In the late 1980’s, I had the opportunity to take a course in Baroque music under the guidance of Dr. A. Peter Brown (1944-2003) of Indiana University. Knowing Dr. Brown was a thorough and knowledgeable professor, I had anticipated the course would cover a lot of ground. I was not wrong. I kept my notes … Continue reading Good Advice →

Jack was the one to beat. This was not his real name, but it will do. I knew about Jack from the year before. He was a fine trumpet player and was by all accounts most likely to win first chair in District Band. We were all expected to learn our parts and audition for … Continue reading Competition Revisited →

Years ago, I worked with a trumpet student who thought I “didn’t care” about his progress. His reason was simple: I didn’t “yell” at him like his old band director did. Apparently, he was under the impression that the more someone cares, the more they should act like a drill sergeant. I assigned good quality … Continue reading What does it take? →

Whenever something bad has happened or may be about to happen, we have a few choices. These depend on how much we care, how invested we are in the outcome. My dad used to say things like, "If you really care that damn much about it, then why don't you do something? Don't just complain, … Continue reading When You Care Enough →

When I was teaching orchestration, we would have a “play day” for each project. Students would provide a Sibelius (music notation software) file, the class would listen, and we would offer comments. I would sometimes make edits or revisions in a project to demonstrate how a change or two might improve it. One day, as … Continue reading A Good Question →

Many years ago, my wife and I lost a dear colleague to breast cancer. She battled the disease for several years and underwent a mastectomy and eventually the amputation of one arm before the cancer took her life. She was a caring person, and to put it in the terms of one of my mentors, … Continue reading Two Thoughts →

One day, back in 1965, I projected my age into the future, decade by decade. Let’s see, I thought…I’ll be 15 in 1970, 25 in 1980, 35 in 1990, 45 in the year 2000…that’s a new century, if I make it that far…I thought 45 was “old” at the time…55 in 2010…and now I’m 65…as … Continue reading Birthday Thoughts 2020 →

Everything we do is likely to put us in competition with others. Playing the trumpet and being around the music business for many years has taught me that much. Even writing the little bits and pieces of fiction and non-fiction I’ve posted so far means I’m competing with serious writers, famous authors, and clever bloggers. … Continue reading Competition →

Dizzy Gillespie used the word, vehicle, when referring to a song suitable for jazz improvisation. Fiction with a point or two refers to stories as vehicles to convey larger ideas. I classify most of my stories as light science fiction, more like what C.S. Lewis called, science fantasy. The SF elements are there for basically … Continue reading Vehicles →

Advice to accompany the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow... The Wreck of the Hesperus is a poem about hubris. Hubris is over-confidence. Hubris is arrogance. Hubris is foolish pride. It’s good to take pride in a job well done, like a successful performance, a good test score, or improving your ability in some way. … Continue reading Advice to a Young Person →