easytoblog

MOTIVATION BY SONG
During Sean Rasmussen’s excellent webinar entitled MY STORY which was presented on November 30th 2009, he used the phrase “Look for the Silver Lining “.  Having been a professional pianist for 50 years I was reminded of the song composed by Jerome Kern and Buddy De Silva in the 1920 s,  entitled ” Look For The Silver Lining “.  Hooray for Google !  Two minutes after typing in the title I had the lyrics at my fingertips.   It set me thinking of how music has been used for all purposes since the beginning of time, mainly of a positive, inspiring, uplifting and motivational nature   [ we will forget any negatives such as war ] and of course romantic.  I’d like to share a few of these priceless lyrics with you, dear reader.

LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING
Jerome Kern / Buddy De Silva

Look for the silver lining
When e’er a cloud appears in the blue.
Remember some where the sun is shining,
And so the right thing to do,
Is make it shine for you.
A heart, full of joy and gladness,
Will always banish sadness and strife.
So always look for the silver lining,
And try to find the sunny side of life.
It’s quite old world by our contemporary language style, but it does give a positive message for us to follow and be encouraged. As Sean said, there is always a Silver Lining to be found if only we look for it…….LOOK FOR IT

FINDING SPECIFIC LENGTH SONGS

The Yamaha C3 I Regularly Pla

One part of my musical work entails playing for old time dancing, which is a far cry from my preferred music art form of Jazz, but it does allow me to exercise lots of creativity and to explore lots of older repertoire.  There is a requirement to play songs which length-wise are multiples of 32 bars or measures,  and coincide with the very structured dance forms my patrons require.Song writing in the 1920 s to the 1960 s nearly always was confined to songs of 32 bars length, so it’s a natural for me to work out medleys of 2-4 songs of the same tempo and rhythm. For at least 10 years I’ve played and sung a medley of three very positive message songs which I call my Inspiration Medley. They are Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams, On the Sunnyside Of The Street, and Accentuate the Positive. Here they are:-

WRAP YOUR TROUBLES IN DREAMS
Ted Koehler / Harry Barris / Billy Moll

When skies are cloudy and grey
They’re only grey for a day
So wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream your troubles away

Until that sunshine peeps through
There’s only one thing to do
Just wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream all your troubles away

Your castles may tumble (that’s fate after all)
Life’s really funny that way
No use to grumble, smile as they fall
Weren’t you king for a day?

Just remember that sunshine
Always follows the rain
So wrap your troubles in dreams
And dream your troubles away

ON THE SUNNYSIDE OF THE STREET
Jimmy McHugh / Dorothy Fields

Grab your coat and get your hat, leave your worries on the doorstep.
Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street.

Can’t you hear that pitter pat and that happy tune is your step.
Life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street.

I used to walk in the shade with the blues on parade.
ButI’m not afraid this rover, crossed over

If I never have a cent I’ll be rich as Rockfeller.
The gold dust at my feet on the Sunny side of the Street.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer

You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium’s
Liable to walk upon the scene

To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do just when everything looked so dark?

(Man, they said “We’d better accentuate the positive”)
(“Eliminate the negative”)
(“And latch on to the affirmative”)
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between (No!)
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

There is a cute tale of the origin of Accentuate the Positive.  It seems Johnny Mercer, the lyricist, was having therapy for serious depression, which was quite common among the music stars of decades ago.  After several sessions he asked the therapist if there was any simple method to counter depression, and the therapist simply answered ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE. Mercer probably had the outline of the song in his head before he got to Harold Arlen’s studio, and it became a major hit. Mr Arlen is the composer of one of the worlds most requested songs for over 70 years ” Over The Rainbow ” and is my personal favourite composer of that genre.

YouTube has a variety of artists performing these songs.  Worth the time to look.  Here’s the link to Bing Crosby and Bette Middler singing Accentuate  the Positive

Steinway Concert Grand in Profile

BURNING OR FLUSHING THE NEGATIVES

Not sure where I learned this stuff, but it really works for me and has done so for some time time.  Most of us are afflicted with loads of negativity about our financial condition, so this brief post may inspire and instruct you towards positivity. Sadly, many of us had parents, teachers and schoolfriends who delighted in pouring these negative cliches into our subconcious minds from an early age and left many of us with an inherited wrong attitude toward our financial health. We have the right to become rich.

