Being Here (On Earth)

Isn't life just beautiful?

corner view "traditions"

Since it's close to Christmas, I'll talk about the family Christmas traditions. Every year, we get a tree. (We now have a fake tree which saves money and trees.) Then when it's time to decorate it, we put on Christmas music (our favorite is "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree") and Mom picks out the ornaments one by one for the kids to put on the tree.

By Theresa Marks

 By Theresa Marks

For more traditions, visit my mom, Theresa.

corner view "improvising"

I guess you could call me spontaneous. I love surprises! I love last minute outings or trips (especially if it's ice cream or something).  

I also admire different kinds of improvising. There are a lot, if you don't know, so I'll just talk about a couple, my two favorites.

Number one, musical improvisation. That's when you stay in a scale and hit any of its notes at random. Sometimes you'll get little snippits of cool sounds and may be able to create a new song out of it if you're lucky. It's usually best to record your improvs so you can listen back to them and find songs. Probably the person who's best at this is Keith Jarrett. Pretty complex, but if you really listen he is a genius beyond genius. Another great musician in this field is more unknown, Art Lande. He was my Dad's musical mentor. He goes into different times, like instead of 4/4 time he'll go into 13 or 11 or 7 or 5!

Keith Jarrett

My other favorite type of improv is comedic improvisation. It's my favorite type of comedy and seems to be Robin Williams' too. He's my favorite. You know how we have two funny bones? I think every bone in his body is a funny bone! :)

Here are two quotes from Robin. :) Ain't he great? 

If it's the Psychic Network why do they need your phone number?  

When you create, you get a little endorphin rush. Why do you think Einstein looked like that?

For more improvising, visit my mom, Theresa.