Reflection

After a spring of recording jazz songs, I'm finally back! I've got a big list lined up for you this summer. I'll have to check out my jazz standard books to find some summer-themed songs I can play for you.

Although it doesn't remind me of mirrors, glass, water, or anything that allows you to see yourself, "Reflection" is still on my list of all time favorite jazz songs. We all have a list like that, don't we? If yours isn't very big yet, see if you can't put this song on it.

A Small Change to my posting schedule

Hi there, teacuppers!

I’m not really saying a lot in this post. I just wanted to let you know about some changes to my posting schedule.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reconsidering my goals and resources for this blog.

I have decided that posting twice every week is too much for me right now. Therefore, I am no longer going to follow the set posting schedule you see here. That means, for my subscribers… you won’t have to delete my notifications every week! (No fingers pointed.)

If you really like my songs, then I have some good news for you.

The blog will still remain up and I will still publish new covers whenever I have some ready. I’ll still be taking your feedback about songs and all that. So don’t leave quite yet – I’m still going to have a bit more!

Thanks for taking time to listen to my songs in 2018!

~Liya

Straight No Chaser

HOT. HOT. HOT.

Why am I saying that? From what I heard, the title of this song is related to heat, but maybe not the kind you're thinking about. It's this kind of heat:

These peppers are very, very, very, very, VERY spicy. In fact, you might want to get a glass of water before you eat this one. But in this song, you're not going to get a glass of water. That's why it's called Straight No Chaser.

You need me to explain, don't you?

Hymn to Freedom

Maybe today, you were thinking about having a little more freedom.

There's that thing you just didn't want to do. You were hoping to forget about it for a few days, but now it's finally here. 

We all have those times when we want to say, "How come you're making me do that? What reason do you have? I should be free to do whatever I want."

Actually, you are. Why?

I Could Write a Book

Writing a book might sound easy, but it's a big investment.

A lot of us would like to get to center stage (sometimes quite literally) and get our names out there. The problem is, few of us ever make it there. Those who do will have to put in a lot of time or money. Why? Because it's an investment. 

Wondering where I got these great pictures? There's a site called pixabay.com that gives you free images for anything you want.

If you did write a book (like the title of this song suggests), you'd also have to spend a lot of time coming up with ideas, making an outline, actually writing it, editing it, getting it on the market, and convincing people to read it! That's a lot of time.

Is it really worth investing time in? Sometimes you'll make a lot of progress. Other times, it won't go too far. Ask me how I know.

Where did the year go?

Whoa!! What happened to 2018?!?!

If you're asking that question, that's one of the things we have in common. (Other than an interest in music, which you wouldn't be here without.) I feel like the year went by pretty fast. From one post to the next isn't that much time, and there's only 52 Wednesdays, one of which is already behind us, before another year passes. 

The rate at which time passes can 'seem' to change. When you're really looking forward to Christmas break, the time seems to drag and drag and drag and drag on forever. But by the time you feel like you've had a break, it's nearly over. 

You usually feel like you're stuck in the periods of time you don't want, but if you stared at the clock all that time, the second hand would always move at the same rate. It's just the way we think about things.

We also think about things differently when we listen to songs.

If You Could See Me Now

Some of us might be saying this to our 2018 selves.

In 2019, all of us are going to be a year older than we were in January 2018. That might be good or bad depending on how you look at it, but hopefully you're also a year better!

There's a website about playing jazz that I read, called Learn Jazz Standards. There's a few things that it always says you should do, like listening to music, making plans, and of course, learning famous and important songs, which are called jazz standards! (That's where the title of the site came from.) Ringing in the new year reminded me of one of those topics: making plans.

Yeah, I can already hear what you're saying. "You said that you make posts related to songs you've played. What does this jazz standard website have to do with 'if you could see me now?'"

Just wait, and I'll explain it. Meanwhile, you can listen to the song: