The fact is that the holiday break has been one that has kept me from my work, which is fine because it was due to the other important aspect of my life: family. I had a lot of time with the family on this holiday break, with very little time in my office, on my computer, or with my horn. It was nice to get away for a while.
But now, I'm ready to get back to work! The routine of school and work begins tomorrow in our house, and I have a lot of new projects on my plate. The most urgent project now is creating a program for my brass ensembles. For our next concert in March, we are doing music of the Romantic era, which opens up tons of really great possibilities. My head had been swimming with tons of different possibilities of what to program, but I finally have narrowed down some music for my brass ensembles to do. It's going to require me to do a lot of arranging, so depending on how well those go, I may or may not do them. The first arrangement I'm doing is Bruckner's Christus Factus Est for brass quartet...well, it's more of a transcription. I just love this piece and I know it can sound good with my younger group after some diligent work.
So I title this post "Resolutions" obviously in light of the new year. 2017 was quite an interesting year for me in my musical life: I premiered my 1st Horn Concerto, my brass ensemble programs grew, my teaching studio grew, I had the first year of the brass camp...lots of great things. This year, I have a lot of goals, mostly in terms of composition & arranging. But the ultimate resolution I have is to practice my horn more. I feel like my playing still has a lot of rough patches, some unreliability. Even in a place where it isn't required for me to have an elite playing ability level, I want to achieve it. I want to be the best role model I can possibly be for my students, and put on the best show I can for my audiences and for the orchestra. That means being able to do everything that I advocate my students to achieve...in addition to having good accuracy and endurance.
The other reason I want to practice more is because I want to start the long process of preparing myself for auditions. As my kids get older and more independent, I may want to start taking auditions again. This may be a long ways down the road, but I have really thinking a lot lately about how little I get to play, and how much I want to achieve my goal of being more of a full-time player. Of course, my family and I would have to change locations, but it may be worth it. I dunno, I'm just thinking. Regardless, I still want to get myself playing at a very high level.
And not just on horn, either. i find myself performing on the other brass instruments a lot with my students, and I need to model well for them, too. I have not been at my best lately...
So what are your resolutions, as they relate to music? I'm sure the "practice more" resolution goes for a lot of people this year, but why specifically do you want to practice? I told you my reasons...let's hear it!
Take care and value music.