Music to Live By

Well, cider has started flowing from the taps, and the farmer's market is stocked with everything from peaches to jalapeno!  My focus these past few weeks has turned towards life's cycling and I've been working on a couple pieces for friends and family.  I've just recently finished "Twinkle-toes and Rainbows" (solo cello), the recessional for my friends' wedding and am now I'm working on a song for my grandfather's unveiling.  It's nice turning away from the concert hall for a bit, and writing music to live by.  At the same time, it can be both easy and hard to write for these occasions:  on the one hand, the emotions are present, real and very accessible.  On the other, the events have such deep personal significance, that it can be intimidating at times.  But I've often felt that it's a blurry line between where my compositions end and I begin, so it is only natural that music should thread through life.