Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Scales

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words." --Goethe

You can find this quotation on the header to my Fortnightly Blog:
THE FORTNIGHTLY KITTI CARRIKER:
A LITERARY BLOG OF CONNECTION & COINCIDENCE,
CUSTOM & CEREMONY

www.kitticarriker.blogspot.com

It reminds me of something my piano teacher in Philadelphia said when she was getting ready to move away and we didn't know when/if or how long it would be before I found another instructor. She gave me this advice for playing the piano on my own: "Every day at least, do your scales and a little Bach." I'd like to say that I have followed her advice; I know I should.

My friend Jan says something similar about keeping a journal: "Once a week, I try to write a short piece of fiction to post on my journal. I think of it as practice, as playing the scales." She says, "Moments happen, and they go away. Each moment is a story."

Moments of time, moments in time, that's what you'll find in Jan's journal. For anyone, journal writing can be a way to heed Thornton Wilder's advice (see blog header above) to realize life as we live it, "every, every minute."

For Jan's journal, drama, and fiction, visit her elegantly introspective website:
www.Jan Donley.com

Jan, Kitti, Jes; at the Boston Public Library, May 2008
Jes & Kitti, Happy Thanksgiving, 1982
Jan & Kitti, Seeing the Light, 1988

See also:
Piano Lesson & Embracing Imperfection

6 comments:

  1. Kitti, I love this post. Thanks for mentioning my blog. That picture of you and me is amazing, with its visitation of light. But I have to say, I can barely look at myself with that hair cut. What was I thinking?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jan, and what was I thinking? Mine is exploding off to one side of my head! Still, this has always been one of my favorite pictures, because I'm pretty sure that's the Holy Ghost there with us! In the one above, Jes looks very glamorous (I remember that blue sweater dress) but where did I get those glasses?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jes said . . .

    How courageous of you to insist on beauty and thoughtfulness every day in this, the 21st century! What a brave blogger you are! Thank you for drawing my attention to Jan's journal in your blog.

    Yay for both of you, journaling, blogging, thinking, creating! May the workings of your beautiful brains never cease. I've always had good taste in friends, you know. It's so reassuring to see that my instincts were then and are now perfectly sound.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I replied to Jes: Thanks again for such high praise! You are very kind & encouraging. You should write these things in the comment section at the end of the blog entries so that other people could read them; then there might be a knock - on effect that would help me & Jan get more readers & followers.

    And to Jan & Jes I wrote: You'll never guess what I did this afternoon? Practiced my scales and a little Bach, which I haven't done for months, but I didn't want to be a total fraud!

    Jan replied: Kitti -- you could never ever be a fraud. You are always and forever the real thing. One of a kind. And so are you, Jes!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh so beautiful! Thank you Kitti! And your blog is wonderful. This made my morning. <3 ~Gabi

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh so beautiful! Thank you Kitti! Your blog is wonderful. This post made my morning. <3

    ReplyDelete