Joe Cummings

March 11, 2020August 11, 2021

Adulting

Growing up is seriously overrated, in my opinion, but The-Oldest took on some serious adulting this weekend – He had his first college/university audition.

For 3 hours, he would take a series of tests, do performances and be grilled about his skills, weaknesses and musical knowledge. Honestly, I don’t know who was more nervous. Him? Me or his mom, AKA The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World?

I mean, this was some important sh*t. Failure would mean they wouldn’t accept his application and he’d have to try out for another school. Not that there weren’t other schools, but this one was close to us so he wouldn’t have to spend Ghana’s national budget on room and board, and he already knew some of the professors there. In other words, it was his first choice.

Heck, even making that choice was part of the whole nasty ‘adulting’ thing. The choices can be overwhelming. All have different versions of the same programs, but they all seem to specialize a bit more in one or the other. For example, one may not have any technology classes that would teach you how to be a music producer, but they have extensive classes on musical theory.

Then there’s the school’s reputation. If I was 17, again, I would probably over-research this and drive myself insane, but The-Oldest and his mom were more practical, reading up on reputations, but not being driven by them. It made no sense to go to some place that was iffy, but who’s to say what was really the best?

And, lastly, there was the whole how-far-will-his-money-go thing? Post-secondary education is massively expensive, far more so than when I went to school. Colleges offer a nifty alternative to the outrageous fees. Take 2 years of college for a lesser cost, then transfer to the more prestigious universities.

So that’s what he chose.

Because we didn’t want to overwhelm him with parental company, I stayed home while The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World took him to the college. I waited, chewing my nails off and wishing I could drink (but it was 11am),

He had the talent and the drive, for sure, but nerves are a funny thing and if they got the best of him, it would be a disaster. Professor: “So, tell me what you like about the piano?”

Him: “Liszt wore wigs.”

“Right. Yes. I’m sure he did. About the piano.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean to talk about wigs, oh boy, no, not that there’s anything wrong with wigs, I mean, you there, you could use one being bald and all, but not that there’s anything wrong with being bald, I think I’ll be bald sometime, but I don’t think I’ll wear a wig.”

But then I got the news. He had passed and passed with flying colors!

I actually bounced up and down with joy and relief.

They were so impressed with his ability, his talent and his attitude. They said he was at a 3^rd year university level and could probably get into any school he wanted! His technique on piano could be worked on if he took more piano courses, but his ear and his ability to understand music on a very high level were outstanding.

When he told them what interested him the most, composition and music production, they thought that was an amazing choice for him with the skill-set and talent that he had demonstrated. When they found out he’d only being doing this for 4 years, they were flabbergasted. No, wait, gobsmacked. Yes, gobsmacked, and praised what was clearly a gift.

He came home a completely different person – happy, chatty, and full of hope. But the most important thing he said to us was that he felt comfortable there. “They are my people! No one talked to each other, they all looked massively awkward and all they want to do is play music. I’m going to fit right in!”

And so he will.

He had said that grade 12 would be his best year ever, but I believe that his couple of years in college and university will be even more amazing. Imagine being able to learn about what you love, do what you love, chat about what you love with people that are equally nerdy and awkward? It would be like me going to D&D school.

I know he’ll love it and I know he’ll do amazing. He was born for this.

I am so very proud of the man he’s becoming and the adulting that he’s doing.

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019

The Great Sacrifice

Parents will do anything for their children: Lift a car off their child. Fight off a bear. Run into a burning building to save their little ones. But the greatest sacrifice by far, I would argue, is letting one of them have a drum set.

The-Youngest, (perhaps inspired by his musically talented brother or some drum-solo music video), decided that the instrument that spoke to him the most was the drums. The boom of the base drum, the rat-tat-tat of the snare drum, the clang and clash of the cymbals.

When he came to us with his little face set in excited determination, the Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World and I looked at each other like mice about to be fed to a large snake.

We knew what a drum kit would entail. We didn’t have a wood shack out back where he could play. We didn’t have a sound-proof room somewhere in the lower levels of our basement that was once used by a serial killer. We would have to set up in our rec room and that was only one uninsulated floor away from where we lived most of our lives – the kitchen, living room and family room.

Now, we could have said, no. We could have argued that the beautiful sound The-Oldest makes on his piano does not compare to the chaotic cacophony of someone learning to play the drums. We could have told him that drumming makes my eye twitch and will likely cause me to have epileptic fits.

Instead, we said, sure.

Cuz we’d do anything for our kids.

So, we rented a drum kit from Long & McQuade. The-Youngest set it up and began banging away immediately. The whole house shook with the noise. The dog tried to hide upstairs. All the neighbours around us immediately put up for-sale signs.

