The InnerMusician Blog

Fall in Love with Spaghetti Jul 20, 2021

How do you play 'love' on the piano?

So there we were in Italy, one of our Play a Story themes from Travel Notes.

We had learnt the Italian ’spaghetti’ motif and the kids were having so much fun putting the motif into different ‘sauces' - C F and G positions.

Part of the...

Continue Reading...
From Palet to Masterpiece Jun 22, 2021

Is there an art to improvisation?

You know what it's like when you watch someone improvise... it seems that the music comes from nowhere; it's so pure and honest. And while you might want to hear it again, it's gone... a gift of the moment. But what if you could grasp the elements that make up...

Continue Reading...
That Which Only You Can Create May 25, 2021

Is the world missing you?

You are creative. What’s more, when you don’t create you leave an empty space that just wants to be filled by you.

Truth: Everyone is creative

What is it that anchors people to the idea that they are uncreative? I hear it all the time: 'I can’t make...

Continue Reading...
Practice Your Heart Out Apr 20, 2021

Does practice always make perfect?

'I'm going to get it right first, and then I will play it with feeling.' Ever heard that before? Could we risk losing music to the discipline of perfecting music?

Remember that first time you played the music

I think we can 'get it right' and 'play it...

Continue Reading...
A Bubble of an Idea Mar 24, 2021

Where Play a Story began

"Art is not a thing, it is a way."  - Elbert Hubbard 

A few years ago my youngest daughter Josephine (then 4 Yrs old) was home with me, drawing in another room. I needed a moment to myself to breathe after a few busy weeks of school holidays. I turned...

Continue Reading...
The Stories We Play Feb 09, 2021

Is our music a reflection of ourselves?

"Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is" - Jackson Pollock

I have a traditional piano background myself, and while I was not entirely starved of improv exposure, I didn’t feel that it was genuinely developed. Meaning that...

Continue Reading...
Jazz n' Shiraz Dec 15, 2020

Jazz n' Shiraz - Synesthesia?

I was once invited to a ‘Jazz n' Shiraz’ evening. The combination worked very nicely. Was it just the poetic nature of the perfect pairing of jazz and shiraz? I think I may have stumbled on something quite special.

The Music Factor

I’m fascinated...

Continue Reading...
Inspired to create May 26, 2020

Just add music

My daughter is making a school media art film. She just texted me:
"Mum, my art film is way disturbing... I just added music... it even freaks ME out! Soooooo cool!"

What I loved about this moment is that Emily discovered for herself the wow moment of inspiration in the way the...

Continue Reading...