Walked 3.6 miles today, about what I averaged last year, but far more than I’ve done the last six months.

It felt good.

Practiced yoga first thing this morning and did light exercises throughout the day. Count this as evidence that things are improving.

I’ve started thinking about the workshop I’m teaching at the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in October. The title is “Playing Inside the Tune: A Groove-First Approach to Melody.”

Groove is hard to describe, but when it’s there, you just know it. You can talk about technical stuff, but that doesn’t get all the way to the core of it. It’s kind of like “the Tao that can be named isn’t the true Tao.”

Well, that’s part of why I want to do a workshop on it.

Onto the practice log:

Whistle

• Kitty’s Rambles – getting under fingers. Learned this on banjo from an accordion-playing friend.

Banjo

• Ships are Sailing and Virginia Reel @ 87 bpm.
• Garrett Barry’s Reel and Star of Munster @ 90.
  • Played these as quietly as possible; focused on breathing.

It doesn’t look like much, but there were a lot of repetitions. Sometimes this is the most enjoyable practice – getting lost in the tune. The world around you disappears.

Playing music is still the best thing I know how to do.