Had we made a terrible mistake?

Well, that remains to be seen, but we immediately put 3 rules into place. First, no drums before 9am and after 8pm. Second, if he’s to have drums, he’s to learn how to play them, not just bang away like a chimpanzee on heroin and coffee. Lastly, if asked to stop, for any reason at all (headaches, dog throwing up, trying to watch a movie, whatever), he would do it. Immediately and without complaint.

He agreed.

To his credit, he took the second part very seriously, solving the problem of learning by doing what all people do in 2019 – he looked up YouTube videos on how to play.

Now, after a month, I have to say, he’s not that bad. In fact, he’s kinda good. He started out with simple beats or rhythms or whatever you do on drums and practiced his coordination with his feet and hands. Oh sure, the house still shakes, the dog still hides and most of the houses next to use are empty and noise bylaw officers lurk outside the house 24/7, but it’s not as bad as I feared.

We survived.

With our hearing and sanity intact.

I think our next great challenge will come when he wants to get a car.

Or a girlfriend.

Thanks for reading! If you like what you see, please hit the subscribe button, buy me a coffee (button at the top) or follow me on FB or Pinterest, or heck, just tell your friends.

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019

The Composer

There may come a time when The-Oldest playing on stage doesn’t wow me, but on one Saturday in Dec., not only was I wow’d, but I have to confess, tears leaked out of this old guy’s eyes as I listened to him play at the Langley Community Music School – a piece he’d written.

As a struggling artist (writer, not composer), I felt his anguish as he wrote, then perfected his sonata. For weeks, I heard him trying new things on his piano, playing with themes, progressions, chords and musical thingees I don’t pretend to understand. He’d curse the results sometimes. Sometimes he’d leave to walk around, muttering to himself as he sorted out a problem in his mind. A few times he even shouted with triumph.

But make no mistake, creating his latest composition took time, he suffered in its creation, and he put a lot of his soul into it.

Being a perfectionist, though, he wasn’t happy with the piece even as he sat waiting for his turn to play on stage. Nervous, like anyone having to perform, he talked out the issues swirling in his head, hoping to calm the butterflies or chase away the fear that everyone would hate it, that he’d wasted his time, that he didn’t have the talent.

Worse, as he sat there, he found out he had to do a speech.

A speech!

He hadn’t prepared for that! What was he going to say?

Keep it simple, I told him. What is your name? What is your quest? What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

He didn’t laugh. I don’t even know if he heard me.

Then his turn came.

Christ, I was as nervous as him. I knew there were complex parts he struggled to play. I knew when he let his nerves get the best of him, he’d rush through the piece like a ferret on speed. I knew that he still wasn’t sure one part worked and might even attempt to change it on the fly.

He stood up.

His mom took his hand for a moment. Just a brief moment. Then he marched up on stage.

And played his heart out.

He played his piece fearlessly. He played with passion and power. He played loud and proud, which in our living room sometimes sounds like he’s trying to bring the walls of Jericho down, but in the concert hall, he filled the huge room with incredible music.

After he finished, he stood, bowed with flourish, like a man used to being on stage, like a performer who knew he’d hit it out of the park. Not like someone who just took up the piano 2 ½ years ago.

I dabbed away the tears.

Last blog, I talked about ‘firsts’, and how special they can be, but this, too, was special. Not his first concert. Not the first piece he’s played to an audience, but it was, by far, the best performance that he’d done thus far.

Thus. Far.

Who knows what’s next?

As sat back down, he said he was already working on his next creation, and it would be even BETTER.

The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World and I both posted the performance on Facebook and Youtube, but if you haven’t heard it, check it out below. Like and subscribe to his channel, if you think he did a good job.

Help him get to 1000 subcribers. 🙂

Check out his Youtube Video for more

Thanks for reading! If you like what you see, please hit the subscribe button, buy me a coffee (button at the top) or follow me on FB or Pinterest, or heck, just tell your friends.

September 25, 2017

Play Us a Song, You're the Piano Man

Musical Monday.

There are moments you just know will stick with you forever. Often they’re bad but when they’re good, they’re very good. While in Whistler, I had both. But first, the good one.

We all had ideas of what we wanted to do in Whistler. Zip-lining. Jet-boating. And, of course, playing the piano.

To be fair, only one of us wanted the later, but The-Oldest very much wanted to find a piano in the open and play it. He’d found one is Osoyoos. It was placed out on the sidewalk with an invitation for anyone to play it.

Being brave, he played it, and much to his surprise got tipped nearly $20.

So, while in Whistler, he was determined to find another piano and entertain everyone, (and, you know, maybe collect some cash, too.)

We found one outside of the Arts Whistler Community Center. Painted brightly, it was a simple stand-up piano with a simple bench.

