How To Support The Trombonist In Your Family if You Are Broke
When we hear about “supporting” someone, it usually comes down to money, and it can be a real bummer to feel like you can’t support because discretionary money is tight. Maybe you’re the cool cousin or young uncle or aunt who is barely scraping by, but you want to find ways to support the musician in your life in other ways besides “here’s a gift card to Guitar Center” that you can’t afford. Here are some thoughts!
1. Ask them about their work, and get yourself into a headspace where you can focus on listening to their answers without judgement. Make eye contact. If you’re genuinely intrigued by something, ask them to explain it further. Sometimes musician’s minds think differently, and the things that make sense to you make zero sense to them, and vice versa. Listen to understand! Most of us have been through this drill with many people, and we can tell when the person listening doesn’t care, understand, or agree.
2. If they have social media for their practicing, like an Instagram practice account, follow it, listen and watch, and like the video. You don’t need to comment, but sometimes getting a like from outside of their normal musical ecosystem can be a real encourager. Plus, you might start to see their talent and hard work shining through.
3. If they have to be gone from the holiday time for a gig, be the family member that tells them that you wish the could be there, but that you also understand why they can’t be here. Sometimes the Christmas Eve gig that pays $1500 can make the difference to their bottom line, and part of maturing is putting aside what you want temporarily for something you need. Be the family member that makes room for their choices. They will never forget it!
4. Offer to be the person they can call when they are driving back from gigs. Those long drives on dark interstate highways can go by so much more quickly if you are also up late and want to chat when they are in the car. A simple “hey, call me any time you are on the road and want to chat” can be the coolest thing we hear. Most normal people are in bed when we’re just getting loaded up to leave from the gig!
5. When they experience a bad beat - an audition goes poorly or work dries up, they will likely complain if they feel like they can trust you. This is not the time to offer work outside of the field, because the musician is likely to interpret that as “I don’t think you’re cut out to do this. Here is a totally different job instead.” YES, I know it’s meant to be helpful. YES, they may have no other lifelines that can help. But knowing they have someone to talk to in the immediate aftermath of a bad day can make all the difference. We are more resilient than you think, but many of us process out loud.
There are many ways to support the musician in your life when money is tight. These are just some ideas that can help during the upcoming busy gig season. If you take nothing else away from this, remember to “listen to understand” and in time, they really will start to make more sense to you! Good luck!
Holiday 2025 Trombone Gift Guide
Last year, I posted a couple of blogs about gifts for the student trombonist and was told that I should publish them earlier for normal people who start holiday shopping BEFORE December, so this year, I’m listening!
No links in this post are affiliate links. I make no money if you click them or order from them. I’m just offering this as a service to help parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who want to support their student’s music habit without asking exactly what they want and spoiling the gift.
Instruments. (New price = $4000/$6500. Used = $1000 to $4000 depending on condition. I think that wanting to buy an instrument for your student is an INCREDIBLE gift idea, however, it’s not as easy as just going down to the music store or going to a website and putting in your credit card number. Students should be able to interface with the instrument and try multiple instruments out. What you CAN do is give your student a card that says “We want to buy you a trombone. Whenever you pick out your instrument, call me to make the purchase.” I PROMISE that they will be just as excited knowing that is going to happen.
Brands are a challenge. I play a Shires trombone, but it doesn’t mean that the Shires trombone is what everyone should play. Budget, level of commitment, and personal preference ALL matter. There are great instruments from Bach, Yamaha, Edwards, Getzen, Shires, and others! Coordinate with your student’s teacher for something like this. You will want their ears involved in this!
Mouthpieces. ($60 for a stock piece, up to $350 for a gold plated boutique maker mouthpiece). Same sort of deal as #1 above. This is the piece that interfaces directly with your body, and the fit must be right for the player AND the instrument. Spending more doesn’t always get the best result, either. Again, follow the card strategy I offer above.
Mutes. ($40 for budget options, up to $150 or more for top end options). Every trombonist should have a straight mute and a cup mute. For general, every day applications, I think that the mutes made by Denis Wick are pretty standard in the industry and no one will scoff at a DW product.
Denis Wick aluminum straight mute, $72 plus shipping from Hickeys Music
Denis Wick aluminum cup mute, $94 plus shipping from Hickeys Music
Stonelined Straight mute, $29.95 plus shipping from Hickeys Music
Stonelined Cup mute, $47.99 plus shipping from Hickeys Music
There are other GREAT mutes out there from Morningstar Mutes, Soulo, TrumCor and others. You cannot go wrong with a pair of Denis Wick mutes, and if they take care of them, they will never need another pair! Stonelined will get them by, but the straight mute in particular is about as affordable as they come, and you get what you pay for.
Cases. ($250 for budget options, up to $600 for mid grade, and over $1000 for carbon fiber protection). It is said that your case should cost at least 20% of your instrument’s value, but I’m not sure how that works in our current economy. My Shires would be roughly $5500, so 20% of 5500 = $1100. I’m not sure I would pay over $1000 for a case, and this is my profession! A solid “Toyota Corolla” of a case that costs mid to upper mid three figures is likely fine, unless you just want to go top end on this gift.
