The Summerglen Files

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There’s been some kind of nasty tropical weather system passing over Summerglen for the past couple of days, and it’s made my sinuses and head quite, er, hostile toward trombone playing. During cold and flu season each year, many trombonists are in this same boat, facing the not-so-fun possibility of having to play sick. So, [...]

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When young trombonists think of practice, they may think of running through their band music or scales. The problem here is, the scales are usually run the same way every time, and the band music is often just played through, top to bottom. To become a great trombonist, it’s wise to mix things up in [...]

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It’s getting to be that time of year when band directors hold auditions for next year’s groups, and several young trombonists have come by Summerglen asking what they can do to make that top band. Here a couple of tips to help! 1. Get lessons as soon as possible! Often, we hear ourselves play and [...]

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At a Buddhist meditation session I attended a couple weeks ago, a fellow participant expressed concern that she wasn’t able to stay as focused as she would have liked during the meditation. She said that the last time she meditated, she was very “in the zone,” so she thought she would have been even further [...]

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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 you always [...]

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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 Blog. [...]

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Greetings, and welcome to the fourth post in our series about fitting in practice during the busy holiday season. Today, we talk about the value of planning. During vacations from school and work, it can be tempting to just chill out and let each day run its course, letting whatever happens, happen. Unfortunately for us [...]

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