He sat down on the bench, hunched over the keys and began to play while we settled on comfortable benches to watch. Being slightly out of the way, there weren’t a lot of people coming by, but one family stopped and their little girl wanted to help The-Oldest out. She was enthralled with his playing and looked up in awe at The-Oldest like he was a god or like how I look at a donut.

It was cute. Super cute.

But then came along another girl who was in her, well, let’s say her early twenties. She stopped to listen, shaking her head at what The-Oldest pounded out on the keys.

“Is he your son?” she asked.

“He is,” The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World beamed. “He’s 14.”

“He’s amazing,” she said. “How long has he been playing?”

“18 months,” I said. “One day, he just sat down at the piano and began to play. His mom showed him the basics, but he soon zoomed past her and began to tackle Liszt and Greig and Rachmaninoff.”

“That’s incredible,” the girl said, listening to The-Oldest play. “I play the piano, too. And the guitar. And I compose.”

“That’s so cool,” I said. “He’s just begun composing. He works on it day and night.”

“He’s found his passion,” The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World said. “We have to drag him away to eat.”

The girl listened to The-Oldest longer. “He plays so beautifully,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “That he’s found his passion so young in life, is… so beautiful.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

His music, his story, had moved her.

Immediately, the Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World began to tear up as well. She comes from a teary people.

“He’s just incredible,” the girl said, wiping away her tears, then apologized for crying, but really, there was nothing to apologize for.

The-Oldest had moved his first fan to tears. Usually, I have to step on someone’s foot to do that or eat a bad burrito and expel noxious gas afterward, but he’d done it with the way he played. Fearlessly. Passionately. Beautifully.

That moment will stick with me forever.

(Below are vids of him playing)

August 14, 2017

A Prelude to a Prelude – Musical Monday

Well, a new thing. Music Monday.

Being about as musically inclined as a block of concrete, I struggle to understand what The-Oldest is creating. Like anyone who really doesn’t know much about music, I simply can say, yeah, that sounds great or I love that quiet bit or pass me the donuts, so today, we’re going to start a series on music.

To help me learn and to showcase his awesomeness.

Each week I’ll post something The-Oldest has created, though I would encourage everyone to follow him on that YouTubie thing and get updates directly from him.

First up, his first prelude.

Now, a prelude, according to me is… is a car.

According to him, “It’s a quick piece that, maybe uhm, averages about 2-3 minutes that is, supposed to come before a large piece.” He hasn’t seen a concert where a prelude has been played before the concert, but it used to happen a lot in the old days., (which could be like 1970), “or in operas.”

“For example every single time there is an opera, there is an overture which ack gets you ready for the opera. Like Wagner has preludes (like the wedding march) to every one of his operas. The prelude sets up a mood.”

His prelude sets the mood for an epic piece. “It feels like we’re going somewhere later, like a start to something grand, or like the cutting of a ribbon for a store opening, but going in the store is the cool part.”

He says he changed keys in a rising fashion quite a bit which created a sense of rising tension. He changed it up, though, he added, by suddenly going down in the keys to kill the tension and slow down. Why? Because he wanted to mess with people and try out a new chord.

“The ending is the basic technique of how to make a finale, but it’s a fake one because it’s just the beginning. (the technique is going from a tonic chord to augmented chord). When I reached the very top, I went all the way back down with 6-1 chord combo and finished it with a quick bum-boom.”

Enjoy

For my musical friends, look at the trilling of the middle fingers. OMG, how does he do that? My fingers just cramp up thinking about it. (FYI, the program he’s using is synthesia)

For everyone else, any thoughts?

October 11, 2016

The Piano Man

Well, we survived the wedding, had a blast on the honeymoon, but now it’s time for real life. And something special for you-all.

Time for hockey, you ask.

Sure. That’ll come.

Time for tales about school?

You bet, but that’ll have to wait.

In the meantime, please check out The-Oldest’s latest video. Remember, he’s only been that this since April. 🙂 I wish he’d shown his fingers at work, but whatever, it’s still awesome playing.

September 6, 2016

Beatles Love – Cirque du Soleil – Vegas

No question about it, the Cirque du Soleil folks can put on a fine show. I’d seen one every time I went to Vegas, but this one was a little different. This one had a musical theme. The Beatles.

Now who doesn’t love the Beatles?

So I was keen to see what they would do with their usual contortionists, flying acrobats, odd-looking clowns and gymnasts leaping around. The-Oldest couldn’t wait to see it. He’d seen one Cirque show in Vancouver and loved it, so combining that style of performance with music that he loved could be amazing.

Or he could be massively disappointed as he set his sights too high, like I did for the new Star Wars movie. Or for democracy.

