The Summerglen Files

Over several years of teaching private trombone lessons, I’ve noticed a trend among students to focus their practice on the ensemble music assigned to them by their band director at school, and shy away from doing anything else. Unfortunately, band music for young trombonists doesn’t tend to be very challenging…so when it’s all that kids [...]

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If you’re interested in creativity and education, here’s a highly enlightening and entertaining way to spend the next 20 minutes. In this video, creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson discusses creativity and the educational system–and hits the nail right on the head! His perspective on creativity really rings true with my experience in school, [...]

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Just a few hours ago, we had our first meeting of the Winter 2010 run of the Women Embracing Creativity course here at Summerglen. It was a great time, and it made me remember again why I enjoy leading this class so much. Every group is unique, and it’s exciting to learn how [...]

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If you missed out on the Friday Night Playgroup here at Summerglen, here’s a video wrapup for you to enjoy. We drummed, painted, and had SUCH a great time! Stay tuned–we’re definitely going to have more of these groups!

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Have you had a crazy week? Come and unwind with us tonight at Summerglen! From 6:30-8:30, we’re going to have a drum circle/acoustic jam session, improvisational painting, sidewalk chalking, and lots of fun! You can find more info here on the Summerglen website.
Join us; it’ll be fun!

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Yesterday, we wrapped up our fall 2009 Women Embracing Creativity course…and as always, we had a great time. After doing several runs of the course, I’ve realized that my favorite part is almost always the final class meeting. Our last day tends to be bittersweet; after all, it’s time to leave the circle [...]

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Marching season is officially over: we’ve worked 5 competitions, pushed through 3-1/2 months of rehearsals, and given silly awards and hot pizza to everyone in the percussion and brass lines. After growing accustomed to the hustle and bustle of marching season, it can be straight up weird to see a relatively empty November calendar! [...]

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For the last week and a half, I’ve been having a string of rotten days–those awful times when it seems like everybody’s on your case, and like even your best efforts don’t measure up. It hasn’t been a fun week, for sure, but at the same time, it’s been a valuable week, an opportunity [...]

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Earlier this week, I stopped by Andrew’s blog and was intrigued by one of his posts about balancing creative input and output. Andrew compares his creative expression to a conversation–just as a totally one-sided conversation gets boring, creating turns into drudgery if it’s always going one way. Reading his post made me think [...]

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Yesterday, I started the final run of the Women Embracing Creativity course for 2009…and it was AWESOME!!! We had a kitchen full of wise women, each one exuding her own unique creative energy and passion. And although these women had met each other only minutes before, they were already enthusiastic about helping each [...]

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