Mexico music…….only one week to go!

I began my guitar lessons, this past week, with Miguel de Hoya.  What a wonderful challenge and opportunity for me to study with him.  He and Alex De Pue are wintering here in Los Barriles.  Alex is a passionate fiddler/violist and Miguel is an accomplished classical/Latin guitarist who plays with such soul and when they play together it’s magic.

Miguel de Hoya plays a very such a  wide variety of flavors on his guitar.  A special taste for everyone………….from Flamenco to classics with a flare to his softer playful rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow……….  Alex DePue, in a talented passionate, versatile and very original violinist.  His arrangements turn any song that you’ve know and already loved into something explosive and expressive that playfully and orgasmically entertains.  His showmanship is impressive and he obviously is in love with his instrument.

If you’d like to see more about them, their website is www.depuedehoyos.com  They have a new CD that has many wonderful examples of them on it.

Anyway, back to my lessons with Miguel………I now have a good case of tennis elbow…..**chuckle***  To play the Latin rhythms that I’ve asked Miguel to show me, you have to use the BACKS of your fingers…..fanning OUT, instead of what my fingers are used to doing…….pushing down and pulling in and up…..So, those little finger extensor muscles that you find around the elbow?…….Well, they are a little upset with my compulsive practice schedule, right now……OOOOoo,ouch, ouch!!!  But, it’s HEAVEN and very freeing…….letting my fingers fly across the strings and bringing such SOUND from my instrument!  I think that I’ll like adding this to my playing style…….  But, for now, I have to take it a little more slowly……. to let my muscles catch up with my mind to play this stuff…..  I asked him to show me HIS version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow…….  Of course, being from Kansas, it HAS to be one of MY favorites……….I’ve always sung it in the Key of G.  He plays in the key of A and so I’ve written a little segway from G to A so that I can sing it in both keys and then place MY version of HIS version in the middle.  :o)  I think it’ll be sweet and moving and fun when I get it accomplished.

He’s also teaching me a beautiful song in Spanish that I can sing at a wedding in March.  He’ll be showing me that one, tomorrow.

I’m taking a lesson every 2 or 3 days and I’ll be leaving in about a week.  So, I’ll have a lot to master before I make it back down in March.

My last performance THIS trip, here in Mexico, was this morning.  It was a lovely morning, little breeze, cool but not TOO cool and the audience was perfection.  I love singing to people who enjoy listening and want to stay connected to the performance.  That’s the luxury of playing, now.  I rarely play for people who aren’t listening………….So many years I spent playing for that room full of people who were fighting to visit and even who wanted to tip the bartender to turn on the ball game behind me…..**chuckle***  Hallelujah that I don’t do THAT anymore!

Thank you to all who came this morning and made my show a success!  It was a great morning and loved singing to you.

I’ll see you, again, in Mexico the first weekend in March.