions can be confusing for beginners like me. Better to focus on playing just one type of musical instrument. I chose the diatonic harmonica.

 

 

I own a EastTop Forerunner Chromatic Harmonica in the Key of C Major LOW. 12 Holes, 48 Tones, Chromatic Mouth Organ Harmonica, $125.00. VSCL.

I own a EastTop Forerunner Chromatic Harmonica in the Key of C Major. 12 Holes, 48 Tones, Chromatic Mouth Organ Harmonica, $52.00. VSCL.

 

Chromatic Harmonica in the Key of C Major

 

 

Laptop Computer Setup

Today, I began working on setting up my new Lenovo IdeaPad 1 Windows laptop microcomputer:

Lenovo IdeaPad 1 Laptop, 15.6” FHD Display, AMD Ryzen 5 5500U, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Home, 720p Camera w/Privacy Shutter, Smart Noise Cancelling, Cloud Grey, $331.00 from Amazon on 9/11/2024. Supposedly, it runs Windows 11 Home quite well, has decent battery life, is sturdy and light in weight, and has a better sound system.

I will set up the Lenovo laptop for full featured use of the Internet (Chrome and Bing, My Homepage), Facebook, Blog, Amazon, Kindle, Atlantis, Website Links ...

Also, and most important, I want to use the new Lenovo laptop for music recording, music editing, DAW (Digital Audio Workshops: FLStudio, Ableton), Band in a Box Software, percussion software, MIDI keyboard connectivity, home music studio hardware and software, music composing, sound mixing, musical theory research, voice alteration Humanoid, ...

In September, 2024, I stopped using my old refurbished HP Elitebook 8470P laptop which I purchased for $250 in January, 2022,, except for photography work. I stopped using my old Galaxy 1 Tablet A in September 2024, except for music playing. Both older units are slow, have battery problems, do not work properly sometimes, have old hardware/software, etc. I'm removing some files from both, deleting some programs, and cleaning them up.

Musical Practice and Developmental Pointers

Suggestions Harvested by Michael P. Garofalo

Tips from a Beginning Harmonica Player

Harmonica Studies: A Beginner's Notes, Research, Resources, and Comments.

September 2024

Harmonica: Another Day in Paradise

Another Day in Paradise

By Phil Collins
1989

Diatonic Harmonica
Key of C Major

 

VERSE 1

6    -6    7  -6  6  -5  5  -4    5 

She calls out to the man on the street 

  7    -6   6  -5   7 

"Sir, can you help me? 

  6   7   -6    6   -5   5  -4    5 

It's cold and I've no-where to sleep, 

 6   6    -6   7    -6   6   -5   7 

Is there some-where you can tell me?" 

VERSE 2 

 6    -6    7   -6  6     -5       4 

He   walks on,  doesn't  look    back 

 7    -6   6   -5   5    6     7

He   pre tends he  can't hear her 

 6      7  -6   6   -5  5   -4   5  -6    6

Starts to whis tle  as  he cros ses the street 

 6     6   -6    -6    6   -5   7

Seems  em  bar rassed to  be  there 

 

CHORUS

-7   6   6        -4    5 

Oh Think twice, 'cause it's  

 5 6   6  -5   5   -5  5 -5  5   -5  6   6 

An oth er day for you and me in  par a dise 

-7   6    6     -4    5 

Oh Think twice cause it's  

5  6   6  -5  5   -5    -5   6   -5   5  5 

a no ther day for you, you  in par a dise 

   4   -4   4 -4   5 

 just think about  it 

 

VERSE 3

6    -6    7  -6  6   -5  5  -4   5 

She calls out to the man on the street 

 7  -6   6   -5     5    6     7

He  can see she's been  cry ing 

6      7  -6   6   -5  5   -4   -5  -6    6

She's got blisters on the soles of her feet 

6    6    -6    7   -6   -5  7

She can't walk but she's trying 

 

 [CHORUS]  

 

 VERSE 4

 6    -5   5  -5   5 

Just think a-bout it 

 7  -6 

Oh lord! 

-5   6   -5   -5   -5     -5 5  -5  5    7   7 

Is there noth ing more    a  ny bo dy   can do? 

