The Summerglen Files

Greetings! We’re writing to share our newest plans here at Summerglen: ImprovLabs!
Learning to improvise can be a tough endeavor for young wind and brass players. Many of us are taught to read music from Day 1; as a result, we become excellent readers but find it difficult to get “off the page” and [...]

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A very wise professor once told me, “If you want to be an ambassador for music, you must write well.” I couldn’t agree more! For me, playing is only one side of the story; I believe it’s important to educate people on how to bring more music into their lives, and to empower [...]

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For anyone engaged in any activity that puts their work in front of others, criticism is an unfortunate reality. While criticism can be highly beneficial, some forms of criticism can be quite frustrating and painful–especially critiques that are condescending, unsolicited, and off-the-mark.
This morning after a church gig, I was on the receiving [...]

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The January issue of the Summerglen Times is hot off the presses! In this month’s issue, we tackle some of the most common mistakes people make in practice, and introduce our new column, the Creativity Corner.
Mistakes can be our best teachers; when we experience something that doesn’t work, it often makes it much easier [...]

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It’s a new year, and many of us have new goals, resolutions, and enthusiasm about the amazing things we’re going to accomplish musically in 2009. Often, though, the thing that isn’t new is the way we practice! There’s an old saying that goes, “If you do what you always did, you’ll get what [...]

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Today’s the first school and work day of 2009 for many people, so I sat down to write a helpful blog post about getting back into the swing of things and keeping resolutions. Before I wrote a word, though, I stumbled upon this fabulous article about keeping new year’s resolutions over at the Positivity [...]

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Hello again! It’s been quite a while since I’ve written and I’m glad to be back here on the Summerglen Files. Posts here have been a bit sparse because I’ve been working on several big projects, but I look forward to an exciting, post-filled 2009!
One of the projects that has dominated my time [...]

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