July 17, 2026 by willedare

My Sweet Honeydew (A Cappella)

I hope you are well as you read this blog post!

Today I have been inspired by the aphorism “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

You may have seen it on posters, coffee mugs, etc. — attributed to Albert Einstein.

But according to an online search, there is little evidence that Einstein ever said it.

Instead I learned that a writer — Rita Mae Brown — created this quotation and attributed it to a fictional character in her 1983 book Sudden Death.

Thank you, Ms. Brown!

I think about this aphorism when I am reminded that one is supposed to budget an equal amount of money to market/promote/advertise one’s product as one has spent creating it in the first place.

Yikes!

I have never done this.

Other than maintaining my website, pitching a few songs to music bloggers, and writing this blog, I have spent very little money to promote my music.

However, this particular piece of marketing advice comes up fairly often when I am reading books/articles and watching videos about how to navigate the business of making music in the 21st century.

Now I must pause for a moment for a digression…

Over the past thirty years, I have observed that the music business — like life itself — is always changing and evolving.

So it is virtually impossible to do the same thing over and over again for more than a year or two.

And as a result of personal computers entering our daily lives, we have to keep endlessly learning the latest versions of many different programs/applications — as well as updating our hardware and software.

So as much as I would love to be able to do the same thing over and over again — while drafting new songs using Apple’s GarageBand or making videos using Apple’s iMovie, for example — I am forced to learn the latest updates (and alleged improvements) in order to continue making music.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

This has always seemed to me to be a huge waste of time AND money in order to make a few tech company owners, tech company employees and tech company stockholders rich.

I keep hoping to find a research study which would document the billions of hours which we human beings have wasted in the process of learning — and re-learning…and learning yet again — how to use various computer programs.

I would also like to find studies which explore the cumulative toll on our mental health due to the Sisyphean frustration of having to update and re-learn so many basic tasks/skills on an ongoing basis.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

So I am happy to report that my friends Molly Ruggles, Ellen Epstein, Michael Cicone and I went in a pre-industrial — and some might even say late-Paleolithic — direction with our most recent song release which we recorded a cappella.

You may remember an earlier version of “My Sweet Honeydew” (recorded with pianist Doug Hammer) which I featured in a blog post from January 8, 2022.

You are welcome to click here and visit — or re-visit — that blog post if you are so inclined.

A couple of years ago singer/songwriter/pianist Molly Ruggles took my original version, added an entirely new section of music + lyrics, and then arranged it for four voices to perform a cappella.

Our new version is in the player at the beginning of this blog post.

You may recognize Molly as a vital part of my trio recordings with Carole Bundy.

Molly, Ellen, Will & Michael (Photo by Doug Hammer)

I have known the other two singers on this recording — Ellen and Michael — for decades.

If you are a fan of contemporary folk music, you may be familiar with them as part of a musical trio with singer/songwriter/guitarist Cindy Kallet for forty-five years.

Ellen and Michael have released three beloved CDs of music with Cindy as well as appearing on many of her solo recording projects.

So I feel very honored and excited that they agreed to be part of this recording!

Now I will circle back to the aphorism that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Molly and I are doing something new with this recording.

We have hired a fellow singer-songwriter, Erik Balkey, to help us promote it to folk radio programs/stations around the USA.

Erik puts together compilation CDs of new recordings every two months and sends them to a couple hundred folk DJs and program directors.

We were surprised — and pleased — to learn that he chose “My Sweet Honeydew (A Cappella)” to lead off the second CD in his July/August promotional compilation.

If you happen to listen to a folk program in your neighborhood — or maybe far away from your neighborhood via an internet radio station — please let me know.

Then I will check and see if Erik sent his July/August promotional CDs — including “My Sweet Honeydew (A Cappella)” — to your favorite station/program.

It will be interesting to see what does — or doesn’t — unfold regarding airplay for our song this summer…

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank you to Erik Balkey for his radio outreach.

