On this trip though, I've done some thinking. I know, I've been doing that a lot lately: thinking. I call them 'revelations', and I make a big deal of them to my students.
But now that we're returning home on Monday morning after anticipating this trip for 3 months, I am totally ready to get back to work better than ever. And I'm really sticking to it this time. Here's how:
1. I am going to work with all of my students and their parents to establish and maintain an adequate practice routine. In talking with my students over the last month about it, nearly all of them. say they don't practice as much as they should. I want to significantly change that so that they benefit from being outstanding on their instrument in stead of "good enough", and so they benefit from the hard work they put in for any other endeavors they face in their lives. My strategy is to ask them to schedule their practice time and tell me when it is, so that they will have a concrete plan of their practice and I can hold them accountable.
2. In tandem with this, I am going to establish a better practice routine of my own, in which my students can help me be more accountable. I have a lot of important Fall performance obligations to prepare for: the Yakima Symphony 2nd horn audition at the end of September, the newly-announced Oregon Symphony principal horn audition (oh, yeah, I'm doing it!) in late October, a performance of the entire 1st Strauss Concerto with the Anacortes HS Wind Ensemble, and I'm sure more performances will pop up. There's also an audition for the principal & 2nd horn positions with the Spokane Symphony, but I'm not sure I'll take those auditions or not. That one is the harder one to fit into life if I get it, because it pays enough to be a legitimate part-time job, but not enough to move there. And, I just want to play my horn better for my students. I feel embarrassed when I make big mistakes in front of them, when it is my job to be a player they look up to.
3. I also want to set up a small amount of time to practice other brass instruments. The reality is that I teach all brass instruments. And what good am I if I have a promising young trombone player that plays better than me on trombone? I've already had that happen once (luckily this student was really patient with me) and I was a little embarrassed. And I worry that when my trombone and trumpet students get to be really advanced, they may seek out a teacher whose primary instrument is the same as their own...which I totally understand and would support, but I have this annoying problem of caring about my students a lot and not wanting them to leave. I know, it's silly, right? But, the first step is admitting it. Seriously, though, in this area of the world, it does everybody good here for me to be the ultimate one-stop-shop for anything brass...for convenience. And, I also have this other problem of wanting to have a good reputation and be famous...haha, I know, it's a musician thing. Definitely an interesting topic for another blog.
4. I want to get rolling on making some more original compositions that aren't commissions. Commissions are great, don't get me wrong, but I want to have a bigger output, and contribute to the repertoire. I also want to refine my craft of composition, which takes a lot of experience and trial and error...lots of error.
5. I have all these pieces I want to make brass choir arrangements for, not only to sell, but to use with my groups. I have to keep up with my brass ensembles' growing abilities!
And this stuff is just the start! I just want to do better with everything, even stuff outside of music. I have some great ideas to put into play. And I'm ready to go. So, bring it!
Take care and value music.