500!

500 published posts.  Wow.

I'll admit, not every post here is brilliant, not every opinion here is something I totally agree with now.  But it's still a lot of time and energy and thoughts and debates and passion all in one place that I never thought would get this far!

This blog is pretty plain-looking compared to most others out there, and I would love to do more with this blog in terms of format and design, but I haven't found any templates that I like.  Still, I keep looking. I'm also thinking I need to update the tags, because there's a ton of posts under "Perspective" but that's just as good as saying "Miscellaneous".  Granted, you can search for keywords from the site itself, but I'd like something people could look at and find topics of interest, like the tag cloud.

As for the posts themselves, I still look for inspiration from everything around me - I try to watch and observe and learn from the eyes of a student and the perspective of a teacher.  I question what people tell me but try to keep an open mind at the same time.  I want to help people thrive, to be better, to feel good about their own journey no matter how different it might be from mine.

And as always, I am really interested to hear what people would like me to talk about, whether you feel comfortable emailing me on Facebook or replying to a post (which you can do anonymously!)  It's fine to talk about what's on my mind, but I love taking on a subject that's on the minds of my readers.

Finally, I realize people coming to my blog have a lot to sort through and there have been a lot of really interesting posts over the years that have gotten lost in the chaff, so allow me to present some of my favorite and most-popular posts!

Most Popular (by view count)

1. The Tall Whisperer
2. Too late.
3. Soloing, part 5-2: Rhythms on multiple drums
4. The eyes have it, part 1: The "where"
5. Observation 
6. What archetype are you? 
7. Review: Tao, The Martial Art of Drumming 
8. My sponge is wet.
9. Concentration
10. Wrists!

 Tools and drills:

1. How I compose
2. Drill: Hemiola
3. Drill: Sshhh
4. Drill: Jumping Horsebeat
5. Soloing, part 3: Musicality

 Posts of note (in no particular order):

1. Who plays better taiko? 
2. What the @%#&!* is taiko? 
3. Failure *is* an option
4. 12 weeks, 12 songs (prologue here, epilogue here)
5. Excuses 
6. Beginner's Mind 
7. Start vs. Finish 
8. Confidence 
9. Japanesque 
10. Perception of Quality
11. Question Everything: Kiai
12. Question Everything: Bachi
13. When it's easy, you're doing it wrong
14. Do simple things well
15. Spoon-feeding