Author: Zents Music Studio

I am a music instructor/radio DJ/singer-songwriter and book author who enjoys speculating on the future. When I was a child I used to walk around with a little microphone. It was square. It was not operative, but in my mind I used it as a walkie talkie to talk to myself. I turned out to be a radio broadcaster. I do like to observe the world and come up with opinions about where it is heading.

Bingo and Irish Songs

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I caught a little culture tonight in town. It was mostly karaoke and drinking, with a little gambling thrown in, at the American Legion.

I played bingo. I was unaware that there were so many different variations of the game Bingo.
It was eye-opening. Like any type of gambling with numbers, the odds are in the numbers favor. There are so many numbers!

Nevertheless, somebody won the $1,000 jackpot at the end of the night. Needless to say, it wasn’t me.

It was Saint Patrick’s Day, and in the bars and restaurants all the good old Irish traditional melodies were being played or sung.

I imagine in the future all the references in the old Irish songs will need to be explained to the younger generation. The world has changed so much and continues to change.

What one needs not explain is the wonderful fun that comes with the rousing beat, and the hilarious lyrics.
There may be new Irish songs written, but the old ones, the classics such as “My Wild Irish Rose,” “Danny Boy,” “McNamara’s band” and “Molly Malone” linger on and on and on.
my band sings Molly Malone

Musically yours, Amy Zents

Great Athleticism

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Years ago I sat beside a fellow on an airplane who worked for the United States Olympics. I’ve always been impressed with Olympic athletes. I heard tell that in my family tree, we had two Olympic athletes! Being that half my family tree hails from Greece, it warms my heart to know that I have ties to the original Olympics in Athens.

Nevertheless, I was curious about the physical health of amateur and professional athletes. To my dismay, I discovered that many athletes have a laundry list of ailments, and injuries. Many are not very healthy. To stay healthy requires treating the body with great respect, and a profound honor.
One football player I knew was willing to go through a brick wall to win the game. Needless to say, a mortal going through a brick wall will cause bodily harm to himself!

I suppose that begs the question, do you really want the W, or do you prefer to have a long healthy life?

Granted, athletes do look like the picture of health. That is what surprised me the most. In my opinion, gymnasts and figure skaters look superfit. Whereas, runners may look a little too lanky, and swimmers may look a little too stout.

They say soccer players are in the best condition, but if they bounce too many balls off their head, they may be in for some long-term brain injuries.

So what can I say? Take care of your health, admire the athletes as they do their stuff, but don’t imagine they are pain-free! Unless they’re taking drugs, but doping is a whole ‘nother subject.
In the future, I believe athletes will be far more concerned about their physical long-term health, which may change the nature of the game!
Perhaps they can eliminate those players who do not care about their health.
Now that would be the barometer of great athleticism.
Funniest Soccor Video Ever!!!! 🙂

Musically yours, Amy Zents

Babysitter or music teacher?

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Being a parent is hard sometimes. I’m not a parent, but I do have to talk to parents now and then because I teach their children music lessons.

In the past, I would teach piano, guitar and voice from my home. Happily, I state now that I teach individual music lessons in a music studio in an arts and cultural centre.

The one thing I like about having individual music students, is because students generally know what is expected of them.

When I used to teach at home I encountered situations where my music teaching studio was being turned into a babysitting service.

Perhaps it was not deliberate, but I recall times when mom or dad didn’t pick up their child for hours after their lessons were over.

The TV would be on in the other room and the student would just sit and watch and wait for their ride home.

After a few of these “extended music lessons,” I realized I was being taken advantage of. It drove me to stop teaching privately for awhile.

In the future, I believe teachers will find parents are a lot more appreciative of the one on one attention their kids receive when it is more costly, and more scarce.

When parents appreciate that a teacher’s time is valuable and respected, then teachers will be more willing to teach.

Musically yours, Amy Zents

Don’t whack your liver with Tylenol if your knee is bad

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I don’t usually post videos on my blog. I realize many of my friends have knee problems. Even once in awhile my knee hurts.

If you are carrying extra weight, or if you have sports injuries that have damaged your knee or knees, you may find watching this video eye-opening! It’s something to be celebrated. Know that there is hope for you!

I found it fascinating to get an insight on how different medical professionals treat knee problems.

Here is a surgeon telling you that the road to knee health doesn’t necessarily mean a future of discomfort and a downward spiral to amputation, or liver damage.

Listen to it while you’re relaxing with knees up, and be reassured medical professionals are working on getting safe, proper knee help.

I’m thrilled to hear that it is to become available at a reasonable cost to the public.

AcuKnee Talk
AcuKnee may help to avoid knee replacements.