You will need to know if they have a large bore tenor trombone with F attachment, small bore trombone with no valve, or bass trombone. The case should fit the instrument snugly, so fit matters, and is based on the size of the trombone. I personally use Glenn Cronkhite leather gig bags from the Torpedo Cases company, but have used Marcus Bonna in the past. The leather bags look great, but don’t offer as much protection. How clumsy is your student? Another consideration for the Bonna cases is that they come from Brazil, and with international commerce and shipping in a challenging spot, you may pay for something and have it on backorder for months to a year, which can be a real bummer.
Click here for the “trombone cases” page at Hickeys.com, one of my favorite music vendors.
On the budget end, the Protec Pro Pac is hard to beat. For a more durable, but more expensive option, there are LOTS of Marcus Bonna cases if you follow that link.
Make sure you get the one that fits your horn!
Recording devices. ($150 for budget options, up to thousands for top end). I love the Zoom brand of hand held recording devices, and they can get as complicated as your wallet allows. For most students, we are using these for analysis more than artistic creation, so keep it simple.
Zoom H1 Essential recorder $89.99 from Amazon
A simple little gadget that records sound! Not many features but does the job.
Zoom H6 recorder $299.99 from Amazon
A feature rich recorder that, if the student wants to go deeper into recording, has many more options all in one unit.
Paying for a lesson with a top teacher or performer. This is one that people often forget and there is a lot to consider here:
Consult with your student’s regular teacher about this. Some “big name” teachers are complimentary to what your student is already working on, and some are…less complimentary.
If there is extensive travel involved for this lesson, consider hotel and airfare or gas to get there and back. Make it an overnight or two night visit! It can be a great experience for both student and parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, or trusted family friend.
Just because a player plays in a major orchestra doesn’t mean that they live there all year long. Someone could play in the Cleveland Orchestra during the year and be in Santa Barbara, California all summer at a music festival. Don’t buy plane tickets to Cleveland when you need to go the other direction.
Most top names will charge anywhere from $150 to $400 for a lesson, and if your student is younger, they sometimes protect their time and schedule by charging more to scare some people off. It make seem silly, but the number of requests that come in can be overwhelming. Most are probably under $300.
Stocking Stuffers can be fun, and you can fill the stocking with several little music things, like: Valve oil or a moustache for their mouthpiece!
In the end, gifts are cool and if you want to bless the trombonist in your family with something from this list or anything else you can think of, then how fortunate are they to have you in their life? If you can’t swing it (hey, I understand that the economy is challenging right now) then there are other ways to support them. That will be my next blog post, so come back soon to see if I’ve written it. :)
“My Rearview Mirror is Broken…
“My rearview mirror is broken, and I don’t intend on fixing it.”
I have spent a good chunk of my college life and adult life after college living in the past. The “good ole days” are great, and I’m fortunate to have “good ole days” to long for…but they set the table for the kind of ruminating on the past that blocks us from the best possible present and future. I had a podcast for YEARS that focused on all the mistakes I made as a young man! I literally farmed my experiences for content and episode prompts! Talk about living in the past…
Energy is our most valuable resource. Money comes and goes, and we make best use of our time when we have the energy to do what we need to do. Focusing on the past drains our energy in a big way, and after A LOT of work, I think I’m in a really good space with my past. Are there things I wish I had done differently? Yes, but those very decisions and situations are the ones that really stick out as the learning moments of my life. However, I don’t need to keep cycling through them over and over. If I’m not careful, I become a prisoner to these old circumstances.
What are you ruminating on? What can’t you let go of? Unpack it, make whatever mess you need to make to sort it out, clean it up, and move forward.
Audition Prep Thoughts
From time to time, players come to me for help with an audition list, and I find myself saying a lot of the same things to everyone who comes by. I’m no guru here - just someone who has sat on audition panels and tries to pay attention to details. If you're a music student hoping for a career in the future, I believe that “time off” during Fall, Winter, and Spring Break is a great time to pause and consider how you are honing your craft. The following tips are brass specific, but perhaps you can find your own parallels? Always down for a deeper, more detailed chat about any of these things.
1. Know EVERY term attached to every measure of each piece you are preparing. Don't guess or use context clues! It's never been easier to look stuff up. Use technology to help make your life easier. Do it now, don't wait. It is always harder to unlearn and relearn, so do it early and do it thoroughly. Find a cozy spot in a coffee shop and invest the hour.
2. Even though the world continues to erode our attention spans, take time to listen to large passages from the compositions you are preparing. Context is everything! I don't think you need to listen to the 2nd movement if the excerpt you are preparing is from the fourth, but you ABSOLUTELY should make time for listening. Everything relates to everything in this line of work, and you will never regret additional insight.
