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Here are some videos of our guests performing. Walter Rodrigues (blue shirt), Ron Block (black shirt), Thomas Leeb (goatee), and Matt Thomas (blue shirt and glasses). IMG_3221.mov IMG_3241.mov IMG_3254.mov IMG_3295.mov

I was one of the 5 that Diane mentioned (we need to come up with a name for ourselves). When I relayed my experience to my wife, she had some good advice - don't use the word "performance". Just think of this as playing in front of your friends. I volunteered to be a guinea pig in Steve's session on the basics - I provide an excellent demonstration of what not to do. But I got up there and Steve said - "Play something". So I start playing his arrangement of "Yesterday" from the Beatles Academy a couple of years ago. I know that song cold. I play it at home all the time - fairly well I think. I stumbled through the first two verses and the bridge - and then - bang. My mind went totally blank. I froze. I tried to restart. Didn't work. So Steve rescued me and continued his class. Then later that evening I played my planned "performance" of "If" by Bread (my wife's favorite). I had practiced this at home so many times I could play it in my sleep. I made it through the song - not as smooth as I would like - and since I was playing through Steve's amp (which I rarely do on acoustic at home) I could hear every mistake amplified. And yes, I could feel my right hand starting to quiver a bit, particularly as I realized the song was almost over. But you know what? I would do it again. I'll be better next time. And yes, there will be a next time.

Epilog One more day on the road tomorrow. Almost home. At Deer Run, I mopped the floor, extinguished a fire, and took my turn in front of the fireplace. (Use your imagination, it will be more dramatic.) For now, I leave you with a final lesson learned, or more accurately, re-learned. Our guest artists are phenomenal, inspirational, humble, world class musicians. But I can’t aspire to their level of play. I so look forward to hearing my fellow students perform. In them — in you — I can better imagine my future self. Yet of my two dozen companions this week, only five of us elected to play a song for the group. There was time for at least twice that number. It’s ironic that so many of us who love to make music in privacy are so terrified of performing the very same music for others. No, it’s worse than ironic, it’s joy denied. I get it. Steve gets it: “You sit in front here and you freak out.” People, please: make peace with making mistakes. I have, because what matters is what happens along the way. I knew my song would be shaky after three days of travel without rehearsing. But I reminded myself that two months ago, I couldn’t play a single note of it. It was getting better. In front of my teacher and my friends, I stumbled here and there, but I caught a little magic. You deserve some of your own. Give us what you’ve got. It might have been things I missed But don’t be unkind, it don’t mean I’m blind… You see, it’s all clear, you were meant to be here From the beginning — Greg Lake, “From the Beginning”