Each role in an orchestra comes with its own set of non-musical challenges. For instance, percussionists carry a lot of equipment and need early access to venues to set up, not to mention special parking privileges for loading and unloading. Trombonists are no exception, but our challenges are sometimes less well understood. I can’t even […]

I once heard a potentially apocryphal story about a musician who was asked to play a morning concert. His response was “Ten o’clock? I don’t even throw up before noon!” Whether or not this episode occurred, there’s certainly some truth to it. Musicians do not work a traditional 9-5 schedule. When I was on tour, […]

In my current practice schedule, I record myself playing at least one mock audition six days a week. Recording myself is an important element of my practice methodology for two major reasons. Most obviously, listening back to a recording allows me to objectively critique my own playing. By completely separating the processes of performance and […]