It is difficult to imagine the number of cones on your average pine tree. When Ivan roared by it pushed our neighbor's pine onto the corner of our house. That is working out to be a lot of trouble, but that's another story. The tree has been cut up and hauled away. It was surprising that after the debris removal there were still so many pine cones. Not dozens, not scores, but hundreds remained on the ground. And they were buried in the dirt as though they had been hurled there with ferocity, which of course they had. In the area where the top of the tree had fallen, I could not put my foot on the ground without standing on a pine cone.

If a tree has that much interest in reproducing itself is it any wonder that musicians have so much desire to create more musicians. There is the hope, I suppose that the music will keep going, perhaps even spread, after I'm not making music anymore. Perhaps a grandchild musician, or great grandchild will be a significant contributor to art. A creative artist or master interpreter. There will be no line in his or her bio that mentions my name, but I will have played a critical role for I taught her musical progenitor. I have 6 music majors at LSU, 3 at Georgia Southern, 2 at Georgia State, 1 at Mercer University, 1 at East Carolina. Then there all the singers out there that are not music majors, some of my best, at UGA, Vandy, Rhodes, Samford,Berry. And there are the grads from UGA, Berry, West Georgia, Cincinnati, Georgia College, James Madison, Middle Tenn. State, who are singing and teaching somewhere. And there are a dozen more in my care today. Anne, Bryan, Diana, Johanna, Lauren, Laurel, Jessica, Morgan, Ellen, Elizabeth, Craig, Grant, Karl, Andrew.

My last students are in 5th grade. Not thousands but perhaps it will be enough to create a legacy.