Thank you to Doug Hammer for his collaborative production skills (and spontaneous photographic impulses).

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his graphic design gifts.

Thank you to Molly Ruggles for creating this new version of my song.

Thank you to Molly and Michael and Ellen for learning, performing and then recording it.

And thank YOU for reading and listening to yet another blog post from/by me.

One final deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

P.S. You are welcome to stream “My Sweet Honeydew (A Cappella)“ on your favorite digital music platform by clicking here.

August 31, 2015 by willedare

Everything Is Holy Now

Summer lily

I first heard Peter Mayer’s song “Holy Now” on a recording by the delicious trio of Ellen Epstein, Michael Cicone and Cindy Kallet.

It’s what I call a “gets me out of bed in the morning” song.

Inspiring.

Thought-provoking.

The sort of song I love to perform — and aspire to write.

I listened to it over and over again — and then went to Doug Hammer’s recording studio, where we recorded a few takes (the second one of which you can hear in the player at the top of this post…)

Every now and then I remember to bring a camera and take photos while I am traveling. Sometimes I even manage to upload them onto my laptop. And on very rare occasions I find the time to look at some of them.

The images in this post are from the summer of 2011 — and feel like they match the sprit of Peter Mayer’s song.

Chicory

Chicory is a wonderful plant which grows all over the place — from farm fields to urban roadways. I love the flowers’ shade of blue, which reminds me of a clear summer sky.

I am also deeply reassured by the way it is able to take root, survive, and even bloom in what appear to be extremely inhospitable locations — with very little soil or access to water.

Hurrah for the resourcefulness of weeds!

Ryder & Toad

Here is one of my nephews interacting with a toad next to Cayuga Lake in upstate New York. Ryder lives in southern California and will happily sing the entire song “Uptown Funk” (by Mick Ronson featuring Bruno Mars) if you ask him to.

This is my other nephew and my niece with my older sister (their mother) in the background by their garden in upstate New York.

They love each other very much.

Although originally from Detroit, MI, they have grown up on a farm.

I feel inordinately blessed to be the uncle of three such delightful human beings.

These are peaches growing on a little tree my mother and step father planted in Connecticut. I am astounded at how much fruit even a small tree can create — seemingly out of thin air!

Trees amaze me in so many ways.

I was looking at photos of the thousand year-old redwoods in California recently, trying to imagine what their sense of time might feel like…

I am impressed by how much patience and trust a plant has to have — that it will get enough rain, for example — since it cannot get up and move around the way we animals do.

And how generous they are to feed us with their fruit, their nuts, their berries — although it is hard to know whether they are generous because they want to be or because they have no other option…

Isn’t this Asian pear beautiful? How does the tree grow it?!

And let’s not forget our invaluable allies — the bees, bats and birds who pollinate different plants and — according to recent statistics I read in an article about bee health — are responsible for the cultivation of a third of the food we humans eat…

What an amazing system: beautiful flowers which delight our human eyes and attract (and perhaps also delight) billions of extremely hard-working and diligent pollinators whose diligent work leads to delicious, nutritious food for so many beings — many of them human — to eat.

And it’s powered by photons traveling through space from a nearby star.

And it’s assisted by water which falls from the sky, is sucked up by the plants’ roots, is incorporated into leaves and flowers and fruits and berries, and eventually evaporates back into the sky — only to begin the cycle again.

What a planet!

As Peter writes in his song, “The challenging thing becomes not to look for miracles — but finding where there isn’t one…”

Thank you for reading and listening to yet another blog post.

June 23, 2013 by willedare

The Magic of the Humble ‘Ukulele

I started playing the ukulele three years ago after attending a class in Harvard Square led by the marvelous Danno Sullivan.

Ukulele enthusiast, teacher and humorist Danno Sullivan — Danno Sullivan

Not only is Danno an inspiring teacher, he also has a terrific sense of humor — sprinkling his classes with droll asides and insights.

