{"id":9214,"date":"2021-12-06T10:43:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T16:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/?p=9214"},"modified":"2025-02-05T10:48:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T16:48:40","slug":"dump-holiday-doldrums-with-a-new-song-for-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/dump-holiday-doldrums-with-a-new-song-for-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Dump Everyday Doldrums With a New Song for Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Add joy to your soul with a new music venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I ordered a Jean Paul alto saxophone a week before Thanksgiving, wondering if I would <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/boost-your-infrastructure-this-holiday-season-in-two-words\/\">remember the keys<\/a>, let alone read and play music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, the spark to play was ignited by a desire to do something new and fresh for myself, my family, and my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Play your hobbies often\" width=\"660\" height=\"371\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XUtmtTd4MwA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Through an app called Tomplay, I found terrific music and accompaniment for a holiday playlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>What a Wonderful World<\/em> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Never My Love<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Swan Lake-<\/em>Tchaikovsky<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Merriment surrounded us before Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My 18-month-old grandnephew was swaying while family and friends were smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, I started thinking about how joy is launched by playing a new song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-add-joy-to-extended-family\">Add joy to extended family<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Playing your instrument at family gatherings adds a spark of joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isn&#8217;t that the meaning of Christmas?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/how-to-find-wonder-and-hope-this-christmas\/\">Joy breaks into a dark world.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your new song doesn&#8217;t have to be perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just play what you want to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It summons the family to play, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have they seen this side of you?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I told my sister, Joy, to bring her keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She hasn&#8217;t played in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">When I started\u00a0to play<em> Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas<\/em>, she smiled, matching basic chords to my melody, and there we went!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grandnephew Nathaniel jumped in, playing the keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then it snowballed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My lovely wife, Judy, sat at my sister&#8217;s keyboard and started with<em> O Christmas Tree<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"h-add-joy-to-your-marriage\">Add joy to your marriage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>That gave me an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buy Judy a digital piano!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A stellar career as the chief travel writer for the Dallas Morning News and the travel editor for the Houston Chronicle interrupted her piano years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Thanksgiving lit a family revival!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She can&#8217;t stop playing!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new song releases . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>joy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>energy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>creativity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>into everyone around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Creator, the greatest artist ever, favors what you do.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>&#8220;The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves, they find their own order . . . the continuous thread of revelation.&#8221;  <\/strong>Eudora Welty<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>What are your thoughts on a new song?<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add joy to your soul with a new music venue. I ordered a Jean Paul alto saxophone a week before Thanksgiving, wondering if I would remember the keys, let alone read and play music. But, the spark to play was ignited by a desire to do something new and fresh for myself, my family, and [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"Dump Everyday Doldrums With a New Song for Joy","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,122],"tags":[124],"class_list":["post-9214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-depression","category-family","tag-holidays"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dump Everyday Doldrums With a New Song for Joy - Steve Blaising<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Raise joy this holiday season by playing or singing a new song. 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