-7   7 

Oh lord! 

  5   -5    6  -5   -5   -5    5   7 

There must be some thing you can say 

 

 VERSE 5

6    -6   7  -6    6   -5    5  -4   5 

You can tell from the lines on her face 

 7   -6   6  -5   5     6        7

You can see that she's been there 

6    7    -6    6    -5   5    -4  -5  -6    6

Pro bably she  moved  on  from  ev ‘ry  place 

 6      6  -6   7   -6   6  -5   7

Cause  she did n't  fit  in  there 

 [CHORUS]

 

Benefits of Playing Music

The Benefits of Playing Music Help Your Brain
More Than Any Other Activity

By John Rampton, 2017

"Long-Lasting Benefits for Musicians

Brain-scanning studies have found that the anatomical change in musicians' brains is related to the age when training began. It shouldn't be surprising, but learning at a younger age causes the most drastic changes.

Interestingly, even brief periods of musical training can have long-lasting benefits. A 2013 study found that even those with moderate musical training preserved sharp processing of speech sounds. It was also able to increase resilience to any age-related decline in hearing.

Researchers also believe that playing music helps speech processing and learning in children with dyslexia. Furthermore, learning to play an instrument as a child can protect the brain against dementia.

"Music reaches parts of the brain that other things can't," says Loveday. "It's a strong cognitive stimulus that grows the brain in a way that nothing else does, and the evidence that musical training enhances things like working memory and language is very robust."

Other Ways Learning an Instrument Strengthens Your Brain

Guess what? We're still not done. Here are eight additional ways that learning an instrument strengthens your brain.

1. Strengthens bonds with others. This shouldn't be surprising. Think about your favorite band. They can only make a record when they have contact, coordination, and cooperation with one another.

2. Strengthens memory and reading skills. The Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University states this is because music and reading are related via common neural and cognitive mechanisms.

3. Playing music makes you happy. McMaster University discovered that babies who took interactive music classes displayed better early communication skills. They also smiled more.

4. Musicians can process multiple things at once. As mentioned above, this is because playing music forces you to process multiple senses at once. This can lead to superior multisensory skills.

5. Music increases blood flow in your brain. Studies have found that short bursts of musical training increase the blood flow to the left hemisphere of the brain. That can be helpful when you need a burst of energy. Skip the energy drink and jam for 30 minutes.

6. Music helps the brain recover. Motor control improved in everyday activities with stroke patients.

7. Music reduces stress and depression. A study of cancer patients found that listening to and playing music reduced anxiety. Another study revealed that music therapy lowered levels of depression and anxiety.

8. Musical training strengthens the brain's executive function. Executive function covers critical tasks like processing and retaining information, controlling behavior, making decisions, and problem solving. If strengthened, you can boost your ability to live. Musical training can improve and strengthen executive functioning in both children and adults."

Reading Sheet Music: Discovery 2

Reading Sheet Music for Harmonica
Discoveries #2 (July 8, 2024)

Harmonica Studies by Michael P. Garofalo

I have been diligently working on learning to read standard music notation, sheet music, when
playing the harmonica. I had been using for many years the harmonica tablature notation showing what hole to blow or draw into. Sheet music notation tells me what note to play and the duration and sequence of the notes played. Most diatonic harmonica music books have lessons using a C Major harmonica, the sheet music for each song, and under each note the harmonica tablature. I focus now on the sheet music and ignore the harmonica tablature. I am using the book 'Easy Piano Sheet Music for Kids', by Avgusta Udartseva, while learning, which does not include harmonica tablature.

For me, what are the benefits of reading standard musical notation (sheet music):
1. A better sense of the flow and timing of a composition.
2. There is far more sheet music without harmonica tablature that is readily available.
3. Following traditional musical learning using sheet music is very valuable, and essential for real progress in music playing.
4. Learning to connect names of notes (CDEFGABC) with positions on the sheet music, and connecting these with diatonic harmonica holes for blow or draw notes (20 notes on a 10 hole diatonic harmonica).
5. Learning to read sheet music more efficiently, effectively, knowledgeably, and beneficial for playing properly.
6. I am learning more musical theory each day.
7. The visual spacing of the notes on the sheet music is more useful to precise playing and improving one's anticipation and timing.
8. Improves my learning how to play better.
9. I enjoy learning challenges, tests, new methods and techniques.
10. It is intellectually and emotionally satisfying to make progress in playing music.
11. The challenge of new ways of looking and seeing; new ways of communicating with symbols.
12. Harmonica tablature can be useful, but must be left behind for real progress to occur.

This has been a significant and transformative learning experience for me! Why did I wait so long to learn how to read and play from sheet music? Why did I not take classes from a music teacher? Why did I not take community college or private classes in musical theory and education? Nevertheless, this is all just muddy water gone past under the bridge for a 78 year old man playing the harmonica on his own. I must focus on learning NOW, and ignore my regrets and failings. PRACTICE NOW and enjoy myself.

Harmonica Studies by Michael P. Garofalo

Disco Inferno: Burn Baby Burn

 

The Tramps will keep you dancing at your home disco for 11 minutes.  1980's disco! 
Take your shirts off and dance!

I like the horn section in bigger bands like Hewey Lewis and the News, Louis Prima, Tramps, etc.

Computer Tablet

I have used a Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017 Tablet) for 7 years. I have all my favorite MP3 or WAV music on this Tablet, with many backups. Tab A has a viewing screen of 6.75 inches high and 4.15 inches wide. The Tab A is on the heavy side alone, and a bit heavier with a sturdy Braecn rubber protective cover with a swivel back grip.  Functional running Android software, I use Kindle Ebooks for reading. Comes with 32 GB internal storage, and I use 40 GB of a 150 GB SD Card. I get OK connectivity with the Tab A at home using WiFi from my XFinity cable services. This old Tab takes longer to charge, and faster to discharge.

Time to upgrade. So, I purchased a ....

Kadybe, Android 14 Tablet, 2024, 10 inch Tablet with 128GB Storage 1TB Expandable, 14GB RAM, Dual 4G Cellular Tablet with keyboard Support 5Ghz WiFi/Bluetooth 5.0/GPS, Octa-Core Processor, FHD IPS Screen, $173.00 Amazon. It comes with a compatible Blue Tooth connected standard keyboard.  

We shall see if I am satisfied.  I worked Thursday night and Friday morning and afternoon on getting the new Kadybe Android Tablet running the software I need and like to use. 

I purchased the FL Studio Mobile software for the Tablet, $29.00 once, for use in music recording, musical studies, harmonica recordings, learning to read standard musical notation for melody lines.  I also purchased a condenser lapel microphone and a 4 channel audio mixer.

Band in a Box Software

I downloaded the 2024 Windows version of Band in the Box Pro on June 20, 2024.

Started viewing Henry Clarke's Band in the Box Tutorials on UTube.

PG Music Website, Band in a Box, Software 

Using Ebook: Band in a Box by Peter Upclaire

Band in a Box 2024 User Guide PDF

Harmonica Playing

My Musical Objectives

June-July 2024

Study The Idiot's Guide to Harmonica Playing for 30 minutes each day.
Attend an online class at Harmonica.com with Luke twice each week.

Fluency with C Chords: 
I     C Major   CEG  (Blow Holes 456 or 789 or 123 or any 3 adjacent holes)
IV   F Dyad    FA     (Draw 56 and Draw 9 10)
V   G Major   GBD  (Draw Holes 234 or Draw Holes 1234
     G7   GBDF        (Draw Holes 2-5)
     Dm  DFA           (Draw 456 and Draw 89 10)


Playing, Jamming, Learning, and Practicing with
various C Major Diatonic 10 Hole Harmonicas:

Hohner Special 20 Progressive
Hohner Crossover Marine Band 
Suzuki ProMaster MR 350
Seydel Sohne Blues Session 
Lee Oskar Tombo

Learning how to play 5 simple folk music tunes properly all the way through:
Streets of Laredo, Annie Laurie, Marine Corps Hymn, Michael Row the Boat Ashore,
Blues Piece in C.