Since then I have been strumming on a regular basis — thanks to Danno’s handouts, the wonderful Daily Ukulele songbook, and the amazing group mind of the internet (where one can find chords and lyrics for almost every song under the sun).

Soon after discovering the chords for Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida” on line, I realized that many of my favorite pop songs have a surprisingly simple structure — four chords.

And some do fine with just three chords — as in the case of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

And thus my life as a budding songwriter took root…

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Cover image of THE DAILY UKULELE songbook

I had written lyrics in the past with a friend, pianist/composer Steve Sweeting (and you can listen to one of the songs we created together called “Stuff” by clicking here if you are curious).

I had also collaborated on a couple of songs with a guitarist friend (again as a lyricist).

And I had co-written a couple of songs with bandmates in a pop/rock band.

But until I picked up a ukulele, my songwriting efforts had been restricted to what I could cobble together using Apple’s blessed GarageBand program — songs consisting of my vocals plus various loops and samples from the GarageBand library.

Now, in the past three years, I have written a bunch of ukulele-based songs.

And in the past month I have attended three singer-songwriter open mics — accompanying myself (solidly but not very gracefully) on the ‘uke.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

In addition to helping me write songs, the ukulele has also given me a new way to hang out with my mom, with my dad, and with other friends and family members.

All I have to do is pick up a ‘uke, open up a songbook, and start strumming.

Almost invariably the mood in the room shifts to something lighter and (literally) more harmonious as everyone starts to hum and sing along.

I find this to be somewhat magical and amazing.

And it inspired me to write the song featured at the beginning of this blog post — a version which I recorded with Doug Hammer playing a shaker egg and his Schimmel grand piano — as well as a GarageBand version I recorded by myself using my Apple laptop (which I have included below.

I highly recommend that anyone reading this blog post consider buying a decent (but inexpensive) ukulele.

Then you can check out all sorts of fun, free, instructional videos on YouTube AND start attending a wonderful, welcoming ukulele Meetup gathering near you.

They happen all across the USA — and in many other countries around the world.

And the sound of many ukuleles being strummed together is quite heavenly.

Will McMillan wearing a tuxedo and strumming a blue ukulele — Me and my first ukulele (Photo by Stephen C. Fischer)

I think the largest group of strummers I’ve been part of was at The Cambridge Center For Adult Education in one of their front courtyards.

I helped organize it, and we had at least 40 people strumming and singing together with delightful leadership by the aforementioned Danno Sullivan!

ps: Since I first published this blog post, I’ve released a lot of music on various streaming platforms and have also created a new website which you are welcome to visit by clicking here.

Here are some links to songs I have written using my various ukuleles (I now own four of them) and then recorded with Doug Hammer playing piano — “Ode To Water,” “Can We Slow It Down?” “Heaven Here On Planet Earth,” “Boil A Frog Slowly,” “The World Within,” “Asleep At The Karmic Wheel,” “Waltzing With COVID-19,” and “Democracy Is Under Attack!”

Thank you for reading and listening to this blog post!

Thank you, too, to Danno Sullivan for his excellent instruction and ongoing inspiration.

Thank you as well to the Cambridge Center for Adult Education for offering ukulele classes with Danno (and to Michael Cicone — then head of educational programming at CCAE — for hiring Danno in the first place).

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his fun — and very patient — photography sessions.

Thank you to Liz and Jim Beloff for their wonderful Daily Ukulele songbooks.

Thank you to Steve Sweeting for helping me get started as a songwriter.

Thank you to the generous photographers at Pixabay for their colorful ukulele photos.

And one final thank you to a few of the goddesses of music — Euterpe, Hathor, and Saraswati.

I welcome any comments — ukulele-related or otherwise — that this blog post may inspire!

amusicalifeonplanetearth

Music and the Thoughts It Can Inspire

Michael Cicone

My Sweet Honeydew (A Cappella)

Everything Is Holy Now

The Magic of the Humble ‘Ukulele