3. Your sound is your thumbprint. My sound has saved the day for me more times than I can count. Do I have the best sound around? Wrong question - too subjective. Is my sound resonant? Does it fill the room without hurting everyone's ears? It is colorful? Make your sound remarkable. Think about what remarkable means - have a sound that makes someone stop and say, "what a sound!" If something you are doing in your playing negatively affects your tone, it MUST be addressed. If your sound thins out when you double tongue, then you need to figure out why. Strip away elements until you find the desired outcome, then add elements back one by one until you can do the technique without robbing the listener of your best sound.
4. Write in your part. A lot. A short pencil is better than a long memory. To borrow from Dave Ramsey, the controversial financial coach, your breaths and musicial decisions should be "on paper, on purpose" like a Ramsey budget. We use pencil so we can erase and change ideas, but you must start by making the best educated decision, and living with it for a while. Remember that listening from #2 above? The more you listen, the more you will realize if your musical choices make sense, or if they are mainstream for something as narrowing as an audition.
5. Give yourself a process word for every excerpt in your packet. Whether it is "seductive" for Bolero or "prankster" for Til Eulenspiegel, it will help you switch from piece to piece in more rapid succession. Combined with score study and listening, you can create context out of thin air. Try it. It's pretty cool when you can get it going. Added benefit? Much less room for nerves in your brain when it's occupied with these other things.
6. Record yourself and listen back. You don't need to record every minute of every session - no one has the time to listen to all of that. Record the first run, listen back to create your practice task list, and then record again at the end after you have woodshedded the excerpt. Now, you can compare the takes and see how productive your session has been. Phones will work for this, but if you are an app user for met and tuner, you may want to invest in a digital recorder and nice headphones. I love my Zoom H5 and DT 770 Pros by Beyerdynamic. Use what you have! Don't let what you DON'T have keep you from doing what you CAN do with what you DO have.
7. Know how your mutes affect your pitch! As a general rule, straight mutes = sharp, cup mutes = flat. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I don't care how the Tom Crown copper bottom works with a Holton. On most horns for most players, this is the case. If you've had a mute for a long time, corks wear down and compress, so if your favorite mute has lost it's bite, get some contact cement and some replacement corks.
8. Play for people who DON'T play your instrument. Make a second hard copy or be able to share a PDF packet to someone's tablet. Let them make markings and notes. Do you know who WON'T be on your bass trombone audition panel? A BASS TROMBONIST. The principal oboe doesn't care how hard it is to get your low B to speak, they just hear a note that sounds unstable. This is invaluable in your preparation, but there is also a sweet spot where outside advice from many can be detrimental. Accept their feedback fully and keep ego out of it. You can always abandon large swaths of their opinion after the fact, but arguing in the moment will make you seem petty and immature.
9. Normally, I wouldn't tell someone to change equipment to solve a problem, but if your mouthpiece is so large that your high register is always flat, or so small that everything you play is splashy, it might be time to dial in your mouthpiece choice. The caveat here is that I assume you are doing your daily work to improve these skills, but are up against a seemingly unmovable roadblock. There are some amazing ears in the business who usually enjoy the opportunity to help!!!
10. Take care of yourself. Hydrate well. Eat well. Sleep well. Don’t compromise on or overlook these things! I am convinced that without good hydration, nutrition, and rest, that most musicans cannot achieve their best. You will never get a medal for running on empty, which really means running on adrenaline. Save the adrenaline for when you need to lift a car off of someone in an accident, not your Ride or Rhenish.
I don’t make these posts to make anyone feel bad about what they are (or aren’t) doing. I make them so you can make room for new mistakes, new challenges, new struggles. We’re all out here trying our best - or at least what we THINK is our best. There is always room for something to be a little better if you let it. Be well, and give ‘em hell! - BF
Thankful
I have an odd relationship with Thanksgiving. I love what it stands for in spirit - taking account of your blessings is something we should do all the time, but we are human, and we take things for granted, but as Americans, we are also “blessed” with the overeating, heartburn, and weight gain that can accompany the coming month between now and Christmas (or whatever you celebrate), while other parts of the world have less, and what they have means more, but I digress…
My hope for 2025 is to state my thanks more often, more clearly, and more loudly.
What are you thankful for?
Trombone Holiday Gifts Part 2
A few weeks ago, I posted a blog entry (it should be immediately below) with Trombone Holiday Gift Ideas. However, here are a few more for your shopping list! One caveat: while I have equipment that I endorse and use regularly, I will NOT post those here, because I think you should always make instrument and mouthpiece decisions in conjunction with your student’s regular teacher!
Pre-order Extendabone brand trombone socks! Holiday Cheer, One Step at a Time! 🎄
✅ Perfect stocking stuffers ✅ Limited-time deal ✅ Only while supplies last!
My friend Nikki Abissi not only created a great trombone tool for students with shorter arms, but she also is the purveyor of GREAT holiday socks! Up your festive game on gigs this year, or snuggle up and stay warm at home. :) While you’re at it, check out her other great products, too!Travelpro soft sided suitcase (Amazon link)
I know this might be somewhat of a bummer of a gift if someone is in high school, but for anyone who flies or travels a lot for work, gigs, etc, this suitcase is an absolute game changer. Not only is it wheeled, but you can track the wheels with one squeeze of the trigger. No more rogue suitcases! I’ve had mine for a decade and it barely shows and wear. Your graduate student or senior undergrad will appreciate the quality!!!
