Sunday night...

was music night again, three hours at the SOS Club putting tunes together on the fly. It's an experience both frightening and enlightening. Frightening because you're up on stage and people are calling out tunes that we, about a dozen of us, play on the fly. Enlightening because the best kind of ear training is to do it over and over again, learning the art of finding notes and chords simply by what you hear.

A lot of it, as well, has to do with the temperament of the group. Some jams can be rough, full of hard core musicians with matching personalities each trying to top the other with no mercy shown to anyone who struggles. Thank goodness we're not that kind of group. Even if you plunk around a bit you're still welcome to drop in. Yes, there are some very good musicians hanging out at SOS but the attitude is laid back and that allows people to get up to speed.

I just like the feeling. Playing music is a great joy. Playing it with others is better.