dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

and consider mum and her brothers and sisters all went to the dances in a horse drawn cart!!

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Now that would almost be what I'd love. I'd have to be riding the horse!

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

not for me.....you can keep the horse!

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Thank you! I raised them (and showed them) for almost 60 years, had 77 at one time and every horse had a personality like someone I knew. I had to down size to a small place in town after my Valentine moved to Heaven, so no more horses and that is sad for me, but I still have music, flower gardens and cameras, so I'm OK.

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

One of my cousins here was a quarter horse judge, and she travelled to USA many time, judging the horses. She was born on a farm I am a city girl (an old girl) and have never touched a horse in my life.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Well, they are a lot of work but if you love them, it's more fun and satisfaction than work.
I'm so glad we spent this time to get to know each other better. I have several precious friends in this group and more of us should get o know each other.

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

I agree............I am still hurting at the death of my pal Dook.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Well done! He reminds me of a piano teacher, Jordan Kvanvig, my kids took lessons from 12 years ago. I could hear more of this. It's interesting that he's playing Beatles and Billy Joel. There is a shortage of real music being written these days.

That said, I nearly always want to hear piano with other instruments. Rick Wakeman (of The Strawbs, Yes, and his own solo work) is one of my favorites of all time. https://youtu.be/ZtJMSYRnr58 I saw him live with Yes in 1974.

My kids studied theatre/drama at an arts school, and their friends outside the theatre/drama department were mostly musicians. One of them, Robert Beverly, had played piano, keyboards, and guitar since kindergarten. Classically trained, he now leads a band called Barefoot Modern. The other two band members we know are drummer/writer, Caleb LeJeune, and bassist, Hunter Evans. They were also classmates of my twins.

Barefoot Modern were awarded BEST ALTERNATIVE/INDIE ARTIST at the 2019 Richmond International Film & Music Festival. Their range is dynamic, they write original material, and their recordings are impeccable. They play a blend of pop, rock, ballads, "Seattle indie," and jazzy grunge.

https://www.reverbnation.com/barefootmodern/songs — check them out.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

I had no idea Dook had passed away. He was a good friend. He sent me some discs of him playing the piano and the organ. They are beautiful. He was very talented and so is all of his family. So sorry to hear that.

One of my photo mentors passed away in Dec, Gessman didn't post an awful lot of pictures but he knew his photo equipment and passed his knowledge on to many. He messaged me from the hospital that he had Covid but that it wasn't too bad. A few days later, he was gone.

We've lost quite a few from UHH, some who's names I can't remember, some mighty good photographers.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

I am in no way a musician. I play the organ and can sit down and play any song I have heard, but I play by ear, couldn't read music if I had to. Same with photography. I'll never be a good musician or a good photographer. I've been an artist since the age of 4. I teach people to paint but as I do, I insist that they create a style of their own and not follow mine after they learn and constantly remind them that, in all things we do in life, there will always be some who are better than us and some who are worse and that every time they paint, they improve.

I do love all kinds of music, unless someone calls Rap music. (I certainly don't) but I think my favorite is easy listening and dance music. That's partly because years ago, I trained instructors for Arthur Murray studios in Memphis and later Fred Astaire Studios in West Palm Beach Fl. Arthur was a great teacher but not a great dancer. Fred was a great dancer but not a good teacher.

Rick Wakeman is a master for sure. I could only wish to ever be that good. In fact I think most pianists would. There's a lot more of Francesco Parrino on You Tube and I love to watch his emotions as he plays. It's obvious he loves it. I'll check out more of Rick Wakeman too. Thank you for calling that to my attention.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

As with most art forms, music has a language. For sound, that is one of time and tones. Musicians in ensembles carry on conversations. In photography, the negative is the score, but the print is a performance. In music, the score is just a fact sheet. The performance is a discussion of what those facts mean. For that reason, I really like jazz, jazz-rock-classical fusion, and musicians who can improvise with each other harmoniously.

Many of the best living players and composers taught themselves to play, purely with sweat equity, grit, determination, thousands of practice hours, and "musical social skills."

One of my favorite life stories is that of Tal Wilkenfeld, an Australian bass player. She first picked up a guitar at 14. When she was 16, she dropped out of high school, moved to Los Angeles on scholarship, and went to a music school. At 17, she switched from guitar to bass. Soon she had played with so many artists there, outside of school, that she left the school and went to NYC to play in various jazz clubs. By the time she was 20, she had a stellar reputation in NYC and L.A. among rock and jazz musicians for bass, and had recorded her first album with several Jazz greats.

She met the Allman brothers at a club where she played. They invited her to a concert, where they surprised her by letting her play a bass solo in front of thousands of people. Soon Jeff Beck, the British guitarist who is known for pioneering rock work with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds, back in the 1960s, saw a tape of that performance, flew her to England, and hired her for his 2007 tour.

There is an extremely well-recorded and well-photographed concert on You Tube, "Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scotts." Jeff (guitar), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Tal Wilkenfeld (bass) and Jason Rebello (keyboards) performed for over an hour and a half in a 250-seat club. That was self-proclaimed as one of the most magical concerts Jeff Beck ever gave. Tal and Vinnie are probably the best rhythm section Jeff ever had.

Tal spent years playing bass with many other musicians including Herbie Hancock, Prince, Dweezil Zappa, Jackson Brown, and many, many others. In 2016, Tal's own band was the opening act for The Who on the North American part of "The Who Hits 50!" tour. After years of on-off work, she finally self-published her second album of serious original works in 2019. Over the last years of his life, she played on probably two unreleased albums worth of works with Prince that will come out eventually.

I'll go look up more Francesco Parrino...

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Very interesting! I had actually never heard of her. Jazz is about half way down my list, but, I looked her up and she is amazing. AND she can sing too!!! Thanks for pointing her out.

peteva Loc: Farmville, Va.

Thanks for the intro to this amazing young man. Will have to look for more videos of his excellent piano playing.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

You are quite welcome. He has a LOT of vids on You Tube. Glad you liked it.