The events of 2009 has forced me to take a hard look at my life, my business and my future. 2008 was the year I started teaching, something I’d always talked about doing, but was frankly too scared to put into practice. Somehow I overcame my fear and now, after a full year of giving classes and workshops, I’ve realized that teaching is something that I really enjoy doing. The challenge of explaining my concepts of making music to students of all skill levels gives me a satisfaction that I wasn’t really prepared for. I’m glad I took up the challenge.

2009 was also the year I met two of my musical heroes, jazz keyboard player Jeff Lorber and Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick of the legendary UK jazz / soul band Incognito. To watch these two masters at work really helped me put my own musical aspirations back into focus. I also met some extremely talented musicians during not only my regular teaching gig at the Popakademie, but also as a guest instructor at the Academy of Music in Dinkelsbühl, where I had the pleasure of performing with my good friend Alex Auer for the first time in 4 years. I’ve worked with some fantastic musicians, writers and producers in 2009, both on stage and studio.

Less fantastic in 2009 was the saga of my rock band iO; though we started out the year with a kick-ass live concerts in Rabenau and Brno in the Czech Republic, the future of the band was placed in doubt as my bandmates informed me that they were reforming their old band Guano Apes to play a series of european festivals in the summer. When their tour was over, they informed me that they were going to work on a new CD as Guano Apes, which will all but kill the prospects of a future iO CD. That’s really a shame, since iO has such potential. However, we’re hopeful that we can come together some time this year to make music together…

So, what have I learned from 2009?

…which brings me to my list of things that I learned from 2009. I’ve always been a believer in the notion that one can always learn something out of any situation, no matter if it’s positive or negative. So, given all that I’ve experienced in ’09, heres my list of wisdom:

1. The show must indeed go on.

2. NEVER take things for granted.

3. Seeing life through only one lens is never a good thing.

4. If you think you’ve had too much, you probably have.

5. Sometimes, doing stuff you’ve always dreamed of doing is fantastic. Sometimes, it’s not.

6. Get your mind right, and the rest will take care of itself.

7. If it takes more than three days to write a song, something’s wrong with the song. Not always, though.

8. Not everything that tastes good is good.

9. The best thing about new things is that they sometimes help you to appreciate the old things.

10. Kids grow fast.

11. Making a plan and sticking to it are two TOTALLY different things.

12. The phrase “don’t hate the player; hate the game” is just as relevant now as it was in the early ‘90s.

13. Though you may be better than most people at what you do, there is ALWAYS someone who is better than you.

14. When two grown people of completely different viewpoints can’t have a civil conversation about anything, NOTHING will get done.

15. We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone.

16. Going to bed angry sucks.

17. Fighting (in a relationship) can be good.

18. Sometimes, it’s better to just shut the f*ck up.

19. We all need balance in our lives.

20. It’s never too late to be the “you” you’ve always wanted to be.

- If they’re hunched over while flicking with their left or right index finger in different directions, or sporadically rocking from side to side or forwards and backwards, they’re more than likely iPhone users.

- If they’re hunched over working their thumbs in a twiddling motion as though practicing for a thumb-wrestling match, they’re likely Blackberry users.

- If they’re hunched over constantly rotating their phones from the upright to the sideways position, they’re likely Android or Symbian users.

- If they’re hunched over constantly reaching for the power button, they’re likely Windows Mobile users.

Now, keep in mind that I didn’t specifically mention the brand of smartphone hardware (given that only iPhones use the iPhone OS and Blackberries use the Blackberry OS, it made no sense to try and differentiate between Nokia, Samsung, LG and Sony-Ericsson devices); these traits are specific to the operating systems of the different brands, according to my observations. Now, before I’m accused of being an iPhone fanboy (which I am, admittedly and quite proudly), also keep in mind that I have tried all of the above mentioned gadgets out in various cell phone shops before and after I got my smartphone of choice, and not all of my smartphone owning friends have iPhones, so my own experiences do somewhat come into play regarding my observations. My point is not about preferring one gadget over another.

The much larger point is about the sometimes total lack of acknowledgement that other human beings exist when these gadgets are in use; if “normal” mobile phone users are bad personal communicators, smartphone users are much worse. I’ve witnessed accidents on both busy and not-so-busy sidewalks involving people bumping into each other head on while typing on their Blackberries; arguments breaking out on trains between PlayStation Portable and iPhone users regarding which device has the better games; Windows Mobile users become loud, agitated and downright violent while dealing with the slow user interfaces and crashes of their gadgets. I’ve been involved in demonstrations of my phone’s capabilities and program comparisons with other iPhone users, which is fun and interesting on the one hand; not so cool however, when having such exchanges in an expensive restaurant filled with people who just want to enjoy their meals. Nothing, though, has quite matched up to the time I witnessed a group of about six or seven smartphone users sending text messages to each other, all standing in the same room.

I myself have been involved in numerous debates over the merits of one smartphone over the other, the latest of which actually made me pause and think about how dependent on gadgets our lives have become. Does technology really make our lives easier? I guess the answer to that now age-old question is definitely sort of. On the one hand, things like smartphones, laptops, Facebook, Twitter, etc. have allowed us to increase our ability to not only communicate with the world outside of our own little boxes, but to do so extremely quickly, from anywhere. Your life can really be in your pocket, which is on the other hand one of the serious drawbacks to faster, smaller, easier technology. Sometimes a good book or a walk in the park is far more entertaining than fiddling around in Facebook with my phone.

In any case, I look forward to a quiet, relaxing evening with family, just as soon as I upload this post, water my virtual iPhone plants and feed my virtual iPhone fish.