I recently had to take eight days off from playing. Not a single note on any of my horns for 8 long days. I honestly can’t remember a time in the over 20 years that I have been playing that I had to do that. I have spent the last year practicing and performing 6 [...]

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 [...]

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) Ten Lessons that the Arts Teach 2) From Alfred Ledger Lines Blog [...]

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 [...]

“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 [...]

10 things that hold you back – just replace music / relationship as needed. http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/10_things_that_can_hold_you_back.htm?cmp=17-8-375

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 [...]

http://sivers.org/15-years – A great post about remembering that it takes time and energy (practice!) to get good at something. Sometimes we forget what we had to do to get somewhere.

Recommended Jazz Stardards to Learn   One of my biggest weaknesses as a jazz player is knowing tunes. (“Knowing” in this case means that you have the melody and chord changes memorized and could play thru both without the use of a Real Book.) Over the years I have gathered many lists and I never [...]