MY SIMPLE METHOD TO DELETING ALL THAT BRAINWASHING

This may seem a bit off the wall, but as I just said it works for me and I have the results. Go on, have a laugh, but if you don’t try it you may never know.  All you do is to write down all the negative cliches you can think of { I’ll  loan you 20 of mine to get you under way }  on a piece of paper, read it a couple of times, and then tear it up and either burn it OR flush it down the toilet.  Too simple ?  What you’re doing is showing the subconcious mind that those thoughts are a load of negative rubbish and deserve to be burnt or flushed.  While in negotiations for one of my properties and encountering difficulties, my childhood programming took over and I thought I should quit and not worry about it – and give up the idea of doing well. Remembering this technique which I’d learned years back, was my lightglobe moment.  So, I wrote down all these evil things every day for 2 weeks, and either burned or flushed them. Man, it felt great and was satisfying.!  The negotiations took a turnaround, and it all went my way. [ Sounds like Frank Sinatra ]

COLLECTION OF THE NEGATIVE MONEY CLICHES.  TO BE BURNED OR FLUSHED !

1.  Money is the root of all evil

2. Money doesn’t grow on trees

3. He / She is filthy rich

4. All rich people are crooks / robbers.

5. If you’re rich, you must be a shady character

6. If you’re rich, how can you tell if  someone likes you for yourself

7. You should always have a trade / profession to fall back on.

8. Don’t try to rise above your station in life.

9. Sincere musicians are always poor or broke

10. Easy come – easy go.

11. Money can’t buy happiness

12. I’m poor but happy.

13. It’s spiritual to be poor.

14. We’re not made of money.

15. Behind every fortune is a crime.

16. Be happy with what you have.

17. It’s tough at the top.

18. There’s virtue in poverty.

19. It’s better to give than receive

20. Investing is GREED and using people for your own ends.

SATISFACTION AT LAST.

One of the best ways I can reccommend to reinforce this simple method of purging  all this negative rubbish from your mind, is to replace it with good positive thoughts, and there’s one outstanding book for the task. It is totally free in Ebook form with the story narrated in MP3 format. It is a contemporary rewrite of Wallace Wattles classic   “The Science of Getting Rich ” by Internet coach and teacher Sean Rasmussen, and you can get it at no cost by clicking this link. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Law-Of-Attraction/172375992294 Share it with your friends and family as well.

My final thought about doing this seemingly simple technique is how bloody satisfying it can be, especially if you persuade yourself as you are striking the match, pushing the button, or pulling the chain that you are doing a cleansing of the subconcious mind’s hangups about generating wealth. Good Luck – may prosperity and abundance be your constant friend.

As you may have guessed from all the Grand Piano photographs scattered throughout my previous posts, I have been a professional pianist / musician for most of my life.  It’s wonderful to be able to share the skills I’ve learned and developed over that time, so I taught all ages of students up until the late 1980’s . Then my seaplane career kind of  ” got in the way “  of teaching, and I decided enough was enough, and ceased that educational activity.

As a piano teacher, one finds most students only learn or pretend to learn at the insistence of their parents, and to say the majority of them are half hearted  [ MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT ] was a cause of severe frustration to me.  It was a case of  beating  my head against their wall most of the time, because trying to encourage students who don’t want to practice, and parents who don’t motivate them to practice is seriously difficult. Learning piano requires a lot of physical training to get the fingers and hands working at an acceptable level. The analogy of training was one of my most successful ploys with many students, especially those of a sporting nature.

Overhead view of a Schimmel Grand without a lid

As I always look for the the positive aspect of everything in my life, I’m very proud to boast of one exceptional student, Ashley Irwin, www.ashleyirwin.com who has made a major career in Hollywood film and television, composing and arranging at the very top level. He had lessons from me when he was between 14 and 16, and unlike the majority of students, worked like a demon to absorb everything I taught. The one hour lessons very rapidly developed into three hour sessions, and an occasional half day.   I do not recall asking him how many hours he practiced, but I can guarantee there must have been heaps. Even at that age he was very dedicated to learning about arranging, so it came as no surprise, later on,  to hear about his creative writing career.   My jazz piano teacher, Chuck Yates had done the same thing for me years earlier when I made my fortnightly 320 kilometre round trip from the country for lessons, too – thankyou Chuck.