LogiTech C920 webcam (Amazon link)
If you want a better looking video or recording for live streams (think entrepreneurism for your young musician!) it is hard to beat this for the price. I have probably bought half a dozen of these, and have one on each of my computers, my wife’s computer, and a backup or two. Audio quality works well in a pinch, and for fifty bucks, is a low point of entry for a new creative outlet!
Shure Video Creation Kit (Amazon link)
Smartphones today shoot GREAT video, but audio isn’t all that great. This little setup fixes that. If your music student wants to dip into YouTube or wants to make their own demo videos for music auditions, this is my go to unit because it is easy and convenient!
Calm.com mindfulness app membership
Black Friday has a calm.com premium membership available for 50% off! Even at it’s full price, this is a GREAT tool to help with stress and anxiety. I have used it for a couple of years now, and it’s great! I appreciate that it coaches the elements of meditation without leaning into the religious angle much if any at all. A great gift for anyone who would like more calm and focus in their lives.
In the time between my first holiday gift post and this one, I tried a Morningstar mute, and think it’s quite possibly the best mute I’ve ever played. It’s light, durable, and has an even pitch and response across the range of the instrument. PLUS, it is a small business run by a trombone colleague, Ilan Morgenstern (Morgen = morning, stern = star, get it?) who is a bass trombone phenom currently playing with the Vancouver Symphony in Canada.
There are several options - Ilan loves the copper bottom, but there are several options to choose from.
Clearly, there are other gifts out there, but these are some good ideas! If you have a question about a gift before you make the purchase, feel free to contact me and I can offer my opinion. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
Trombone Holiday Gift Ideas
If you want to help your budding musician get some of the neat tools that they will need for their field of study, but don’t want to ask them directly for the products they need, I have a few suggestions below that might allow you to win at gift giving without blowing the surprise. As always, if you have questions or need specific guidance, use the contact form on the website and I’ll get in touch with you as soon as my schedule allows!
Gift Certificates/Gift Cards/Store Credit
This is a convenient gift option that will allow your student to get exactly what they need, when they need it. In most cases, gift cards don’t expire! The amount is up to you and your budget, but I can tell you that ANY amount will be a welcomed (and relatively easy) way to make sure the money goes to what they need, when cash sometimes goes to video games or other activities instead. Hickeys.com from Ithaca, NY is where I do quite a bit of my trombone shopping, and they have a link where you can purchase gift cards here:
https://www.hickeys.com/search/products/sku093803.php
2. Mutes!
Students usually need straight mutes and cup mutes, and there are TONS of options out there, but one mute that they don’t always think about is a practice mute, which turns down the volume of their playing enough that they can practice when others need quiet time.
The budget end of this gift option is the PAMPET mute on Amazon for around $25. You get what you pay for, which means that it isn’t the best mute, but is a nice mute you can keep at your place so that when your student visits, they can practice and you can relax. :)
https://www.amazon.com/PAMPET-Trombone-Straight-Mute/dp/B079KZ1WPD/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3VY1XWVGK87BF&keywords=trombone+practice+mute&qid=1699888846&sprefix=trombone+practice+mute%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
The middle-of-the-road practice mute option is the Denis Wick practice mute, which runs around $60 at Hickeys.com:
https://www.hickeys.com/search/products/sku007924.php
The practice mute I recommend because of the price point coupled with durability is the Bremner Shhhhmute, which comes in around $75:
https://www.hickeys.com/search/products/sku089941.php
3. Alessi Music Studios subscription
Joe Alessi, Principal Trombone of the New York Philharmonic, has a wonderful online program called Alessi Music Studios that has a TON of really great content that would help any budding player. There are different subscriptions available, and you can reach out to the website administrators if you have questions.
www.alessimusicstudios.com
4. Audio Recorders
One of the best tools that a student can have in their toolbox is an audio recorder. Here is a reasonably priced recorder that will serve them well:
https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H1n-VP-Microphones-Microphone-Windscreen/dp/B0BS1QFZBB/ref=sr_1_6?crid=PJ7NJR7FE3QG&keywords=zoom%2Brecorder&qid=1699889745&sprefix=zoom%2Brecorder%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-6&th=1
A note about instruments and mouthpieces:
If you have the budget and are inclined to get your student an instrument or mouthpiece for their holiday gift, I think it is important to find a creative way to let them know that you want to do this for them, but that you don’t necessarily try to have the item there to open at gift giving time. It is a large investment, and it deserves taking time to find the right fit. Even within specific models, there is enough variation that trying the instruments out is worth it.
You could coordinate a visit to one of the custom shops (Shires or Edwards, for example) and make it an adventure for you and your student to do together. How cool would it be to road trip to one of those shops together? Be creative in how you package such a generous gift!
The More Things Change…
…the more they stay the same.
