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As a classically trained music student, I use to wonder why anyone would need to play by ear when there’s sheet music? Don’t know how that got instilled in me,  maybe my piano teacher told me that so I would continue taking piano lessons, huh? Maybe that kind of thinking may hold water if you’re always going to play classical music where every note is spelled out for you. I quickly found out the value of playing by ear years later when my husband volunteered me to be the interim choir director at the church we were attending.

Admittedly, I was a little nervous at first because I hadn’t played for many years since my last piano lesson. When I graduated from what was then known as the High School of Music and Art in New York City, I never thought I would ever play the piano again except for my own entertainment or if we had guests over. It’s like riding a bike , right? Sure, at least I thought so.

Then the aha moment came. I asked for copies of the sheet music so I could learn the songs and I was handed an audio tape. What’s this, I asked? These are some of the songs the choir sings. Great, but where’s the music?   It’s on the tape I just gave you.  Some of our songs are not on the tape so if you need, you can ask Lily to sing some of the songs for you and you can just pick it up, right? Um. Right.

It was at that moment I was going through my mental rolodex trying to remember who it was who told me it was totally unnecessary to play by ear so I could call them up and give them a piece of my mind.

What to do, what to do? To make matters worse, my husband had done such a great job of selling the church leaders on my ability to play based upon his recollection of my performances at piano recitals and having sat through hours upon hours that I devoted to practicing year earlier.

To make a long story short, I sucked it up and learned to play by ear since 95% of the music performed by the choir I was volunteered to lead was not available on sheet music. It was ‘nightmarish’ at first and got easier with time and lots more practice, but it sure would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t been so snooty and learned to play by ear earlier on.

I stumbled upon this site that shows you how you can learn to play by ear while sitting at your computer utilizing a method very similar to how I taught myself  how to play by ear.   Check it out.

Still playing after all these years. You can too!

Yvette

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A friend of mine at work shared this with me (and I am sure there are other sites like this) and I thought it was a great way we could all express our gratitude to the brave men and women serving in the military over the holidays.

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in  Iraq . You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!    It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?    Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it’s a wonderful way to say thank you.
Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do.  We can never say  ‘thank you’ enough.

As the holiday season approaches, whether or not you celebrate any of them, be safe, be happy and be grateful.

Yvette

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One thing can be a real deterrent to your success online is when your family is not behind what you’re doing. Ok, maybe it’s not that they’re against what you’re doing but they cannot see any value in it. After all, are you making any money doing it? You’re always on the computer! Why exactly do you spend so much time on the internet, what are you doing? If you’re not making any money from the business, why are you spending money? How much money did you spend on your business so we can deduct that when we file our taxes? How much longer will you stay with it before you quit? They say internet businesses are a scam, nobody makes money doing that. Why so many conference calls if you don’t have any money coming in? I’m going to the store, do you need anything? The game comes on in 10 minutes, are you planning to watch it? I’ve been thinking of painting this room, what color do you think I should go with? You haven’t been on the internet for over a week, are you feeling ok? Did you hear that AI left the Grizzlies? YOU have a blog? I know you’re busy, but you gotta come here and see what this guy on tv is doing.

Sometimes I just want to pull my hair out strand by strand.

Now I don’t believe for one minute that my spouse does not want to see me succeed online.  After all, if I win, he wins, right? I also don’t believe that I am the only internet marketer that runs into this.

So tell me, how do you get your family members to understand that building a business online requires your time and in most cases, your money too?

Invite them to join you?

Ask for their help?

Get up 3 hours early every day (weekends too) so you can get some uninterrupted work done before you leave for the office?

Explain and apologize for the fact that what  you’re trying to do requires some of your time on a daily basis (hopefully, without interruption) after which I will be glad to watch the game with you?

Forget about it, I give up!

 If you think I am going to end this post with the perfect answer to the problem, I’m not. 

This is where you come in.

Your thoughts?

 To Your Blogging Success!

Yvette 

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Find out what a 9-year old can teach you about staying focused.

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So you have just created your blog and you have written your first post and you want the world to know about it, don’t you?

That’s where ping services come in.  Ping services notifiy blog directories and search engines that your blog has been updated. The bigger your ping list, the better.  Creating or updating your ping list in Wordpress is a piece of cake.

In your admin area go to Settings > Writing > Update Services (at the bottom of the page there is a box where you add your ping list) > Save Changes > You’re Done!

For visual people like me, here’s a short video by Arvada Yates

To Your Online Success!
Yvette

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