still haunted by sucky band practice

so let's think instead about what's right in my musical life:

practicing on the vintage (& charmingly broken) Musser marimba I've borrowed; loving the black keys; figuring out little melodies (like "The Longest Time" (I'm so inspired by you)); playing along with Phish (they are always in tune); cruising the Real Book; comping to a metronome (1st time this millenium); pecking through "Confirmation." If I were stuck on a haunted space station for eternity, having this instrument and a Charlie Parker Omnibook would make it alright. ("Omnibook" is also the name of the space station.)

I'm in love with Orff percussion in general. I think the idea is: give kids real instruments that yield immediate sonic (& kinesthetic) rewards, and they will find their way into the world of music without further instruction. It's working on me: I haven't been this musically curious since I got home with my first electric guitar (Boxing Day 1989) and started picking out riffs I heard on 92 Moose, like the sitar part to a certain Bon Jovi song. These days it's "Sounds of Silence," "Guyute," and "On Top of Spaghetti" on my diatonic glockenspiel, whose keys' amazing selective rainbow goes green, brown, red-orange, yellow, gray, blue, lavender. My new Sonor xylophone is diatonic, but it came with extra bars: switch F to F# to play in the key of Hilary's kalimba; then switch B to Bb for lydian b7. Ace and Sheels were over on Monday, and our four-part Orff jam (xylophone, glockenspiel, shared marimba) makes the electric rock band seem pretty much obsolete. (And doesn't Sonor Orff sound like the name of a friendly man?)

more hope for music: you can now listen to Chris Weisman's songs all the way through at his website. I listened to "The Wordbrare Sessions" tonight. This song has always put me in mind of John McDowell's Woodbridge Lectures, and the library in which I first read them.

A game: which of Chris's songs seems most to refer to mallet percussion? I believe there is a correct answer...