I am feeling better about my trombone playing right now than I have in several years. New surroundings, new expectations and other factors are impacting this, but I wanted to clue you in to the specific things that seem to be helping.
1. Fundamentals are STILL key. This might be too bold of a statement, but I think I can figure out most anything that’s going on with my playing if I have an Arban, Bordogni, Schlossberg and Vernon books. Honorable mention goes to David Vining’s Rangesongs and Brad Edwards’ various lip slur books.
2. Don’t be pressured to play equipment that doesn’t work for you. Play equipment that works well for you. I recently switched back to a Greg Black mouthpiece after nearly a decade on another brand, and THIS feels like home. Conversely, you need to play equipment long enough to have a solid opinion on it.
3. Record yourself regularly. Like it or not, the recording gives you an accurate portrayal of how you actually sound. Try it for a week! Focus on fixing the issues you hear, and your comfort level will improve quickly.
The longer I do this, the more I realize that playing well is a pretty straightforward process that is most often complicated by my own thoughts and insecurities. Just some thoughts to consider!
Prime Before You Paint!
I hate painting. It’s messy, it requires steady hands, blue tape, drop cloths, and a bunch of other stuff that keeps your target from looking like an unintended Jackson Pollock painting. However, once I decide to paint something, I spend two to three times as long on room and surface prep as I spend on the painting itself. If I’m going to take the plunge and spend the time and money to do it, I want to do it the right way. Surface prep, including light sanding, masking or cutting in with a really steady hand, makes the paint adhere better and look nicer when completed. If you slap a coat or two of paint on a wall without primer, the imperfections show through, and the paint and bubble and peel.
Why does this matter, and why should you care?
I think that brass players often treat their fundamental practice in a similar way. From thoughts like “just get it done” to “I hate this but I know I need to do it” to watching the ESPN app or YouTube videos during the actual playing, it can become just another thing to get done, rather than the foundation for the rest of your playing day. So, simply put:
Surface prep and set up = a quality warmup for the playing day that follows
No surface prep = day after day of not warming up mindfully with purpose.
Pain (or in this case, discomfort or annoyance) is inevitable, but you get to choose your pain. Showing up regularly and mindfully doing your routine isn’t always fun, but it makes those performance much more enjoyable, because you know that your skills can be called upon, ready to go.
Are you struggling with getting your head in the right frame of mind for mindful practice with purpose? I can help with that. Send me an email!
Why I Decided to Begin Career Coaching
For the past several years, I have felt an increasing pull toward helping others. While the trombone will always have a central role and a part of my heart, I believe that my ability to help others transcends the confines of the instrument.
There are so many talented, hard-working people out there who are operating with sub-par information, and it isn’t their fault. They need someone to look at their materials with the eyes of someone who has served on job search committees and tenure/promotion committees.
The impostor syndrome is strong, but I have learned that when I start to feel this way, it means that I am on the right path to whatever is coming next. What at first feels like doubt is just thinly veiled excitement. My mistakes used to make me feel disqualified from helping others. Now, after lots of hard work, I realize that they provide me with better advice for my clients.
How many of you have heard from those around you something like this, “You’re AMAZING! I don’t know why you aren’t getting a second look!” Don’t those words wear thin after a while? If you feel like you need a new pair of eyes and ears on your work, and someone who will give you the honest, unvarnished feedback you need rather than the platitudes you’ve been receiving, I urge you to reach out today to chat. I would love to work with you!
Finding Balanced Motivation
When I was a teenager, summers were made up of time with friends, a part time job, fishing, cruising around in my truck (late 90’s gas prices made this possible) and more. Trombone fit into my life some, but it wasn’t really my focus between June and August. I was having too much fun. Then around the middle of July, after band camp (yes, I went to band camp pretty much every summer) I would realize that we were sometimes days away from marching band, and my chops would hate me for overworking them the next few weeks. All of my recharging from the summer was eaten up with the stress of catching up at the start of the school year. One of the big ways that I would “catch up” would be to shame myself into the practice room.
“You lazy piece of (word redacted), get the horn out of the case!”
“What’s wrong with you? Your dad is right, you don’t appreciate anything!”
“No wonder you can’t make All-State. You don’t deserve it!”
Do these sound familiar?
Guilt can play a HUGE role in motivation. It can be really effective, though not usually positive. I want you to try something. Pick a day and write down the commentary that runs through your head when you feel resistance to doing the work. Now, imagine reading those phrases to someone you care about. How horrible would you feel, saying those things to someone else? How would they feel?
If it’s too awful to say to others, it is too awful to say to yourself.
So how do we find balanced motivation? Don’t we need to kick it into high gear sometimes? What’s wrong with a reality check? If you’re of a certain age (I am 45, and near the end of the Gen X generation) I can hear you now. “Kids need to be able to handle tough words. It’s a tough world.”
I agree! But isn’t life hard enough when things are going well and there is no drama or strife? I think it is. Why would you allow the only person you have total control over to be mean to you?
