Happy birthday to the polymath!

Yes, Ben is wonderful!! When he was 18 months old he sang songs on tune, along with his dad and me. At 4 he asked for a drum, as many boys do. Sure enough, he played that pretty red metal drum thoughtfully, never banging it to drive you crazy. So at 4 we started him on violin lessons in a program with an older student named Joshua Bell. This Ben hated, so after one year, we dropped it. At about 8, we started piano lessons, which went well enough for a couple of years, but didn't seem to hit the mark either. At 10 he inherited his beloved Uncle Bob's clarinet, and that was a hit. In middle school, Ben added saxophone without dropping clarinet, and it was clear that jazz was his medium. For several weeks once I heard him listen to contemporary rock and roll, trying to develop a taste. This ended. He just didn't think it was interesting musically. He competed each year in the state's "solo/ensemble" contest for classical clarinet, and played all year in the marching band and the regular band and the jazz band at school. He also played in the band for school musical productions. His big family graduation party was really a recital surrounded by food, where Ben played his clarinet alone and with his buddy and with me. He and I played music that provided the sound track to Ben's whole childhood because I played it so much on the piano, in this case rearranged for piano and clarinet- Erik Satie's Gymnapedies. What a high moment that was for me. His high school's video for graduates to take home as a memory of high school included a clip of Ben rocking out on the song "Play Misty for Me." As he went away to college we bought him a new and better sax, which he still plays. (About ten years later he paid me back for this with interest, at a time when I was out of work, a very moving gesture.) He continued taking lessons at college, and when he returned to Portland after college he got involved with the PSU music program. When this didn't seem enough, but Ben didn't know what else to try, he turned for some years to videogaming. I always thought he would go back to music. Every time I hear him play these days it's wonderful and bring back a lot of happy memories too.

Actually, that was Round Midnight, not Bye Bye Blackbird, but thanks. It is, actually, one of the most soulful tunes ever written, so that's astute of you. I have nothing to do with that. I like to play the tune though.

I forget the question exactly, but Bill Clinton once answered something like, "To play the saxophone with Thelonious Monk," the piano player who wrote Round Midnight.

Harmony just means, how the notes fit together. I bought the piano so I could more easily hear what it sounds like to play more than one note at once. I'm working on a more scientific understanding of harmony, so I can play improvised saxophone over complex chordal accompaniment in a more coherent way. I'm really not that good at it yet. This harmony stuff is definitely a lifelong endeavor.

Thanks Mom.

You're right. Sorry about getting the tune's name wrong. It's good.

Don't be sorry. Bye Bye Blackbird is good too, but in a completely different way, and I play that one too sometimes. I guess all jazz is soulful in its own way. I try to do the songs justice.

Isn't it interesting how captivating other people can be? This reminds me a little of our brief discussion about babies. When talent is displayed, especially if it is one we don't ourselves possess, it can be so dang cool. I edit Ryan's papers and he is usually impressed..when it comes so easily to me. Similarly, I am impressed at his ability to build bookshelves in the space of an hour.
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Happy Birthday Ben!