The Straight Path to Freedom

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Freedom is what we all love. The law allows us all a measure of it. Along with relative freedom, you also get a whole bunch of opportunities to find enjoyment and fun in life, in a variety of ways.
However, if you use your freedom to drink to a point where your thoughts are muddled by an excess of booze, and you put others and yourself in harm’s way, your freedom is taken away, and rightly so.
It’s crazy to believe that if you harm others, then pass out, or black out from whatever you may be under the influence of, that you should be free of responsibility. Sorry, life doesn’t work that way, especially if you are a grown-up.
Perhaps that is why we all need each other. We always have to remind ourselves and each other of our own responsibility to ourselves and others.
I fear that in the future, as a society we may lose our current freedom, if we do not watch it. If things keep going the way they are, I predict there will be developed more blatant stop-gap mechanisms put in place to prevent criminals from breaking the law, and hurting themselves and others.
If we don’t want the law to take over because we can’t manage ourselves, then it seems necessary we should make up our minds as individuals to keep on the straight path to freedom by being responsible grown-ups, and not insensitive, selfish losers.

Musically yours, Amy Zents

Age of Excess

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Everywhere we look today, almost on every
front, there is someone attractive trying to get you to buy something you may or may not need. Do we buy it because she’s pretty, or he’s handsome?

Do those sparkling eyes and that shiny hair convince us to open up our wallets? Perhaps they do, perhaps we’re buying a fantasy. We always like to be nice to beautiful-looking people, but do we have to give them our money?

We all admire the beautiful. And while it’s a good argument for us to always make sure that we smell good, and we are clean, and perhaps even try and be beautiful too, it begs the question: how much baby do we really need?

Do we buy an excessive amount of stuff because of the many beautiful people who are selling it to us through media, or through face-to-face sales?

In the future I think sustainability and not beauty will be the barometer of sales.

Repurposing of objects is good in itself, but it can be self-defeating, if you don’t need those objects in the first place.

Like it or not, there is an injustice in the distribution of stuff. Instead of buying and getting buried in a mountain of unloved clutter, in the future I think a more calculated approach to ownership will rule the day!

Musically yours, Amy Zents

Skip the flowers, let’s talk!

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Find inspiration in each other!

You can spend a lot of money to take a flower-arranging class, or maybe drop half a 100 bucks on painting and Pinot, but whichever class or workshop you sign up for, you’ll find benefits come from co-mingling and communication.
Sometimes your class or workshop is lubricated with alcohol, and there are munchies offered too. Nevertheless, it’s usually a joyful time. People are in a jovial mood. It’s time to relax.
I love these things, these classes with a central theme, that inspire creativity and conversation.
Whatever you like, be it flower-arranging, stitch and b****, learning to mix cocktails, quilting bees or cooking classes, you’re never too old to have some fun, and maybe even learn something.
Of course, you’ll find life sometimes gets in the way of fun times: the price of gas going up and down, the crazy in the truck who stares you down who looks like Rasputin, the time you misplaced your wallet and found it stuck in between two pots in the kitchen, or heaven forbid, when you’re trying to get out of
the door and the car keys aren’t where you left them!
With such variety in life in the way of hobbies, I predict in the future more of us will invest a little time and cash in getting to know our neighbor through taking community-based classes or workshops.

Musically yours, Amy Zents

And it makes me wonder

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Sometimes you wonder who’s who on the Internet. You cast your words out like a giant net, you share your stories, your feelings, your thoughts to anyone who cares to read your posts. Then slowly, and sadly you find out that there are those out there who are imposters.

Sometimes men pretend to be women, some women pretend to be celebrities, some teenagers pretend to be professionals, And so it goes, nobody knows . It doesn’t matter who they say they are, they may be someone altogether different.

Once in awhile you get a troll, some creep that pops up out of nowhere. Perhaps you let them be your friend on Facebook, and then you find out the crazy side of their personality.

Can we screen people better? Should we have to know who they really are?
In the future I believe there will probably be a screening method that will force people to be honest online.

I’m sure the phonies would not like that. For now, we only hope to attract people who are sincere. There is a plus to social media. It opens doors to connect old friends, gather new friends, and make us richer in many ways.

Musically yours, Amy Zents

Tortilla Chip Wisdom

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You can consume your favorite Internet content in a variety of ways just be sure what you hear or see rings true

The choices by which you have to consume content online are multitudinous. That’s a ten dollar word for “many.” You can watch it, you can read it, you can hear it, you can see it, you can even interact with it in 3-D!

The question is, which way do you like to consume Internet content? I find them all interesting.

My only gripe with reading, or watching, or listening to advice spewn by so-called experts, is that once in awhile their wisdom is questionable.

Experience has taught us that when someone says, for example, “You can’t make a living as a poet,” or “You can’t make a hit movie on $7 grand,” or you better not do this or that,  the fact is, someone else has done or is doing what the experts say is impossible!

In short, consume your favorite content in any flavor or style you like, just remember to take some things like you take your tortillas, with a grain of salt!

Problems and passions

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wp-1457538422474.jpgYou have your problems, I have mine. You have your passions, I have mine. The key to finding out what makes us feel free is deciding what direction we should go. Do we want to be led, or must we be pushed? Are we being led by pain or by passion? Whatever we decide or do not decide to do today about our future, we know there is a measure of the outcome we can control.
Mainly, the possibilities found in establishing good habits is a great way to get the ball rolling. We can be happy by focusing on what matters. Health, home, relationships, relaxing and traveling are part of what enhances our lives. Central to a great life is our career. Work is the place to start and work rewards are many.
Problems and passions co-mingle at times, but the power of habit can help to keep us on the right track to where we want to go.

Musically yours, Amy Zents