Our jazz quartet www.harrylynnbasementband.com.au has been resident at the Gold Coast Arts Centre [ Queensland Australia ] in a very cool jazz cellar with a wonderful atmosphere since mid 2004. We play as a quartet and have various sitin musicians and a guest singer / musician each Saturday night. As our commitment to passing on our decades of experience, we started what we call our Apprenticeship Scheme, and have a variety of young players from eight to seventeen sit in with and recieve mentoring fromthe band. So far, four apprentices have       ” graduated ” and gone on to the Brisbane Conservatorium Jazz Professionals course. The mentoring we do satisfies my teaching needs, and seems to be very much  appreciated by apprentices and their parents

Steinway Concert Grand in Profile

Piano teaching has changed radically with the advent of the Internet, and   high quality lessons are now available at very reasonable cost. Not from your local teacher, but in some cases from world renowned educators such as Barry Harris. http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Barry_Harris/ His story is very typical of professional jazz musicians,  and in recent years he and Canadian pianist / teacher Howard Rees have combined their talents to produce teaching videos and workbooks which can be used as home studies. Click Here http://tinyurl.com/ye4e6st

Whilst Barry’s course is my preferred one as it’s very dear to my jazz musicians soul, following are other courses using modern video, and downloadable Ebook lessons at very reasonable cost.  You, the potential student may find one of these may lead you to a style which suits you well.

Piano Coach. Click Here http://tinyurl.com/yal4lcr

Jazz Piano for Beginners.Click Here http://tinyurl.com/ya3zo53

Rocket Piano – Ruth Searle – Allrounder Click Here Please http://tinyurl.com/y9dvsht

For more information about the Arts Centre  and the Apprentices please www.squidoo.com/webfoot06

Bosendorfer " Strauss " Grand Piano

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One of the most insidious enemies of success and achieving goals is procrastination.  By concentrating on the results one desires rather than the difficulties of how to achieve them, one can give procrastination the flick.   It is absolutely imperative the goals be written down and be constantly read and re-read until they have been reached.   The creation of a vision board with statements of desired goals and pictures representing them is a powerful starting point on the pathway to success.

  After many years of focusing on getting a grand piano, checking all the brochures, trying various instruments and continuing to concentrate on seeing the model I liked best, in my home studio, one day I saw an auction advertisement for a ” black grand piano “   There was no mention of which brand it was, but somehow I “knew” it was a Yamaha C3 6 foot grand, even before I left home to check it out !  No prize for guessing my dream grand had been a black Yamaha C3 !!!

Having this piano appear at the right time is a graphic realisation of how the power of thought can attract the desired object into your life.  As James Allen says in “ As a Man Thinketh “  “As an man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”   I had held the vision of this exact colour and model grand piano in the forefront of my mind for many years leading up to that auction day, and it was immensely satisfying to buy it at a very low price that  day.  Almost like it had been waiting for me !

IT’S BEEN A LONGTERM PART OF MY LIFE, AND I LOVE IT !!!

Why does one blog ?  Is it really that easy ?  In a word, yes. It is fun, very addictive, and once the first sentence of that blog is written, it just FLOWS.  Is it an avenue for earning an income online, or is it a creative way of expressing oneself ?  Perhaps there is a combination of reasons including frustrations with society and having a whinge, or a suggestion to one’s readers of a product, service, or information to make life happier and easier. 

Alternatively, it could be a way of making others aware of subjects for which one has a great passion, such as wealth creation, financial independence, share and property investing, ways of enjoying life free of money problems, overcoming procrastination and being bogged down through lack of motivation and direction, and getting into action.  Of a less financial nature in my case, boundless enthusiasm for my family and friends, Jazz piano [ plus our Quartet ] good nutrition, fitness and health, and seaplanes.

Blogging can be virtually anything you wish it to be. It seems there are many people online wanting to create an income from it, but full time bloggers are relatively rare. This blog’s purpose is to explore blogging in all forms, and you are invited to join me for the trip.

Stay Tuned – more posts coming. Thankyou for being part of this blog.