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You are here: Home / Archives for Funny as a Brain Tumor

Funny as a Brain Tumor

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 1

October 15, 2009 by Steve 6 Comments

Over the years, I have told this story hundreds of times.  At restaurants, friend’s homes, men’s retreats, camping trips and many other places.   There have been a number of times where I start telling the story to one person and soon find myself surrounded by a number of people all tentatively listening. These attentive […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: brain stem, brain tumor, funny, hysterical, laughing, Massachusetts, meningioma, MGH, steve neff

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 2

October 14, 2009 by Steve 6 Comments

Ok, where was I?  Oh yeah……… So all this hysterical laughing is going on.  As this is getting worse and worse,  things in my life start to quickly fall apart around me.  Most of my relationships are stressed because people think I’m a little strange (OK very strange if not crazy).  The bands I’m in […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: boston, brain tumor, funny, health problems, laughing, MGH, musician, saxophone, steve neff

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 3

October 13, 2009 by Steve 6 Comments

I’m back with Part 3.  At this point in the story, things start to get REALLY interesting…….  Before I delve into the rest of the story,  I need to give you some history about myself.  First of all, up until this point in my life,  I was hardly ever sick.  I never broke a bone. […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: boston, brain tumor, cancer, funny, health problems, hospital, laughing, meningioma, MGH

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 4

October 12, 2009 by Steve 7 Comments

Hello again!  Where was I?  Oh yeah, around this time, my younger brother came out to visit me from Buffalo NY.  I hadn’t seen him in awhile and he decided to come out to Boston for a visit.  We had a lot of fun while he was here but the one thing I remember was […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: boston, brain stem, brain tumor, health, laughing, LensCrafters, Massachusetts General Hospital, meningioma

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 5

October 11, 2009 by Steve 4 Comments

Here we are at Part 5 in the story………….A couple of days after the whole “LensCrafters” experience,  I decided to go get some chinese food with a good musician friend of mine down in Boston. We met down in Chinatown in Boston for a late dinner. During dinner,  I told him about all the things […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: boston, brain tumor, doctors, emergency room, laughing, meningioma, MGH, saxophone

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 6

October 10, 2009 by Steve 6 Comments

I’ll do my best in this next part of the story to recount things in the proper order.  To be honest,  the next few parts of the story are a little vague and cloudy in my memory. I remember meeting with a Doctor to have the talk you have before a major surgery.  His name […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: boston, brain tumor, doctors, hospital, laughing, meningioma, MGH, surgery

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 7

October 9, 2009 by Steve 3 Comments

Well………..where were we?  Oh yeah, in Mass General Hospital, waiting for my next surgery.  As I remember,  it was 2-3 days later.   They came to get me for the surgery and it was an emotional time.  This was the big surgery where they were messing with my nerves, arteries and not to mention my […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: boston, brain tumor, laughing, meningioma, MGH, steve neff, surgery

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 8

October 8, 2009 by Steve 5 Comments

Ok, on with the story.  If you’ve read parts 1-7 you know I’ve been through quite the ordeal so far.  It’s over now.  All that is behind me and I can move on.  I can start living my life again and not worry about what’s wrong with me or what surgery I need next.  This […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: bacterial meningitis, brain tumor, laughing

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 9

October 7, 2009 by Steve 7 Comments

Ok,  I have my emotions contained again and can go on with my story…….  After the neurosurgeon told me I couldn’t play the saxophone ever again, I think I was in  shock.  I didn’t know what to say or how to feel.  After a short while, I started feeling this heavy feeling of sadness coming […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: brain tumor, cancer, laughing, steve neff

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 10

October 6, 2009 by Steve 4 Comments

In this next part of the story, we need to skip ahead a few years.  Just so you are clear on the time line,  I had the brain tumor symptoms from 1993-1995.  I had the brain surgery in August of 1995.  I had bacterial meningitis in August of 1996 (I actually had bacterial meningitis two […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: brain tumor, chiocca, proton beam radiation

