by Mike Fallon

Hello.  I am Mike Fallon. I have a website called The Musical Nose.
After some careful thought and long deliberation I have decided to start my own blog.
And this so happens to be my first official blog post.

As you can see, the URL for this blog is http://blog.themusicalnose.com which is a subdomain of The Musical Nose (www.themusicalnose.com). You can also use http://www.themusicalnose.com/blog which will also take you to my blog.

This is to be a music blog with an emphasis on Cattle Herding Songs — Just Kidding!!! (Although there may be some great cattle herding songs out there waiting for us to discover. Maybe I will explore that.)

I will mostly write about and explore things related to classical music (My favorite genre). Although I do love jazz and popular music as well and those and other genres may be discussed in some future blog posts.

What this blog will not be is highbrow or intellectual. That is just not me. I am a plain-spoken person. I like to express my opinions, ideas and beliefs in a simple and honest way.

This blog may not always be grammatically pretty and perfect. Its grammar and structure may be a nightmare for English teachers and copy editors! I remember back in grade school days when my graded writing assignments would often come back covered with red-worded (bad) comments from the teacher.

Ouch.
Also, out of ignorance, I may be violating blogging etiquette rules. Are there blogging etiquette police out there?

So doing this blog is something totally new for me and I have a lot to learn about the art of blogging.  So bear with me as I sort out and figure out what the heck I’m doing. Although I’m not totally sure of the exact direction this blog will always take, it will definitely be music oriented which is my passion.

Now getting back to the subject of this first blog post —

Fear and Trepidation I initially posted a shorter version of this my first blog (with the title “Welcome to My Blog”). That was when my fear and trepidation concerning this blog began to set in.  Do I really know what Im doing?  What am I getting myself into?  Do I have what it takes to put out well-constructed, articulate, knowledgeable and interesting blog posts on a consistent basis? Will anyone even care or be interested in reading my blog posts?

This fear and trepidation came to a head a couple of days ago as I was reading through several posts from the Tom Service classical music blog at The Guardian.

Wow, what a great blog! I am absolutely blown away about how beautifully crafted his music blog is!
However, I felt totally intimidated by his impressive and articulate writing style along with his expertise in classical music.  This feeling caused me to un-post my first blog while my inner voice was telling me “I’ll never be able to do this!”  That reminds me that Beethoven’s reaction (whispered to a friend), when listening to a concert of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, was “We shall never be able to do anything like that!”  How presumptuous of me to compare my situation to Beethoven’s!

I recently came across a comment by a Tara B (a photographer) from June 5, 2010 responding to an article about blogging advice. She wrote: “Thanks for the advice! I’ve been blogging consistently for about a month and have thus far acquired no subscribers. But I’m trying to remember patience is involved there somewhere! Some times I feel like I’m talking to no one, and my beautiful images are there for nothing! But I’m trying not to get discouraged!”

Tara’s comments moved me. I share her sentiments.

Last night I attended the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music 135th Anniversary Concert.  The program consisted of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 43 and Beethoven’ Symphony No. 9, Op. 125.  My son Kevin is in the orchestra as a flute player.  He also is a music major at UOP.

It was a wonderful concert. I especially enjoyed the Rhapsody… which the “18th Variation” of that was featured in the movie Somewhere in Time. I  came away from the concert feeling invigorated and energized from that glorious music.

I especially love classical music, but I am also a very active listener of many genres of music and have been profoundly moved to every degree of emotion because of the power of music.  This power of music has me wanting to continue to do my blog now.  I know I am a long way from being like Tom Service but what the heck.

Well this expanded first blog is re-posted now and I hope I have the patience to stick it out for the long haul. I believe that preparation plus patience plus persistence yields reward.

Ironically, until recently, the word “blog” was one of those words (along with “viral“) that I despised and I would cringe every time I heard it…

…like listening to an extremely dissonant music chord. I still wish there was a better word for what I’m doing here. But like any acquired taste the word “blog” is starting to grow on me. However, I still cringe whenever I hear “It went viral.” Now maybe I would have a change of tune if my blog and website were to go viral.

As you can see from my header I like clouds. Like music, clouds can convey a range of moods and emotions — from sweet puffy white innocent cumulus clouds on a sunny day…

   
…to menacing dark towering cumulonimbus clouds reaching high into the atmosphere during a powerful thunderstorm. Well there’s a music blog subject in the waiting.

Well this blog is a new journey you and I are embarking on — and it’s going to be a fun and exciting journey of musical discovery and adventure.

So stay tuned to see where this blog takes us.  And if you get a chance, check out my website — www.themusicalnose.com.  Your comments are always welcome too.

 

P.S. My next post should show up on Monday, October 28, 2013, the Halloween edition.

My niece Christine just sent me a comment – “Good for you! Happy blogging!”
Thanks Christine. I appreciate that.

 

 
Blog Post 1 — “Fear, Trepidation, and Starting My Own Blog” — October 20, 2013
blog.themusicalnose.com/?p=301 (this Blog Post 1)

blog.themusicalnose.com/?feed=rss2 (The Musical Nose Blog RSS Feed)
www.themusicalnose.com (The Musical Nose website)

Click The Musical Nose Blog Posts to see the current listing of all blog posts.

Your comments or suggestions concerning this blog are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike Fallon

To learn more about who Mike Fallon is… click “So Who is Mike Fallon?”