Intermediate Objectives (June-Dec 2024):

Find a good harmonica teacher in Portland, Oregon, or Vancouver, Washington.
Learn how to use the Band in a Box computer software ($160) 
Purchase Novation Launchkey 49 MIDI Keyboard Controller
using seamless Ableton Live DAW software ($240).
Learn how to use DAW software.
Continue to advance my understanding of musical theory and history.

My Musical Goals

Playing the harmonica daily.
Learning how to play better chords on the harmonica.
Learning how to play harmonica rhythmic patterns better.
Listening to harmonica music.
Learning some harmonica musical theory each week.
Learning to interpret standard musical score notation for a harmonica.
Learning how to play easy popular tunes. 
Learn how to use Band in a Box software.

My Musical Mission

Listening to all kinds of music over a lifetime.
Enjoying the pleasures of music over a lifetime.
Seeking positive, uplifting, spiritual, and mystical experiences via music.
Enjoying playing the harmonica.
Sharing good sounds with others.
Encouraging and supporting musicians.

Background, Introduction

I have owned various harmonicas since my childhood days.  

I have enjoyed playing various harmonicas by myself.

I have used various books, CDs, MP3s, charts, and online learning resources to learn 
how to play the harmonica.

I now focus for 30 to 60 minutes each day in learning and practicing with a harmonica.

Purchasing good quality harmonicas in different Keys, books, CDs, MP3s, online resources, online video instruction (Luke), and paying for a personal harmonica instructor can be costly for serious intermediate harmonica students and lifetime enthusiasts.

Good education and ongoing learning are essential for steady improvement and more fun.

From January to May 2024, I used a Hohner Crossover Marine Band Key of C and a Seydel Sohne 1847 Key of Low C for daily practice. I was learning the chords on the C Key harmonica, learning the hole notes and playing single notes more clearly.  Most basic instruction books for the harmonic focus on using a diatonic harmonic in the Key of C.  I have gained some fluency in properly playing single notes and chords, in blowing techniques, and I can entertain myself with some improvising.

Bricks in the Wall

Repost from 2019.

We all need good education that provides us with facts, information, ideas, insight, and wisdom.  We need education that provides us with the skills and methods for learning more and expanding our knowledge and skills base.  We need education grounded in science, reason, and practical insights.  We need education in ethics, right living, respect, and tolerance.  We need to be educated on how to become peaceful, productive, and profound persons.   We need education to help us reach our maximum potential. 

What we don't need is "education" that is indoctrination, learning for slavish service to one particular viewpoint, learning grounded in corrupted views of history, mean spirited, hateful  towards others that don't believe or think our way, that turn us into conforming robots, that make us into another brick in the wall of some antiquated ideology.  "We don't need no thought control!"  

I was sent to Roman Catholic Schools from the 1st to the 12th grade from 1950-1963.  I could tell many unpleasant stories about the "education" that I and others received from the nuns and brothers and priests in these Catholic "schools."  Yes, thanks to their rigorous drilling methods of teaching I learned to read, write, and do mathematics in the elementary grades.  Yes, I learned how to obey, conform, submit, and defer.  Yes, I learned the Catholic version of history, and how all non-believers are destined for hell, that we are all inherently sinful by nature, and how only a human sacrifice (Jesus) could soften the heart of a strict Father God and make the world right again.  Yes, I learned how I was supposed to believe and not question Church authority.  Yes, indeed, I learned about fear and guilt. 

 
However, thanks to reading many good books (i.e., Zen, American Transcendentalists, Taoism, great philosophers, natural sciences, history, etc.) in my local public library during my high school years, and getting a good college education at California State University at Los Angeles, I was able to knock down the ugly Catholic Wall that had been forced upon my mind and spirit in my youth.   I knocked down my own "Berlin Wall" of indoctrination, kicked the bricks of the Dark Ages aside, and was liberated in 1964.  

I learned early that, for me, being a good person, being happy, being productive, being high minded, and being truly "spiritual" had nothing to do with the strange doctrines and ideology of Christianity or Islam.  

So, for me, in some ways, Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" is kind of an anthem for me. 

Another Brick in the Wall

Pink Floyd
1979

"We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave us kids alone
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall."