summer starts! plans and reflections

With the start of summer, my mind jumps both to the next school year and to the things I could have done differently during the year past. I'm already listening to concert and jazz band music [side note--there is so much out there that listening to music makes intimidating to keep up my own writing] and planning how to make the best use of time in rehearsals and lessons. I've started making lists of goals for the summer and have planned out what I'd like to do with the blog and composing. Here's what I am thinking.

The blog will return to weekly Wednesday updates. I'll do some more instrument and music reviews, finish some reflections on teaching or events that didn't get done during the school year,  and hopefully post some humor I've been working on. Second, I'm planning on a second post each week (on Fridays) to record a set of etudes my students work on (I'm inspired by the Charlier Challenge). If all goes well, I'll begin on Friday, June 19, and take most of the next year to record a whole book of middle-level etudes.

I have a long list of music to sketch, write, edit, and post this summer. I wrote a choral piece based on Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" that was premiered in May, and a couple of band works from the past year are in need of a bit of touch up before posting. My list of pieces in the sketch phase (or the "has a name but no notes" phase) is much longer. Plus, I have to try writing another trombone piece for Christopher Bill's competition.