The Summerglen Files

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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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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As many of you know, I just finished writing my very first book, Women Embracing Creativity: Unleashing Your Inner Artist. Writing the book was a lot of work, but it was fun work. I’m really good at showing up and doing what needs to be done day after day without worrying what the future may [...]

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My first book, Women Embracing Creativity: Unleashing Your Inner Artist is finished! (So….now I can get back to blogging about trombones and other music-related things on a regular basis!) I’m self-publishing the book on Lulu, so it should probably be released within the next couple of months. I’ll keep you posted!

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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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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 over [...]

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I’m an educator with a very pragmatic teaching philosophy, so I can’t get over how cool it is when real-life experiences back up theories and research, and vice versa. Earlier this week, I took a trip through the creative process (and you can listen to the result in the previous post!) At the same time, [...]

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Often, people comment on how fun my line of work must be. After all, I get to “play” for a living! While it’s true that being a musician is a super-cool job, it’s definitely not all fun and games. Like my grandmother said, “The work must be done in order to play.” As an independent [...]

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I just completed the first half of my trombone practice project, and I’m definitely on a different path than I originally set out to follow. As I’ve worked on goals in the past, I’ve learned that sometimes plans go their own way, and that often that way is exactly right! Earlier in the month, when [...]

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Here’s a great article from Scientific American Mind – How to Unleash Your Creativity. The article is an interview with three creativity experts: Psychologist John Houtz, Award-winning writer Julia Cameron, and Scholar/Writer Robert Epstein, who offer a wide array of insights on the challenges and processes of being creative. I enjoyed learning about the skill [...]

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