Well I made it through the holidays.  Like many people, I find it to be a hectic time filled with magic moments with my family, memories of the past, and the craziness of shopping and scheduling.  I also am able to take a little time off from work and reflect on just where I am in life.  Although I'm in my late 60's I'm not ready to retire just yet.  While I find that I'm less patient with students than I used to be, I think that I've still got a lot to offer.  I'll just keep going until I'm no longer relevant.

The business of art has changed significantly though.  Technology is giving artists tools that we never had before.  For less than $100 I purchased a music notation program that does a wonderful job of displaying my music and lesson material.  I used to write it out first with pencil and then copy it with pen and ruler.  This is the fourth version of this program I've had.  I've replaced it everytime I replaced my computer.  My computer also has a music recording program that came included that rivals the most expensive gear from 20 years ago.

I now have students in other states that I only see online.  Skype and FaceTime allow us to meet and I can email music and recordings of myself to reinforce the lesson.  I also have the ability to bill my students online and they can pay with a credit card.  These options were not available to a small-time guy like me until a few years ago.  And ten years ago they were unheard of.

Even mundane things like scheduling are made better.  Over ten years ago I replaced my paper appointment book with a PDA.  I used that until the holidays this year when I started keeping it all in the cloud and access it with my phone.  And the phone?  I still haven't used it to it's maximum potential.  Just ask anyone from my generation about this gizmo and we can ramble on for hours about it's wonders compared to the "old days".

Some things don't change though.  A crappy song doesn't get better with a clear recording.  And a bad teacher doesn't improve with fancy gadgets and apps.  I've watched some of the lessons on YouTube and I just cringe.  I must say though that I appreciate the new tools.  I mean, how else could I write this blog?