Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish. In case you missed last week's post, we talked a little bit about how music can change someone's mood. I used Kendrick Lamar's performance on Saturday Night Live of the song I as an example of a performance that pushes me to work harder as a musician and songwriter. This was the first time I saw Kendrick perform live and I will never forget it. I was mesmerized. I had heard of Kendrick Lamar and listened to a few of his songs off of Good Kid, M. A. A. D. City prior to the show, but I hadn't listened to any of his albums in full. This song changed that. And, honestly, I haven't tried to learn the lyrics of a hip hop song word for word since my college days. This song changed that, too. This is the power of music. So, after seeing this, I promptly purchased his To Pimp A Butterfly album and gave it a couple of listens. I thought it was incredible. In 2016, he released u ntitled unmastered and Damn in 2

Greetings from The Music Bowl! I'm The Wonderfish. Let's talk about mood this week, shall we? They say that most musicians, particularly ones that perform live, are especially good at reading a room. This is probably a skill that one can improve on the more gigs, or performances, one plays. Now, some musicians read the room and adjust what they are doing accordingly. Others ignore the mood of the room, or don't even attempt to read it in the first place. I am the type that constantly tries to get a sense of how the audience is responding to the music I'm playing. I want to create an experience for the listener, and if I notice there is not much of a response in the audience, it pushes me to put even more energy into my performance. Music is a powerful mood setter all on its own. As we previously discussed, music is incredibly personal, too. There are certain songs and certain artists that can always make me smile, make me think, and me me want to play my guitar. It