The Summerglen Files

Greetings, and happy new year!
January is one of my favorite times of the year. For one thing, I totally dig chilly weather, and January is one of the only times it gets cold here in North Carolina. But even more than the nip in the air, I love the quiet, reflective [...]

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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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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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Back in July, I committed to a monthlong practice project to help me take my trombone playing to the next level. One of the major elements of this project was the set of goals I created to guide my practice–and the great thing about goals is that they keep you accountable! So, here’s [...]

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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 [...]

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As a student, I was often told, “Go home and practice!” But when I’d get home, I often found that I had no idea WHAT to practice, or HOW to go about making anything better. My practice sessions would end up being aimless and distracted, and as a result my playing was hit-or-miss. [...]

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