I finally came to some understanding of what it means when I hear “past, present and future are one.” It’s a perspective thing. When we win in this life, we change the nature of all the sufferings everyone experienced before us. All the tribulations our parents or ancestors went through…

It’s hard not to respond to the world with a great big WTF. Now that we’re watching the deregulation of banks leading to another crisis and intervention, experiencing record rains and even snow in Southern California, bomb cyclones repeatedly slamming the Great Plains, Midwest and Northeast, an ongoing war, and…

As we’ve moved into February, and because I haven’t reached out since last year, I wanted to start with… Happy New Year! Never too late to wish everyone some happiness, right? This sounds like a nicety, but that’s because I’m perpetually positive these days. My optimism doesn’t derive from some…

As I navigate running music schools in two cities across the country from each other and a non-life-threatening, but essential surgery, I’m also enjoying the benefits of constant challenges to my personal status quo. This personal status quo includes such things as being independent and having direct control of the…

It’s been a hell of a couple months, as I write this. In the midst of moving to Los Angeles from my hometown Chicago to open my second music school here, among other things, I’ve dealt with over-charging movers who arrived late, the standard issue heartache of leaving behind ones…

“What’s up? How’s things?” “Crazy, man, I’m swamped. I feel like I’m just holding it together.” Who’s been there? Rhetorical question. Anybody who’s breathing, with a job or life, knows the feeling of overwhelm. As I write this, I’m in the process of moving my home to L.A., while making…

I’ve totally lost track (not that I was tracking it in the first place) of how many times I’ve had new students or clients come in and start with something like, “I feel like I’ve hit a plateau.” What they’re usually referring to is how the many years of work…

(This is the transcript of the video “Music & Peace: One World. One Song.” written and produced by Phil Circle.) I’m always reminding people that music is not separate from our day-to-day lives. That it does not exist in a vacuum. I also feel that this is true of the…

I’m pretty proud to be celebrating my nearly 30 years of teaching music, by opening a school. With Phil Circle Music officially becoming a music school for adults, with several teachers providing lessons, we’re also growing a community. I’m delighted to be bringing in teachers who share my philosophy of…