There's one additional perk to this year: I GET TO TAKE MY WHIDBEY ISLAND HORN CLUB. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!! I get to bring my group! Isn't that amazing?! My horn ensemble, which I formed not even two years ago, gets to be on the stage for 25 minutes in front of the northwest's horn players, young and old, amateur and highest-quality professional, and everyone in between. Who'da thought that we'd be playing at one of these things in such a short time from forming...especially because we have high schoolers in the group?! And adults with no music degrees? My wife and I are the only members of the group with music degrees. We do have a music college student, for what it's worth.
But, yeah, what a huge opportunity for our group. It's a step in the right direction towards showing the world that there's something good going on Whidbey Island in terms of brass playing, which is my current life goal. It's...sort of a big dream, I know. But, those of you who know me really well know that I strive for the highest level of performance possible (for myself and my students/ensembles), and also aim to build one hell of a legacy. I want to be the one responsible for making people think, "man, there sure are a lot of great young brass players coming out of Whidbey Island" and "there's a lot of great things happening for brass players on Whidbey Island". If only I could have like a brass workshop on Whidbey Island. I guess I've got the brass camp...but that's for kids. Oh well, it's still amazing.
I plan on doing a blog soon that related to this concept of excellence here on Whidbey Island. Stay tuned for that.
Take care and value music.