Now IT IS TIME to answer the question, What is true wealth, true financial freedom? This question is the real bottom line of life and each one of us must address it, regardless of the bottom line that shows up each month on our bank statements. Why? Because the quality of our lives does not depend only on how we accumulate, save, and spend our money. True financial freedom lies in defining ourselves by who and what we are, not by what we do or do not have. You are the person you are right now. We cannot measure our self-worth by our net worth.
I have a friend named Ruth whom I love dearly. Now ninety years old, she’s the most extraordinary woman I’ve ever met. She received her Ph.D. in ancient Greek literature from Yale at a time when that was still a rare achievement for a woman, and has spent her life learning, teaching, reading, and living.
She was married for most of her life to Leon, whom she loved deeply. After he died some years ago, she came to me for financial advice. For all her education, she had always left their finances to Leon, and she knew that now she would have to take control herself. After we added all the numbers, she understood that she had far more money than she had imagined she would. She seemed relieved at the news but strangely untouched by it; her money, I would come to learn, has very little to do with who Ruth is.
As our friendship grew, she and I would discuss her finances—and everything else under the sun—every single Wednesday over lunch. There is not a thing that, to this day, I can’t talk to Ruth about. She is so wise, so profoundly contented with who she is, that simply being in her presence restores me in a way that’s hard to describe in words. I feel that she lives in a state of grace, and that whoever is in her presence is touched by it, too.
In recent years, Ruth grew weaker and she finally decided to give up her house. She chose to move into a life-care community, where you deposit a large sum of money, pay a monthly maintenance, and receive whatever nursing or medical care you need. We had invested well over the years, and Ruth had more than enough money to stay in her own house with live-in nursing care, which was what I had thought she would want to do—but her inner voice told her she wanted the home. We packed her books and journals, some souvenirs from her travels, her photographs, her tapes of Leon’s lectures, all the things that matter to her, and she moved in.
Ruth to this very day still exudes that state of contentment, of grace, which makes her seem stronger, as if her body weren’t beginning to fail her. Her nieces visit her, as do the friends she has still and some of her former students; she and I still have lunch on Wednesdays. Not long ago, I asked her how it felt to be growing more frail. “Suze,” she said, “my future is so tiny and my past and present are so rich. It surprises me to say this, but I’m not afraid. I’m truly happy and content just as I am.” I believed her absolutely.
Ruth’s freedom is in the life she has led and the love she knows now. Within herself she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is rich, not just in money, but in the realm of true wealth, where nothing she has can be taken away from her. Though she’s in weakening health, at ninety, every day she feels rich and free, even strong—and the irony is that her real wealth has nothing to do with her money.
If you today could foresee your last days, if you were on your deathbed right now—and one day you will be, believe me—do you think you would be there wishing you had more money? Or wishing that you were vastly rich in the way my friend Ruth is?
I was in my office (former office, that is) about 2 years ago, in a late evening, just me and one of the companies partners. Even though we were quite some distance away, when I first heard the voice in the track it was playing on his computer, I quickly jumped from my seat to find out who that is.
This was the start of a beautiful love affair I have since then with Diana Krall. It was her beautiful, educated and powerful voice that surprised, thrilled and excited me in the beginning. And the feelings have not changed ever since.
Diana Krall is a Canadian jazz singer, who, as many others great jazz player, started its musical activity early…at the age of four. But it was only until the age of fifteen when she started playing regularly, in restaurants.
You see, this amazes me in Jazz… Artists have go get through a long period of learning, practicing and personal development before actually starting to be noticed by the public. While in commercial music, you just need a summer hit (and usually, voice, skill or talent is obsolete).
It was only at the age of 29 (after 25 years of music!!) when she released her first album, Stepping Out. 2 years later followed another album, and so she kept on going, having today about 10 albums, a great amount of live concerts and numerous collaborations with musicians all over the world.
She was one of the very few to cover a Tom Waits song (Tom is notorious for his aversion towards covers, lending his music for commercials and so on), Temptation. The cover instantly reached 1st position in the Jazz charts, being one of the many formal recognitions Diana received for her talent and dedication.
Diana received several Grammy awards (Album Of The Year, Best Jazz Vocal Performance and Best Engineered Album Non Classical in 2000), National Jazz and Juno awards, and more (even one MTV award). Also, she has 4 Platinum and 7 Gold Albums.
But more important (maybe), are some acknowledgments which are not that familiar in the musical world, like the Order of British Columbia, Order of Canada and Honorary PHD from Victoria Univ.
Well, these are mostly the facts. But the passion behind those facts, the sweet delight you can hear while listening to her and the calmness in her songs cannot be matched by anything.
Notation is the written expression of music notes and rhythms on paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm of the music is notated, along with instructions on how to perform the music. The study of how to read notation involves music theory, harmony, the study of performance practice, and in some cases an understanding of historical performance methods.
Written notation varies with style and period of music. In Western Art music, the most common types of written notation are scores, which include all the music parts of an ensemble piece, and parts, which are the music notation for the individual performers or singers. In popular music, jazz, and blues, the standard musical notation is the lead sheet, which notates the melody, chords, lyrics (if it is a vocal piece), and structure of the music. Scores and parts are also used in popular music and jazz, particularly in large ensembles such as jazz “big bands.”
In popular music, guitarists and electric bass players often read music notated in tabulator, which indicates the location of the notes to be played on the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard. Tabulator was also used in the Baroque era to notate music for the lute, a stringed, fretted instrument.
Notated music is produced as sheet music. To perform music from notation requires an understanding of both the musical style and the performance practice that is associated with a piece of music or genre.
Improvisation