Gig went well

The gig in Karlsruhe was great...the atmostphere was good...the people listened somewhat (more than I expected in a café). The percussionist I played with did a great job and we had a blast! A few little things weren't so nice with the event organizer, but through it I learned how to handle the next gigs better. The drummer and I had a cool idea of planning a musician's jam weekend. That would be totally fun...so we're trying to find some musicians who have it enough together to answer their emails and let us know if they're interested... I guess I'm one of the few musicians who likes to write...but I'm a songwriter, so, it makes sense, doesn't it. Since then the week has been slow. I have guitar lessons today, one of the students' parents isn't paying so I'm trying to decide how to best deal with the situation. I haven't been practicing that much the last few days...gotta get back on it, cause we're planning a huge party on the 10th which has been keeping me busy. Anyways...gotta go, toodles!
Han

Gig day

Well, it's gig day. We had some change of plans...I am doing the whole gig since Billy had a family emergency and is in the states. It's good for me though, we musicians gain and grow from every bit of experience we can get on stage. I'm all practiced up and feel ready. Today I just want to practice a bit with the sound system set up since I want it to be as close at possible to the real thing. When we get there I'm hoping for a smoke free atmosphere, maybe some free food and drinks, a crowd that actually listens (lots of times they don't amazingly enough)...so we'll see. Other than the practicing and the gig itself, I'm planning on totally taking it easy so I can be totally relaxed when I get there. BTW, yesterday was Thanksgiving and also our first snow here in Heidelberg. We had dinner with a big group of people...I was one of the few real Americans there, but it was totally fun and the food was truly authentic. I made sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing...other people made the rest of the food needed to make Thanksgiving complete. We ended saying what we were thankful for and all of the countries represented at the table sang their national anthems (that was interesting)...I closed it off by singing a song about being thankful to God for all He's done.
Toodles!
Han

Fresh New Week

Well...the weekend was really crazy...we did this seminar at our church for the music leaders there. We had a total blast doing it...lots of creativity, team building, music and FUN. It was a pilot run for us so they were able to help us with loads of really valuable feedback. So...yesterday instead of recovering I was bouncing all over the place...at a friends house to talk and pray, shopping, cleaning, babysitting the neighbors baby and then finally practicing with Billy for our Friday gig at kashu in Karlsruhe...we're both doing a 50 minute set...me mostly from my CD Obvious, him from his newest unpublished CD Blues from the Gospel (hope I got that title right)...wonderful stuff. I also finally got a hold of a mandoline (borrowed from Billy) for the first time and had a blast trying it out (it ain't so hard)...much to my dismay though, my husband picked it up (he plays violin) and could play it way better than me...I never realized he was THAT gifted...just kidding...so maybe we'll get some family jam sessions going. Sooo...today I'm going to teach my guitar kids "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter...great song and easy for them to play...then tonight I am looking forward to finally getting to really crash with my hubbie.
Toodles!
Han

Exciting life

Nothing that exciting today...about to start practicing for the next gig...maybe do some recording in my home studio. Wrote a cool song last night and have been listening to my recordings in the car to see what I can improve...or arranging ideas. Just met with a drummer friend to discuss a seminar we are holding on the weekend. We're both trained trainers and want to use our training to teach people how to lead music in churches. Gotta go tschau!
Han

Another Day

Day two in blogging world! Yesterday I learned something about teaching kids guitar that you don't learn in school. Their little hands just can't do certain things. I have a student who had moved up from a 1/2 to a 3/4 guitar who took some major steps in the wrong direction. Frustrating! But after some searching we realized that the action was too high (duh!) and that he already has really week wrist muscles for his age. His baseball coach noticed it too. O well...i guess certain kids just can't do bar chords and play as clearly as I would like until they're older. Rubber ball squeezing to strength the muscles is in progress ;-)
So..another exciting day ahead...cleaning, guitar lessons...and then tonight we go down to check out the gig venue in Karlsruhe. See ya!
Han

Welcome

Hi Guys,
So, this is my blog...got the tip at a great guerilla marketing seminar over the weekend that blogging is a great way to meet others out there who are into music? Gotta go soon so this'll be short...off to teach some little kids guitar. Love the job and the kids. We're planning a recital soon. Over the weekend we're running a seminar on leading music in churches with our buddy Eddy Scheck-great drummer. It'll be a big blast...before that jam session with Billy (check out some good music www.billygoodman.com) and Micha (percussionist from Mannheim) to prep for gig in Karlsruhe at www.kashu.de . I'm thinking of working at my skills with bass and picking up the mandoline...Billy's got and old gibson mandoline lying around and a chord book so I can try it out before forking out money for my own.
Toodaloo!
Han