Joy Zimmerman Music

My word of intention for this new year is “gutsy.” I originally toyed with “fearless” but decided that a certain amount of fear will be my companion if I’m living right.  Choosing gutsiness, I’m declaring “Hats Off to 2020!” 

“Do…

“The music is not in the notes, but the silence in between.” ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

I distinctly remember the moment the Kindermusik teacher told us moms and little ones that the rests are just as important as the notes…

We are creatures of habit, aren’t we? 

Most of us drive to work the same way, hang out with the same people, and follow familiar routines. We seek patterns and predictability to help us make sense of the world. 

But…

I’m currently writing a song called “Not Enough Time in a Lifetime”, but I haven’t had enough time to finish it. Seriously. 

• When your head hits the pillow, do you usually feel your day was well spent? 
• Do you…

When we begin a new job, marriage or friendship or join a band or a book club or move to a new city, we usually don’t spend much time imagining how it might end. Thankfully we jump in, head and…

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”  ~Toni Morrison 

Life is rich and raw, isn’t it? As brilliant, beloved author Toni Morrison showed us time and time…

How do you envision the road map of your life? 
Have you followed a straight line or taken many twists and turns? Enjoyed some rest areas? 

En route home from Oregon (a.k.a. the land of milk and honey), I couldn’t…

How messy are you? 

Me? A whole bunch. 

I distinctly remember the image that prompted Messy Girl. As I opened the rear door of my minivan, I surveyed the slew of dried-up snack fragments, mismatched sports equipment, miscellaneous papers…

Have you ever taken a bath in the forest? 

As in “forest bathing”? As in retreating to nature to immerse yourself in its healing powers? 

Shrinrin-yoku forest therapy was developed in Japan during the 1980s as preventive health care. Researchers…

This Mother’s Day will be particularly poignant as my youngest son graduates from high school two days later. The impending empty nest will mark an ending and a beginning. 

Parenting is so complex, so challenging, so life-altering that it almost…

What were your favorite sounds from childhood? 

(I’ll give you a minute to ponder this…) 

My top picks include my mom playing piano downstairs as we went to sleep, the school librarian reading us another chapter, Stevie Wonder singing as…

Note by Note: The One I Love | No. 12 | 4.1.19 

Do you cringe when you hear a favorite song turned into elevator music or a dance mix or sung by the Chipmunks or Weird Al? Or do you…