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 11

October 5, 2009 by Steve 10 Comments

After the Proton Beam Radiation treatment I quickly jumped back into things.  It was about a month later,  that I was on a gig playing my sax when I got this excruciating pain in my jaw.    I had to stop playing my solo and I just held my jaw for a second and then […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: brain tumor, proton beam, steven johnson syndrom, tegretol, toxic epidermal necrolysis

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 12

October 4, 2009 by Steve 5 Comments

Well, I’ve been putting this off long enough!  To be honest, writing this part of the story is not something I feel very excited about.  There are a few reasons for this.  One, it’s not funny (well maybe a little funny).  Two, it brings back some painful memories.  Three, it doesn’t paint me in the […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: brain tumor, God, steve neff

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 13

October 3, 2009 by Steve 1 Comment

Hello again.  No I didn’t die.  I’m sorry for the delay with this chapter but every once in awhile I have a problem with tendonitis in my arms and have to take a break from typing for them to get better.  I am feeling  better now and can continue the story.  OK,  where was I………….. […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: brain tumor, cancer, depression

As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 14

October 2, 2009 by Steve 2 Comments

After the events in Part 13, I started feeling like my regular self again. Life went on.  We moved a few times and ended up in Southern New Hampshire.  I have two more stories to share with you and then we’ll be done.  Hopefully, there will be no more to tell in future stories although […]

Filed Under: Funny as a Brain Tumor Tagged With: headaches, intracranial pressure, shunt

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Hi Steve, I have been shedding your materials for quite a while now and I love them! They are extremely well organized and presented and there are tons of ’em! I really appreciate your methodical approach and find myself referring students to your resources often.  Thanks so much!  
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Steve,  Just want to say thanks for all you are doing for all of us. I’ve learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.

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Have a great year,

Kevin Ledbetter

I've learned more from you than anyone else in my 40 years of playing.
Steve’s monthly lessons are entirely valuable. Without brow beating, he tells you all the stuff you deep down know you really should be working on, instead of just relying on the same old patterns. In spite of the fact that you’re taking a video lesson, Steve’s presentation is comfortable and “real”. In a little more than a year, he’s developed a library of lessons that seem to offer any player a lifetime’s worth of practice material. I’m just glad I stumbled upon it.… Read more
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I want to say something about Steve Neff’s series of lessons, Beginner Jazz Improvisation. For a couple of years I tried many beginner lessons and my problem was that there was a gap between lessons that were fairly simple and ones that I was not quite ready for and my progress stalled out. That problem was solved with the series Beginner Jazz Improvisation. He guides you step by step along the way and builds a foundation for learning jazz and blues. He leaves no question about what to practice … Read more
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I want to let you know that your instructional material is transforming my playing.  It is an immense pleasure to learn and play now, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am. The instructional material I got from you is by far the best of any I own (and I have over 100 books, DVDs, and what not). I literally can’t thank you enough! Deric
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Your major diatonic patterns book is great. I”m studying the first twenty patterns (first twenty pages) each day with different articulation each day and slowly increasing the tempo each week or so.  There is a noticeable improvement in finger coordination across all keys and its amazing how much more secure I feel on the difficult keys when attempting to play pieces with 5+ flats/sharps. I’m able to sort out the fingerings for these pieces now much more quickly than before, often in one or two … Read more
Geoff
Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you for being you, your playing, your website and your desire to help others. I’m a professional musician in the US Army and I’ve visited your website almost every day since discovering it a couple of months ago. Your lessons are profound and easy to use. I’ve purchased most of your PDF books and now am starting to delve more into the video and audio lessons.  Thank you for being a great resource!
James
I’ve been having ‘ online’  lessons with Steve for a few months now. Being a teacher myself I had had some reservations with the idea at first and the practicalities of it .  Let me just say that my playing has taken a huge leaps forward while studying with Steve and continues to do so.Steve studied with some renowned player/teachers such as Bergonzi and Garzone– this in itself is invaluable but Steve teaches from his own books, which cover a a vast amount of  jazz language. Steve h… Read more
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