An experience to share with everyone……mixed feelings about this.

[Dazza]

Great to hear Michael. That’s a good news story I am sure everyone enjoys learning about. I recently played a few songs with an 87 year old sax player in a trio who played from age 13 to 25 then gave it away for 45 years and took it up again after his wife died of Alzheimers. His Doctor and family told him to find something to engage his grey matter and he hasn’t stopped playing for the last twenty years and his mind is sharp as a tack. The thing is life is not a practice run to something that comes along later so you will never know if playing a challenging instrument like the sax and learning music in general means you have a healthier life but I reckon there is enough evidence now to support the notion. Anyway, you learn to do something that makes you and others happy so everyone wins a prize! Cheers matey!

[Anonymous]

Good for you Michael!

Keep doing those uploads! and don’t forget to add your comments to other peoples uploads, they are looking for feed back as well.

[Michael]

yes, absolutely about commenting on others videos. I try to as much as I can and I see them, lately I haven’t been on the cpu too much with the move into our new house, uploads will re-start after for me too. Johnny’s autographed pic that he sent me looks great in the frame we bought for it, hanging on our freshly-painted wall 🙂

[Anonymous]

Michael, that’s really good news about your rapid recovery.

You could spend an extra 2 hours a day following Doctor Ferreira’s instructions?

I hope you will keep proving the high recovery rate for SAX therapy 😉

Best Wishes to you Michael

[William Cingolani]

Hey Michael. In 1959, age 17teen. I too had brain injury in 1959, Cab wreck in Little Rock, Ark. Was pronounced dead at the scene. Knocked out for two weeks, But I recovered. Studied music theory and the guitar. In 1985 took up sailboat racing and later I sold the boat in i995 and started studying saxophone. Music taps into a different part of the brain. https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=music+taps+a+different+part+of+the+brain&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

http://blog.brainhq.com/2010/04/22/top-12-brain-based-reasons-why-music-as-therapy-works/

You’er on the way to recovery Michael, Winton Marsalis would be proud of you. Keep up the good work. In music and in life you write your own story.And it’s your story and nobody else’s. Keep blowing that horn and keep posting.

[Michael]

Hey William….that happened to you in Little Rock, Arkansas? That’s something you mention that because I live here in Little Rock Arkansas 🙂 My traumatic brain injury didn’t happen here, it happened out west in New Mexico before we moved here (this would have been the winter of 2010) Those are good references too, as my doctor told me much the same thing and said, in truth, it would do be more good than any kind of medication; not saying that medication may not be necessary in the future…I hope not. I’ll be re-posting soon as I have a lot to post and haven’t shared–I had planned to start doing so now in October–I like watching others post too. I haven’t been on the cpu much lately with us moving into the house we bought, almost done 🙂

[Kevin]

A few years back during the summer I began learning the sax I was in Owens Valley, CA in a small town called Bishop getting some lunch at the Thai Thai restaurant at the air field. A man that I guessed to be in his 80’s showed up with his Cannonball Alto sax, a small PA system, a laptop with backing tracks, and he played seamlessly from one song to the next. His level of playing was very good, intonation spot on, and I was a captive audience (an understatement) as a wanna-be saxophonist. I share this because it relates to the above comments and the many benefits that playing a wind musical instrument can provide to us “over-the-hill” newbies (as well as those who have made it a life long endeavor).
As a teen I was rushed to the ER numerous times for severe asthma attacks. My lungs are likely scarred from all the inhalers that kept me breathing. But I must say that the sensation of taking a deep breath after a few years on the sax is like nothing I have felt or experienced in all prior years.
So thanks for sharing your positive report Michael. It’s a testament to your resolve to persevere and make the most with what circumstances come your way.
If I’m ever in your area to “get away from the rat race” perhaps there’s a brown trout that I can pursue with the aid of a good ex-guide…

Best Wishes

[Michael]

I’m reading Kevin’s experience…wow. It’s amazing to read of so many experiences that everyone had gone through, that’s really encouraging for me to say the least–I’m certainly not the only one whose ever had to deal with my new circumstances by a long shot; although I am very happy about the reduction in hours, which means more free time.
KEVIN: I would be interested in headed up to your neck of the woods too. Do you live in Michigan? I have some friends up there who fish some pretty incredible places up that way. Fall would be the best time to get come down to this neck of the woods–summertime is way too hot here and in the spring water levels are very high plus weather is unpredictable–we live in Tornado Alley–in the spring the water flows are managed by dam releases from the lakes above. The good news is that the lakes are usually fantastic in the spring, beautiful scenery. That would be cool to say the least…just don’t forget to bring your Sax with you 🙂

[Kevin]

Michael, I live in south/central Michigan at the crossroads of I94/I69. Haven’t fished much in this area, and the better places are likely in the northern end of the state. My most memorable trips were to the boundary waters (northern Minnesota) canoeing, portaging lake to lake, camping and eating freshly caught walleye. Canoed 55 miles the last trip into some wilderness areas- no cell towers up there…
Used to vacation in New Mexico growing up- Tres Ritos Valley, Taos, Red River. Caught my share of trout, a few using a fly line but haven’t had a fly rod in my hands in 35+ years.
Will keep that thought for my bucket list…

[Marc]

Awesome story, mate… glad to know you are fully recovered and up.
I was never in doubt about the fact that learning music is a “brain enhancer”… just to master the coordination between fingers (fingers and breath in our case) is a powerful synaptic wakeup drill. Let alone developing skills for reading a score on the fly and being able to stay in tempo with other players.

Keep up the good tunes…
All the best.

[Author]

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