I think the answer is to sit and examine why the motivation is lacking. What is keeping you from the practice room? Is it a lack of defined goals? No sense of urgency? An unrealistic understanding of how much free time you actually have before the school year? There are many reasons why motivation is lacking. Find yours, create a plan for how to correct it, and you will find yourself in the practice room sooner than later.
Should you practice over the summer? Yes, but keep it in perspective. If you work hard all school year, and the summer is a chance to recharge your battery, then by all means, take that weekend trip. Float down the river, hike the trail, swim in the pool, grill those burgers, or whatever makes you happy.
As always, if you think I can help you, reach out. Sometimes a lesson or consultation is just what you need!
New Beginnings!
In March of 2024, I became aware of an opening at a university that is near and dear to my heart, the University of Alabama. I applied, and after the normal steps of a university search, I am proud to say that I will be joining the faculty at the University of Alabama this August!
Arkansas State University has been my home for a decade, and will always hold a special place in my heart. I look forward to new opportunities and beginnings in Tuscaloosa, and I can’t wait to meet with my new students and get started!
Parkinson’s Law and the Practice Room
Parkinson’s Law - a task expands to fill the time allotted, regardless of the amount of work to be done.
If you would like to see Parkinson’s Law in action, observe practice rooms of school music buildings across the United States. Today, I want to present something that can push back against C. Northcote Parkinson and his law!
Inspect - Dismantle - Reassemble
My office at Arkansas State is in a central location upstairs, close to the practice rooms and student social area. I hear quite a few students playing through their lesson assignments, but I hear very few actually practicing. Time is at a premium for everyone these days, and this kind of practicing actually slows down progress. The “top left to bottom right” approach to practicing is common, but it doesn’t mean that it’s effective or efficient. I hope that the following approach helps you. Let’s dive in!
Step One: Inspect
By recording a run of the musical selection, you accomplish a couple of things right away. First, you are performing for an audience, even if it is just a recorder. Second, you can focus all of your energy on creation. If you play and judge at the same time, you have to split your energies between both. Listening back after the fact, with pencil in hand, allows you to have multiple passes over a single take, which can help improve your ears. Circle or otherwise mark your mistakes.
Step Two: Dismantle
The next step is to focus in on the first of the marked mistakes that we handled in the previous step. Play just those problem notes. Usually, if you are splitting a single note over and over, there are one of two culprits - your breath, or the note immediately before the problem note. “Reverse engineer” the problem. Experiment! Be creative. Check your pulse against a metronome. What is the likely, most straightforward solution? Start there!
An abacus or a handful of coins on your music stand can be really helpful here. Set out to play the chosen passage correctly ten times in a row. If you make a mistake, the counter goes back to zero and you start over. When you are able to play it correctly ten times, you can move on to the next step.
Step Three: Reassemble
Your shiny, rehabilitated passage can now be plugged back into the larger measure or phrase. Is it working now? Can you play the entire phrase ten times? If so, congratulations! If not, go back to “Extract” and focus on other possible solutions until you can play the passage successfully several times in a row.
The beauty of this approach is that in most cases, you only need a couple of practice sessions to actually fix the problem, and then you can get to the next task sooner. Traditionally, an entire piece of music limps along with small improvements week after week after week. How accomplished would you feel if you could walk away today or tomorrow knowing not only how it goes, but knowing that you can play it?
So, I’m tenured…now what?
After nine years of employment (three years as an Instructor, followed by the standard six years as Assistant Professor) Arkansas State University has deemed me worthy of continued employment! I am excited to see what the future brings, but I am also working to “steer my own ship” as time marches on.
I’m not looking to work any less hard or sit on the back row and grumble in faculty meetings. I’m ready to dig in deeper, work harder on the projects that are near and dear to my heart, and continue helping the Department of Music grow in size, scope, and quality. I believe in our mission, our team, and most of all, our students. I am blessed to be where I am, and don’t take it for granted.
Years ago, a family friend who was very professionally successful was retiring and selling all of his “hands on” business ventures. When I commented that now he gets to ‘sit around all day and do nothing’ or something similar, he was quick to correct me. He was adamant that regardless of age, we should always have a reason to get up in the morning. To borrow a quote from one of my favorite movies, Shawshank Redemption, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
I want to devote more time here on my blog, and my YouTube channel, so that I can get the word out about my teaching and playing. I am working to rewire the parts of my brain that are afraid of contrary opinion. I am comfortable in my playing and teaching skin, and I have some things to say.
Stay tuned, my friends. We’re just getting started!!!
Remove The Monuments To Failure In Your Life!
I come from a long line of visionaries. My ancestors from Prussia saw a future for their family in the United States, and risked it all to travel across the Atlantic ocean. My grandfather, an ambulance driver, started selling costume jewelry from the corner of a beauty parlor, and over the span of a decade or less, bought the building and most of the block on Main Street where the business resides today. My father saw a need for civil service in his community and ran for public office, going on to serve for nearly 35 years. I saw an opportunity to pour myself into young people’s lives and share a message of encouragement as they navigate their late teens and early 20’s, using my own story as a way to connect on the very human level of failure and redemption.
