Information:

• Source: California Sessions Notebook
• Key: C Major / A minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 2:57 min
• Pages: 4

“The light was different here in California.”
― Heidi Freestone, Growing Home

A WISE LADY
Compare to many people, traveling has never been a priority in my life. If I were to make an inventory of all the trips I’ve taken, I could easily count them with the fingers of one hand. However, I can attest that the entirety of San Luis Obispo County is one of - if not the - most elegant and dignified places I have ever visited. Almost everywhere I turned, the breathtaking views were like watching a wise lady that knows better than to lose her composure - or else.

As a visitor, I ventured to the destinations commonly frequented by tourists. The beautiful beaches, Hearst Castle, and the Spanish-style towns scattered throughout the area were...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: G Major / E minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:01 min
• Pages: 3

“For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

SORROW AND HAPPINESS
I have experienced sorrow and happiness. Fortunately, sorrow is not a permanent arrangement. My grandmother used to say, “There is no pain that lasts a hundred years,” which is reassuring. Happiness, on the other hand, has the bad habit of showing up and then moving on as fast as it came, leaving me a step behind.

Life expectancy of most mortals in reasonable conditions falls well short of a hundred years, then it seems unlikely that I will witness either sorrow or happiness outlasting that span. Both will come and go within my allotted time, a time span that feels suspiciously like something assigned on...

Information:

• Source: California Session Notebook
• Key: C Major / A minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:04 min
• Pages: 3

I suppose in about a fortnight or so, we shall be told that he has been seen in San Francisco. It’s an odd thing, but everyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractions of the next world.” — The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde

IN FOR A TREAT
When I first moved to San Francisco, I really did not know I was in for a treat; everything seemed brand new, bigger, brighter and faster. I was twenty five years old. I did not know what to expect from this remarkably city with such an awful name, but as soon as I step out of the plane, I felt the magic in the air. They said Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, but they are wrong, surely because, perhaps, they have never...

Information:

• Source: The Wonders of Music Notebook
• Key: G Major / E minor
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:06 min
• Pages: 3 Pages

“Some may say that I couldn’t sing, but no one can say that I didn’t sing”.
Florence Foster Jenkins

FAMILIAR NOTES
Most of us, can’t explain in plain words, perhaps afraid of being banal, how a handful of organize music notes can create melodies that have the eminent capability of demanding our attention and make, under approval, our entire existence tremble of raw emotion, because, we actively anticipate pleasure upon hearing familiar notes, music can become an important antidote to our live struggles or an enhancement to our joyful days

But, the lyrics of a song are also an important element that could makes us excited or could makes us frown upon their meaning. I know some popular songs that to me are a deal-breaker based...

Information:

• Source: All Year Round Music Notebook
• Key: C Major / A minor
• Measures: 64
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:11 min
• Pages: 5

“Witnessing the fullness of June, one has to do it without air conditioning.”

TIGHT GRIP
The month of June marks the beginning of summer above the Equator. Each year by then, you can already tell if the heat will be unstoppable for the rest of the season. I believe part of our character in adulthood is conditioned, in great measure, by the kind of climate we grew up in. Clearly, I’m not talking about the political climate _ I’m referring to weather conditions _ although let’s be honest, both can leave you feeling equally scorched by August.

I do believe that growing up in relentless heat, teaches people patience, or just resignation. Cold climates build character, which is code for "you learn to accept that joy is a distant memory...

Information:

• Source: All Year Round Music Notebook
• Key: G Major / E minor
• Measures: 45
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:07 min
• Pages: 5

“But here I am in July, and why am I thinking about Christmas pudding? Probably because we always pine for what we do not have. The winter seems cozy and romantic in the hell of summer, but hot beaches and sunlight are what we yearn for all winter.” ― Joanna Franklin Bell, Take a Load Off, Mona Jamborski

UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD
When it comes to the weather, there’s more than meets the eye. The energy it releases_ wether is cold or hot, rainy or stormy, or just cloudy _ affects my attitude in ways I have not been able to describe. Certainly, a lot of times is easier to complain than to be inspired by it, or to be depressed rather than to be appreciative. I often surprise myself wishing for rain when it is sunny, and wanting a sunny day...

Information:

• Source: All Year Round Music Notebook
• Key: C Major / A minor
• Measures: 48
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:32 min
• Pages: 4

“I have been younger in October than in all the months of spring.”
— W.S. Merwin

FULL MOON
I was out for a walk last night. It was only 7 pm, but the temperature was already dropping fast. There were some clouds in the sky, and as I walk down the street, I could see the mountains in front of me. From behind the mountains, a bright light was beginning to shine. As I continued walking, the light grew gradually brighter - until suddenly there it was: the most beautiful full moon I’ve seen in a long time.

I stopped in my tracks and I admired the satellite for a few minutes before turning my attention back to the road ahead. I finished my walk, but even after I got home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the celestial body. How quietly it...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: F Major / D minor
• Measures: 49
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:32 min
• Pages: 4

Now all my teachers are dead except silence. _ W. S. Merwin

PRELUDE TO BAD NEWS
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who enjoy silence and eagerly embracing it, and those who fear it, avoiding it at all cost as if it were the plague. In nature, silence is often regarded as a prelude to bad news, a moment when the world holds its breath. Complete stillness, presents itself, just right before eminent danger, making the quiet feel less like peace and more like a warning.

Silence can be unsettling in certain situations. For example; when I think about the stillness that dominates the bottom of the ocean - even if waves were crashing 100 foot high above on the surface - nothing would disturb the untamed quietness of the...

Information:

• Source: Before The Sun Goes Down Notebook
• Key: F Major / D minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:09 min
• Pages: 3

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage. _ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

JOVIAL DEMEANOR
How is it that life manages to inflict pain with such jovial demeanor - always precisely, always at the most inconvenient time? No matter where I turn my attention, there is always things to fix, something to mend, articles to repair, things to restored, details to revise, items to glued, an object to patch, areas to clean, situations to correct, positions to adjust, attitudes to tolerate, status to modify, time to coordinate, circumstances to arrange, conflicts to resolved and ideas to confirm, plans to align, thoughts to sort.

It almost feels as if the sole purpose of life is to watch...

Information:

• Source: California Sessions Notebook
• Key: G Major / E minor
• Measures: 36
• Parts: Cello and Piano
• Duration: 3:30 min
• Pages: 3

Even when the skies are gray in California, they’re a different shade of gray. - Oscar Levant

McKINLEYVILLE
For everything that happens in life, there’s always a beginning and_whether we like it or not_a conclusion. When I moved to Humboldt County back in 1998, landing in a little town called McKinleyville, it felt like opening the first page of a brand-new book. It was the beginning of a life filled with excitement, where every corner held a fresh adventure and the sense that anything_absolutely anything_could happen. And there I was, living in a small town where, apparently, nothing much happens. Yet somehow, in that quiet little nowhere, chaos, wonder, and a kind of magic kept finding their way to me.

I was twenty-seven years old...