Back when I was in grad school, a friend of mine asked me if I had any thoughts about performance anxiety. At that point, I had developed some ideas of why I thought people might get nervous for performances, auditions, and even lessons with teachers. My thoughts and approach haven’t really changed much over the […]
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There Are More Important Things Than What We Do For A Living – Paul Huang | Ep. 37
Listen on – iTunes Spotify Google Play Buzzsprout This episode of the podcast is a very special one for me. I’m breaking into the string world with an amazing conversation I was able to have with Paul Huang. Paul is an incredible musician who plays solos, recitals, and chamber music concerts all over the world. […]
Criticism vs. Impact (Will You Take The Risk?)
I recently finished reading the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. It’s a bit dense, and you can tell by the vernacular that it really was written in 1934. The success of the book’s history speaks for itself though, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to go […]
This One Simple Question Might Change Your Life (What I Learned From My Morning Pages)
For the past 2 months, I have been reading through the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. The author suggests that doing morning pages each morning for 12 weeks will unlock creative parts of ourselves that we didn’t know existed. So far, my experience has been nothing short of transformative. For those that are […]
I Never Really Knew How To Be Efficient Until I Had Kids – Jen Marotta | Ep. 36
Listen on – iTunes Spotify Google Play Buzzsprout This weeks episode is another “Freeway Philharmonic” episode. This one features Jennifer Marotta, a trumpet player based in the LA area. Although I had heard about Jen through the grapevine, I was finally able to meet and play with her at an alumni event at Northwestern University […]
Try This Strategy If You’re Having Trouble Learning Difficult Music
It has been my experience that 95% of the music we learn can be fully learned and successfully performed by what I would call “linear progression”. Full disclosure, I did not make this up. I stole it from the fitness community, as I saw how the benefits in weight training mirrored the benefit in music. […]
Dude, Where’s My Car? – Aubrey Foard and Nick Platoff | ep. 35
Listen on – iTunes Spotify Google Play Buzzsprout On this episode of the podcast, we have another installment of “Winning the Job”. This time we are featuring Aubrey Foard, principal tubist of the Baltimore Symphony, and Nick Platoff, associate principal trombone of the San Francisco Symphony. Congrats to them both on their successful auditions. Both […]
3 Types Of Goals (And Which One Matters Most)
In a discussion about how to set goals, I feel uniquely qualified to contribute. Not only have I accomplished major goals that I set for myself in the past, but I find myself at a point in my life where I am reevaluating and setting new goals […]
A Legacy In Lincoln, Nebraska – Terry Rush | Ep. 34
Listen on – iTunes Spotify Google Play Buzzsprout This weeks episode of the podcast is a wonderful interview with my former high school band director Terry Rush. He was the band director at Pius X, Lincoln High (when I was with him), Lincoln Southwest, and has done an incredible amount of clinics and guest teaching […]
Slow And Steady Wins The Race (3 Strategies For Deeper Practice)
One of the books I’ve read that I highly recommend is called “The Talent Code”, written by Daniel Coyle. For those that haven’t read it, it’s an in depth look at what the components for mastering a skill are. One of the components that he discusses in the book is called “deep practice”. Because the […]
