… and I’m still in one piece, thankfully, given what was initially a very busy but ultimately a very rewarding day.
Our mass went off very well, although once again someone had got the sound balance wrong for the keyboard so I had to be very careful, and everyone sang, played and directed (David, of course) very well. A nice round of applause at the end from a full church was much appreciated.
My niece, ably assisted by other members of the family, put on a very good meal and afterwards an impromptu jam session involving keyboard, tenor sax, guitars and cahon with all sorts of music, Christmas and non-Christmas ensued. After what has been a somewhat difficult year for me medically it was good and very much appreciated to have something that was not only uplifting in its own right but was also very much a promise of improvements next year.
I haven’t quite decided on my New Year’s Resolutions yet – normally I don’t make any but I think this time I need to push myself in a number of musical areas that perhaps I haven’t really focused on this year as much as I should.
For the last three years since I acquired the piano, I’ve been very grateful for the musical pleasure it has given me and others, and for the friendships I have made through it, and I will look to capitalise on that as best my limited abilities will allow me. I’ve had the opportunity to develop the core of a network of people who have both the interest and the means to progress music on the Stuart piano much further than has been done before, and I suspect that will begin to take up more of my time in the future.
But that is the future – today is still a holiday for all and I will take advantage of that with the family.