Information:

• Source: The Wonder’s of Music Notebook
• Key: D Major
• Measures: 30
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:00
• Pages: 4 Pages

A simple glance at a sunflower and one realizes, how wonderful life really is.

A PARADISE
The summer is almost over, I am still waiting for the temperatures to hit high, but so far, it’s been unusually mild for this time of the year. The hot season lasts for 2.9 months, from June 27 to September 25, with an average daily high temperature above 82°F. This, according to the Weather Channel. If I must compare Sacramento, CA, where I used to live, to Punta Banda where I am now, Punta Banda is a paradise.

Living by the beach it has been a dream come true: Endless walks, starry nights, sighting beautiful sunsets, and the constant cool breeze in a sunny day it’s undoubtedly welcoming.

I can certainly say, as a result of my resolution of having...

Information:

• Source: The Emperor’s New Clothes Notebook
• Key: D Major/B Minor
• Measures: 44
• Parts: Piano
• Duration: 3:20
• Pages: 3 Pages

There are no mysteries, one day, we are the windshield. The next, we are the bug. Or the other way around.

HORRIBLE STORIES
Who can tell?. It’s not likely that the answers to the most critical questions in life are, magically at our disposal; advising us what to do at every turn and moment in life. Yet, for the lack of better answers, we’ve fabricated horrible stories, with the exclusively intent to feel ample about ourselves, creatively avoiding, at the same time, taking the responsibility to see life for what it is.

We all know it is much easier, and definitely more fun, to blame others for our shortcomings, perhaps, because it is difficult explaining to ourselves. Let’s be fair, often, we lack the knowledge to understand the world. We...

Information:

• Source: The Open Letters Notebook
• Key: C Major/A minor
• Measures: 45
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:30
• Pages: 4 Pages

Once again, let’s enjoy life!

ONCE AGAIN
Once again, I have looked into my life, almost as if I am doing a job review of my performance here on earth. What would I leave behind when my time on this planet is over?, is it all worth it?, does anybody care?. I do not know. I’m not a Philosopher, neither I’m a Scientist, nor do I believe in a god I can reach and ask all the important questions.

However, as a musician, I rely on music to keep me sane, grounded, inform, happy and sometimes, a little bit, deliciously sad. It is my wish, someone in the future would benefit from my compositions, It’s my wish, someone could stay afloat in difficult situations when listening to my music, why not?

DANGEROUS BEAUTY
To live is easy, but to stay alive is...

Information:

• Source: Approved Measures Notebook
• Key: C Major
• Measures: 45
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:15
• Pages: 4 Pages

I am the fat lady, and I ain’t singing shit! - Anonymous

FULL OF SURPRISES
Opera Arias should be played at my funeral. Base on my favorite arias to be performed, it could be a long, sad, happy event, full of surprises. Attendees, either will cry their heart out, or will be disgusted by the dramatic display of grief. In any case, I will be long gone to be able to savor the spectacle of all the faces, either smiling or frowning.

Opera could change the way people see the world, and why not?, after all,
going to the opera is an experience larger than life. The first time I heard a Soprano sang an Aria, it appeared to me, as if she had something important, something urgent to communicate and yet, simultaneously unhurried.

LA WALLY
She sang in such...

Information:

• Source: Hello World Notebook
• Key: B flat Major
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:25
• Pages: 4 Pages

“Be it ever so humble, it’s more than just a place. It’s also an idea—one where the heart is”. Verlyn Klinkenborg

OPPOSITES
Regardless of what people consider to be their home, it should be the safest place in the whole world, because, if individuals don’t count on some sort of shelter, their lives could become a living hell. I know people would agreed. It is all very simple: Everybody deserves to feel safe and thrive.

Feeling at home is more of a mental state of mind, it has to be, because I’ve heard people saying they feel at home when they are camping, nature thus become their shelter, and that is where they feel at ease. Or, people saying they feel at home living in New York City, which is the complete opposite of being in or closer to...

Information:

• Source: Approved Measures Notebook
• Key: D Major, B Minor
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:55
• Pages: 4 Pages

“Now a soft kiss- Aye, by that kiss I vow an endless bliss. John Keats

LITTLE KNOWN MASTERPIECES
There is a music book sitting on my shelf that I haven’t played in a while. It contains piano sonatas by composers from all over Europe _ voices from another century, waiting to be heard again. The title reads Keyboard Sonatas of the Eighteenth Century. On the cover, just beneath it, are the words: “Little Known Masterpieces,” published by Schirmer’s Library of Musical Classics.

For a long time, I was drawn to that subtitle more than anything else. Little Known Masterpieces. It suggests something both important and overlooked — music that once lived in someone’s hands, in someone’s time, but now patiently waits inside a book, ready to be...

Information:

• Source: The Emperor’s New Clothes
• Key: C Major
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:19
• Pages: 4 Pages

“Real learning comes about when the competitive spirit has ceased.”
― J. Krishnamurti

BACKGROUND NOISE
Music is undeniably a universal language. It exists in every corner of the globe and is, perhaps, the most widely loved art form in human history. Yet that same openness has made music one of the most bastardized forms of art. Because music is everywhere - streamed endlessly - it’s consumed more than it is heard. It has gone from a deeply human expression to background noise.

Music is being judge more and more by numbers and digital momentum than by artistic value. It has been reduced to marketability. And the most unsettling part is that this degradation doesn’t happen in secret. It takes place in front of us, disguise as entertainment.

A...

Information:

• Source: The Emperor’s New Clothes Notebook
• Key: F Major
• Measures: 72
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:56
• Pages: 6 Pages

“Listening to classical music is like reading philosophy books, not everybody has to do it. Music is not for everybody.” ― Krzysztof Penderecki

FALSE NOTION
There’s a weary manifesto circulating around in the world that boldly states: Listening to classical music, would make you smarter. But, it does not stop there, it continues saying; specifically when you listen music composed by Mozart. Well, I am sure we all have heard the venerate Mozart Effect theory that took the world by surprise in the 90’s. This false notion, thanks to the media, has poisoned our minds and therefore, our egos.

Making broad statements similar to the example above, can be a dangerous practice because of the deceiving power it contains, unfortunately, each day we...

Information:

• Source: The Wonders of Music Notebook
• Key: C Major
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:16
• Pages: 4 Pages

“IF the story is true, then, God should’ve made humans in the image of dogs, NOT in his own image. I reckon, it could have worked out better for all of us.“

VORTEX
There is a certain innocence about animals, If you look into their eyes, you may realize they know the secret of life - such is the claim. And yet, when we speak of dogs in particular, surely we can agree that they can be more gracious than some people, friendlier than most mortals, and, overall, better equip to pledge loyalty than all humans.

I am fifty-two years old, and I have never been the proud owner of a dog. Yet four years ago, I had the great fortune of meeting William—and, with him, his two dogs, Major and Vortex. It was through William that Vortex entered my life...

Information:

• Source: Approved Measures Notebook
• Key: G Major
• Measures: 61
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:31
• Pages: 4 Pages

The art of reading between the lines is as old as manipulated information.
By Serge Schmemann

WHO I AM
Who am I?, The answer to that question - if anything - is elusive, and it persists, mostly out of habit, it doesn’t really point anywhere. It never has. Not every question deserves an answer and that’s why, for the sake of my own sanity, I am not interested in knowing - being so, would tear me into pieces sending me into endless circles inside my mind, or wherever my thoughts live, and there is nothing worthwhile about that kind of unraveling.

However, it is indeed, during the most difficult times in my life, when my mind demands an answer, as if by knowing who I am, it would help to solve, all at once, my conflicting existence; hence, it’s only...