Feliz Navidad

(Another note to my email subscribers: Something went wrong again! I accidentally linked to a recording of the wrong song. It should be correct now. Thanks again for taking the time to listen to this one!)

The title of this song is another way of saying Merry Christmas.

We can say that in a lot of ways. There are also many different ways of celebrating at this time of year. There are also different ways to make music in our celebrations, and this song is one of them. 

There are also different ways we can think about music. For example, someone who plays classical music and sees a jazz song for the first time might be a bit confused.

There are also lots of different ways we can think about life - and looking at things differently is often what helps us grow.

I'll tell you about something that happened to me when I changed how I was playing.

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Before I started playing jazz, I was pretty much an everything-on-the-page player. If I was supposed to hold that note a little bit longer, it was happening. If I was supposed to play the song at this speed, it was happening - even if it took months. Basically, I wouldn't play much unless it was written down.

But then, I started looking at jazz and found out that it was played in a completely different way. Most of the song is things that you make up yourself. It was kind of hard getting into it at first, but I have to admit that now I'm much better at it than I was then.

None of that would have happened if I hadn't decided to look at music a different way.

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So long story short, changing our perspectives in life can be hard, but also can help us to make progress in the future. Maybe one of your New Year's resolutions - since the year is almost over - could be about doing something in a new way. Try saying "Merry Christmas" a different way this year. You might be surprised at what happens...