The Composer's Notebook Blog

If I could send a note to myself in the past, it would say something like this . . .

1. Don’t quit piano lessons after 4th grade.
2. Keep playing catch with dad in the backyard, but don’t play baseball. It’s a great sport, but no matter how much time you put into it, you will always be horrible at it. You’ll only get on base when you get hit with pitches.
3. Write lots of music.
4. Listen to more jazz.
5. Listen to more Bach and Beethoven and Brahms and . . .
6. You love to read. Keep reading.
7. Turn off the TV.
8. Don’t take the magnet out of your stereo speaker and press it against the TV screen
9. Foam rubber is a petroleum product. Don’t make a diorama out of it with your army men and then set it on fire in the middle of the back yard.
10. Try everything good for you, but trust me . . . don’t taste gammel dansk . . . and liver is a filter, not a food . . . Just trust me.
11. Don’t be embarrassed when you fail and don’t be afraid of failure.
12. Breathe.
13. Listen more. Speak less.
14. Never be unkind.
15. Just because you don’t understand it, doesn’t make it not true.
16. Tempus fugit.
17. Don’t get a perm . . . ever.
18. Tongues actually DO stick to cold metal.
19.When playing kickball on the playground, be sure to account for all tetherball poles BEFORE running to chase a fly ball. Concussions hurt!
20. Do instead of regret.