They say that every admirable trait cuts both ways. In my case, my 'visionary’ skill spills over into my physical possessions, and more than once, I have found myself drowning in a sea of best-made plans that have crumbled into piles of parts.
I like the challenge of fixing things and saving money. It makes me feel resourceful. Here’s the problem. I don’t really take the time to make these repairs, because a good number of my weekends are occupied with performance commitments, and at the end of most work days, I prefer to sit and visit with my wife and pet my dogs. Every time I enter my garage or work area, I see a dismantled radio or a pile of wires, and my anxiety ratchets up. They are monuments to failure in my life, and represent a “nice idea” in my life that isn’t practical for this season.
As my wife and I prepare to move to a new place this spring, we are in the midst of a purging season. As I bag up these spare parts and haul them away to the landfill, I feel a little better, and the task gets easier, day by day.
Do you have these monuments to failure? Are you holding onto old ideas, or are you able to clear out the mental clutter and make room for new challenges and opportunities?
I think this problem is more universal than most of us think. If you have struggled with this and would like to chat about it, get in touch!
cave emptor vitae
The title of this post is “cave emptor vitae.” I checked it in Google Translate, but Latin scholars, you’ll have to cut me some slack on the translation. The premise is legit - I have heard “caveat emptor” which at least loosely translates to “buyer beware,” particularly when dealing with online purchases where you can’t see the item before purchasing. This seemed slicker than “beware of that dream job you think you want.”
I feel like a career in the arts is similar to buying online. You see something from a distance that seems like a great deal, but you have to commit to a financial investment before you can find out for sure if it is the deal you think it might be.
A stretch? Maybe, but hear me out.
I have been doing this “music thing” for nearly twenty years, and this “college teacher thing” for nearly a decade. I have been blessed beyond measure. I found my wife while working toward my goals, and if I have no other accomplishments between now and my dying day, I will have been the luckiest man on the planet. This is a GREAT career with wonderful moments, but it was anything other than easy to get here, and I’m not always sure that people on the outside understand the path - and for the purposes of this blog entry, the pitfalls that exist along the way.
I’m also nervous to post this because there are those in my profession who wear what I’m about to post here as a badge of honor, and I could face professional repercussions for posting. Comments and labels like “not fully committed” or “not cut out for this” are gaslighting at their finest, and I refuse to let the fear of those things keep me from sharing my heart on this matter anymore. If that means that I never have a particular opportunity, then it probably ALSO means that it was an opportunity I likely wouldn’t have enjoyed in the first place.
Here we go…
When I was finishing up doctoral school at the University of Alabama roughly 10 years ago, and perhaps a year or two into my professional life after graduation, it really mattered to me to win a full-time, college teaching position. Everything in my life was touched by this goal. It promised steady income, professional creative freedom, the opportunity to save for retirement, health insurance, and on, and on. Many of these items eluded me as a freelance musician, and it was really enticing.
I guess I did what most Americans would do - I put on my boots and went to work. I had the promise of an amazing opportunity ahead of me, and I wanted to make the most of it. So I attached all of my self-worth to my success, and dove in head first.
A strange thing happened to me when I entered graduate school. I was so narrowly fixed on “winning a job” that I started trimming back or cutting things out of my life all together in pursuit of that goal. Did my professors tell me that this had to happen? No, they didn’t. But somewhere along the way, it became my reality. I finished my coursework, and days after my second Alessi Seminar, I moved from Tuscaloosa, AL to the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX metroplex for an adjunct teaching job at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant. The low pay and limited funds made finding a place to live a challenge, so I rented a bedroom from a couple of dear friends for my first semester of college teaching. This meant that twice a week, I drove nearly 4 hours round trip to teach my classes and lessons. Was it great to be close to friends and reconnect after 3 years in Alabama? Absolutely. Was it great to be pursuing my dream? It was…and it wasn’t.
Another strange music industry trap I fell into was only wanting to work music jobs, because “that is what professional musicians do.” Really? On what page of the “Music Careers For Dummies” does that rule live? Oh yeah. There is no rule because there is no manual! Here are some other “rules” I started adopting out of thin air:
“Only take music-related jobs so that the market takes me seriously.”
“Miss out on important celebrations and activities because “I have a gig.”
I could go on, but for the sake of this post, I will keep it to these two.
Only take music-related jobs so that the market takes me seriously.
I’m not sure where this one comes from, but I have a few ideas. Music is one of the few fields where it is considered a failure, at least in some circles, to not be working in your field of study. You and I know plenty of people who have a degree in one field, and now have a great job doing something else, and no one gives them any grief for that! Perhaps it’s because we have to work harder to convince our loved ones that we will succeed in music. Maybe it is the fear that we will NEVER work in the music industry if we take a job that siphons off some of our energy and attention. Maybe it is pride. Whatever the reasons are, the fact remains that if I had taken a job at Starbucks - a company that really takes care of their employees - for 15 or 20 hours a week, I would have had the breathing room and headspace required to progress as a musician without nearly as much fear. PLUS, I would have had coworkers outside of the music bubble to give me some life perspective. If it’s honest work and it pays the bills, AND it gives you time to pursue your craft in the short term without killing yourself, it’s worth considering.
