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   Musician's Motivator<br />
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Saxophone and clarinet lessons for creative thinkers.<br />
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from Grace Notes Music Studio and Meg Grace<br />
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In this issue: <br />
1. Why We Study Music<br />
2. Bruce Lee quote<br />
3. Portland Jazz Festival Opens<br />
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Why We Study Music<br />
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I'm a curious person. I ask 'why?' a lot. So it seems fitting to ask 'why?' in this inaugural edition of "Musician's Motivator."<br />
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Why do we study music? I study music because it is in my blood. I hear music constantly and find myself singing, humming, whistling, and drumming as well as playing one of my instruments.<br />
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When I'm happy, I may burst into song with "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma or "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady. (Yes, I love musicals!) Or someone may say something that triggers a song that I've learned. And while they continue talking, I'm hearing the main theme from Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony in my head.<br />
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Perhaps like me, you have a deep love of music. This is reason enough to study music. In the words of Tom Moon, music critic and saxophonist, "The more you love music, the more music you love."<br />
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When one understands a subject, one can appreciate it on a deeper level. Deeper appreciation of music deepens your love of it. And after learning some new musical concepts, you may be moved to learn to play an instrument thereby taking your appreciation of music further.<br />
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My dream is that every human being learn to play a musical instrument, whether it be saxophone, violin, voice, or marimba. And that each of us come to the understanding that music is not an unknowable foreign language; but rather another language that we are all capable of speaking. <br />
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Why do you study music? What journey are you taking into the land of music? Share your stories of study at Grace Notes Music. http://meggrace.com/contact/contact.lasso<br />
or post your comments on my blog, http://gracenotesmusic.org/blog/2009/02/11/why-we-study-music/<br />
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"If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you."<br />
Bruce Lee	   	<br />
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Portland Jazz Festival Opens<br />
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The Portland Jazz Festival runs for two weeks, Feb 13-22, with great concerts, jazz workshops, conversations with headliners and even jazz-themed movies. Visit pdxjazz.com to get the scoop. <br />
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The jazz workshops are free and run by members of the Portland Jazz Orchestra, who like myself, are music teachers as well as performers. Some of you heard them perform Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite last December.<br />
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All the best,<br />
Meg Grace<br />
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Grace Notes Music Studio<br />
mailto:meg@meggrace.com<br />
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