There’s just a few more weeks of school left and now’s the time we all start thinking about what we are going to do during the summer. In between family trips and video games, why not practice? Summer is a great time to do the musical things you don’t always have time to do during [...]

Last weekend I did a Doubling Clinic with Mike Crotty at the Highland Jazz Festival. This particular festival is in its third year and is one of my favorite festivals. Run by two of my friends, the Highland High School Band directors, Kevin Bennett and Lewis Nelson, it is one of the few festivals where [...]

Welcome to Five Link Friday – the fun Friday post where I hip you to five of my favorite links of the week. Please feel free to share your own favorite links in the comments below! 1) Chris Potter transcription of Confirmation – my dear friend Adam just posted this on his website and it’s [...]

Welcome to Five Link Friday – the fun Friday post where I hip you to five of my favorite links of the week. Please feel free to share your own favorite links in the comments below!   1) Free Flute Sheet Music – http://www.flutetunes.com/ – Free music, including midi and accompaniment. Worth bookmarking! 2) Are [...]

Welcome to Five Link Friday! This is where I post 5 of my favorite links from the week. I hope you enjoy and please check out the FLF’s from previous weeks. If you have a favorite link please post it in comments! (Sorry I missed last week – it was one of those insane weekends [...]

Welcome to Five Link Friday! This is where I post 5 of my favorite links from the week. I hope you enjoy and please check out the FLF’s from previous weeks. If you have a favorite link please post it in comments!   1) Highland Jazz Festival This is an annual event that happens here [...]

Imagine walking thru the hallways of a hotel conference center and around every corner is live jazz. Imagine people of all walks of life – students to the jazz greats and everything in between milling the halls, chatting with one another, smiling. Imagine having your choice of clinics to attend – technology, promotion, practicing, etc. [...]

Welcome to Five Link Friday #3. Enjoy! 1) The 2012 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert Webcast 2) One of my favorite videos on why we need to fail to succeed. 3) Think Twitter is a waste of time? Can’t find the point? Here’s a good article explaining how to use it and what’s [...]

First, a little background… I remember learning how to play piano as a kid (and later in college when you have to take 2 years of piano as part of a music degree) and one of the things that stuck with me was the Five Note Scale Pattern where you put your thumb on middle [...]

Welcome to Five Link Friday #2. If you missed the first one, you can find it here. 1) “My goal in life is to play better tomorrow then I did today” – James Moody Check out the other videos from that same interview. 2) At the JEN conference last weekend I met a trumpet player [...]

Inspired by this post from my fellow doubler Bret Pimentel What instruments do you play in your profession, and in what capacity do you play them? I play piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano, alto, tenor and bari saxophone professionally in jazz combos, big bands, rock bands, chamber ensembles, orchestras, as a soloist, and in [...]

“I don’t know what to play” confesses the student when it’s their turn to solo… I’ve heard this quite often from students throughout my years teaching and giving clinics. It is completely understandable, although I suspect that not knowing what to play (in that moment) is directly proportional to not knowing what to practice at [...]

One of the fears that I hear students express often time is the fear of playing a wrong note, or even a series of wrong notes. Sometimes, they can’t even verbalize it and they just sit there, unable to play anything at all. In an effort to eliminate that fear, I started teaching the blues [...]

Bandleading 101 – great advice from the Airmen of Note director Joe Jackson

About 2 years ago, a friend of mine recommended that I read Derek Siver’s e-book to get some ideas on how to promote and connect with an audience. The e-book sent me down a new path in my professional life. Not only did I get a lot out of that e-book, but I signed up [...]