We’d bought tickets more towards the back. Deliberately. Being me, I read a ton of reviews, and the general consensus was that the new Star Wars movie wasn’t that great and that we should sit in the back if we wanted to see EVERYTHING in the Beatles – Love. If we wanted to be a part of the show, then closer to the front was the way to go. Every seat was great, I’d read, so why not go with what would be the best for us?

I mean, hey, spooky-ass clowns poking children or whatever else the Cirque people decided to throw at the keeners who sat at the front might be a bit much for the-Youngest, so for us, farther away was better.

Not exactly a spooky-ass clown but sometimes the costume are a little.. odd — Not exactly a spooky-ass clown but sometimes the costumes are a little… odd

We made our way to the Mirage and waited for them to open up the theater. While we waited, the-Oldest ran through a litany of Beatles songs he thought they might play. His top 10. We made our own list. I may post this ‘cuz I know people are just dying to read about more lists.

Then we went in.

In the end, the show was spectacular. We’d done well by choosing the back since they covered most of the front seats with a huge, billowing sheet for one song (which looked awesome, but would have scared the poop out of the-Youngest.) As well, they had a performer dressed up as a spooky-ass monkey (instead of a clown), who picked bugs out of people’s hair.

That would have terrified The-Youngest. And me.

So, here is the top 10 list of why the Beatles- Love was amazing.

Top 10

1) For me, the music brought back so many great memories. I grew up listening to their music. I owned their albums. I can sing (badly) most of their songs.

2) I loved what they did with the billowing sheet, shining lights on it and making it seem like a moving ocean. And yes, there is a video below of that. Spectacular! How does someone think this up???

3) The set they did with undersea gardens looked amazing. Floating octopi. Kelp trees. Bubbles. So awesome. I wanted to be in that octopuses garden with them.

4) I love seeing what human beings can do. Skilled, acrobatic ones. Not chubby, Captain-America-loving ones like me. Even the simplest of things for Cirque performers like climbing up a rope (which always made me feel funny in my naughty area) is done with such grace and beauty, that I can’t help but be amazed.

5) We watched a man seemingly dance in slow motion, using a cart with a ladder on the end. it’s hard to explain, so there’s a video at the bottom. The strength and balance that takes is so far beyond me that I may as well be that monkey picking bugs from the audience’s hair.

6) Lucy soared in the sky with diamonds. Words simply fail me to describe it. It was magical.

7) A VW bug slowly exploded into pieces during one of the songs, the pieces held by the performers. (again, you can see this below.) It worked because I love seeing things kind of blow up, I didn’t see it coming, and it looked like poetry would look if poetry could be visual.

8) The stunning visuals and song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, made me cry. Yes, I cried. Don’t judge me. If a guitar can weep, so can I.

9) There were even a few times when the leaping acrobats missed their marks, landing not on top of the roof of a car, but on its side and then having to scramble up. But hell, they even made that look good.

10) Having the-Oldest smile with unrestrained joy made it worth the expense ten times over.

So, my review… see it. It’s worth the money. It’s worth the time. It’ll leave you singing Beatles songs and talking about the most amazing feats you saw.

The-Oldest gave it a complete 10/10. He would see it, again. Happily.

The-Youngest agreed it was fantastic, but he says stick to the back of the theater. That monkey is the stuff of nightmares.

And The-Prettiest-Girl-in-the-World sat either transfixed by all the grace and beauty or was moved to tears by the music. 10/10 for her. Maybe 11/10 because it made her oldest so happy.

Could you ask for a better show?

My apologies for the ads, but since I couldn’t record this myself, I had to look to youtube

June 24, 2016

Piano Man

You know, I wonder if we’ll look back and say this was the start of something big.

But yesterday, The-Oldest created his first YouTube account and posted his first video. It wasn’t about minecraft or Smash or his latest movies.

It was about music.

He posted a top 100 list of his favourite pieces of music, (spoiler alert, it’s mostly classical), and then he posted a video of himself playing the piano. Or at least a video of his fingers playing the piano.

It’s been so impressive to watch him start, just three months ago, and to see how far he’s come. In 3 months, I might have learned to plunk out a few notes with 2 fingers, but he’s progressed very far beyond that. So very far.

It’s something he loves. He comes home and goes directly to the piano. He gets ready for bed quickly, he uses the excess time to practice. Give him a whole day at home, and he’s on that thing for 8-10 hours.

Now he’s making his own music, learning about major and minor chords, tweaking Mozart to make it better, and trying to conquer something called the Hungarian Rhapsody.

How cool is that?

So, below, I’ve posted a link to his new YouTube page. If you get a chance, check it out, give him some love and follow him as he begins this journey.