Subtitled: How I Finally Learned, Really Learned, My Diminished Scales. Diminished scales were always that elusive sound that I wanted to try to understand but could never get my head around. Actually that was my problem. I could think my way through it, but I really didn’t have it under my fingers. My brain kept [...]

First a little background: I have a little bit of of a RPG background (Role Playing Game) thanks to various ex-boyfriends and over the years I have collected some of my own dice. During my second year of classroom teaching, I was giving a test on major scales. Because the students were supposed to know [...]

Tetrachords – the little pieces to a rather large puzzle   A couple of years ago, a colleague told me that she teaches major scales to young students using tetrachords. This approach was eye opening for me and prompted me to try teaching this method to my 2nd level class for a couple of years. [...]

I’ve never really considered myself a techie but somehow in the last year or so I became not only that person that colleagues come to for computer advice, but someone who has created and maintains 3 websites, 3 Twitter accounts, spends more time on her iPad that the computer (and not just playing games), and [...]

All music is played by ear.   This statement is very profound to me. For many years I let myself believe that I had “bad ears” and there was nothing I could do about it. From an early age I was able to “think” fast enough to get by, making good choices often enough that [...]

It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by. I know that everyone talks about forgetting about the past and moving on to the New Year, but for me 2010 was quite a year. Unfortunately, I have done a terrible job of documenting it on this blog. I know this this and I am [...]

It never ceases to amaze me how mean musicians can be to each other. As if being a performing artist isn’t already difficult enough, we find ourselves having to constantly “prove” ourselves to people who also do what we do… just maybe slightly differently. My most recent interaction involved a fellow union member at a [...]

I know how blogs can be – start like a blazing fire but quickly die down to smoldering ashes and eventually they are gone completely. I can’t believe that it’s been over a month since I last updated… and it’s been a crazy month. 2 days after returning from my grant trip (and 5 full [...]

As I round the last corner of my musical adventure, I realized something quite profound about myself. I’ve done a lot of thinking over the last few weeks (not to mention, you always discover a little bit more about yourself when you have to explain “why you’re here” to everyone you meet.) What I have [...]

Today was the first day of the Aebersold Summer Jazz Camp in Louisville, KY. Technically, it’s day 2 of my grant journey, and although day 1 was interesting and exciting, I’ll save it for another night. (The 3 hour time different from Phoenix has really messed with my schedule.) Right now, I’ll talk about the [...]

“That’s great, because he does what you want to do”, said one of my closest friends when I told him about taking a lesson with Chris Vadala as a part of my grant project. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but as I got into my car afterward, the thought stuck me: [...]

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is, well, go. To get started. To move forward. This is true in so many different aspects of our lives – from trying to figure out what to clean first, to what to make for dinner. As a musician, the fear of what’s going to happen if you  __________ [...]