Miss out on important celebrations and activities because “I have a gig.”
This one hurts for multiple reasons. Year after year, I’ve wanted to leave town early to allow for longer family visits at holidays, but as a brass musician, Christmas and Easter are perhaps my busiest gig seasons of the year. Those gigs kept me from more time with my family and friends, and when I look back on what I earned versus what I missed out on, the relatively small amount of money earned pales in comparison. Some things truly are priceless.
So what’s the point of sharing all of this?
If you operate from a place of fear and anxiety, overwork will become normal work, and sometimes, that wear has permanent consequences. While I don’t have any statistics to prove it, I would reach a little further and say that in most or nearly all cases, prolonged overwork has permanent consequences. Are there busy seasons? Yes. You have to make hay while the sun shines. But once the hay is in the barn, you must rest and feel good about the work you’ve done.
You don’t have to work later than everyone and run on pure adrenaline to “secure” your spot or prove that you were the correct hire.
Instead, if you can learn to love yourself and believe that you have something special to offer, your chances of flourishing become much greater. How much easier is it to pour from a full cup than an empty cup?
If you don’t love yourself or believe that you have something special to offer, then it’s time to do the work to make that better. My time with my therapist has been life-changing, but when things got busy earlier this year, one missed appointment became a classic “when things slow down, I’ll start back up again.” Bad move. Time to get back to work on me, so that I can show up in the best way I can.
If you’re healthy, and you know WHY you’re doing the work, WHAT it’s leading to, and WHEN to press pause at the end of the day, then creating a pretty awesome life becomes a much more reasonable possibility. We often hear about going back and sharing advice with our 18-year-old selves. What if we set up things better now so that our 48, 68, and 88-year-old selves can have a better future?
It isn’t what you think.
I have had many people come to me through the years for advice and counsel. I listen and offer my thoughts, and if they want, a plan of action for moving forward. I think I’m pretty good at helping others because I lead with kindness. They are people that I care about, and I believe they deserve to be seen in the most positive light possible. They ask for my help, and they deserve my best! I hope I’ve made a difference for them.
I have the most patient, wonderful wife in the world. I have seen her be kind to those who have not been kind to her over and over again. Very few things make her visibly angry, but one thing she absolutely cannot stand is how I sometimes talk about myself. Let’s just say that kindness isn’t always the leader in those conversations. Do any of these sound familiar?
“I don’t play well enough…”
“They have no idea who I am, so why would I bother them with…”
“So-and-so is way better at (fill in the blank skill) than I am, so why should I even try?”
”Who would pay a dime to hear me play?”
Sound familiar? I hope that it doesn’t, but I bet that to some degree, you feel my pain.
I’m sure that everyone does this to some degree, especially in the arts. It is a highly competitive space, and we are constantly in a state of informal assessment. However, when our self-assessments become more about us than what we create, it serves no one…unless you enjoy serving those waiting to see you fail. (a topic for another day)
We need to guard against this unhealthy pattern by building each other up, and we need to start TODAY. The next time you call yourself lazy or weak or awful, stop and ask yourself, “Is this criticism is about the music or is it about me? Would I say these awful things to someone who comes to me for help? Even if they are true, can I find a kinder way to phrase what I’m saying?”
I am deeply convicted that this “love myself’ headspace has been the single biggest deficiency in my music-making (and maybe my whole life) for 20+ years. Let’s work on this together!
If you found this helpful, please give it a share!
Bring It, 2022!!!
“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.”
Disclaimer: as I finished writing this, I became somewhat uncomfortable with how self-centered this post appears to be. Then I realized that it is MY blog on MY website, and that if you’re here reading this, that you’re at least somewhat interested in what I have to say, right? It’s so easy to beat myself up, but I’m trying to do better. Enjoy the posts as they come!
I have loved the Rilke quote above since the first day I found it, but in the past, I always looked at it from a distance as something that wasn’t for me. The quote offers an opportunity to start anew, but I have been weighed down by so many things outside of my control for so long that I found it hard to ever believe that good things were intended for me.
2021 has changed me in some incredible ways.
This year, I finally started healing some old, nagging wounds from the past. Not six months or three years in the past, but 20 or 25 years in the past. Things that happened when I was the age of most of my university students. Things that I have worked so hard to “fix” that I forgot that I needed to forgive myself and others to be able to move on.
This year, I put into perspective my home life and my work life. It is a day-to-day struggle to keep things in proper perspective, but each day I try, and by trying, I win more than I lose. I also have the most understanding and supportive wife in the world!
This year, I began forging new paths. The old paths are well worn and I know the terrain intimately, but I know that a change of path was long overdue, and in time, I will navigate these new, better paths easily.
I have some very exciting things coming in 2022 that I am really excited to share with you soon. For now, please know that I am doing well, and for the first time in a long time, I’m excited about the future rather than looking for every storm cloud in the sky and wondering when it’s going to rain.
My best wishes to each of you for a Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year!!!!