Category: Practice

Thoughts and advice on how to practice, theories on practice techniques, etc.

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Weekly Roundup 9/29/15

Reading: Work Hard, Be Nice started- good and quick read and very inspiring for educators and parents alike.

Arranging: New charts for Satellites coming (as soon as we pick new songs)

Practicing: Annie Laurie, and looking into things I might prepare for a doctoral audition (EEP).

Rehearsing: Metro rehearsed Sunday night with killer trombonist/repair technician John Maddox auditioning for second trombone. He sounded great! So did Nick last week! It’s going to be a tough decision. We’ll meet again this weekend to try out a different candidate.

Midnight in Moscow meets tomorrow to go over some new songs as well.

Performing: No current performances.

Listening: Lots of news and podcasts, actually, and sometimes a little classical. Not feeling too adventurous.

Teaching: Big into theory and concepts this week and driving home those essential ear training skills.

Relaxing: X-Files. Dana Scully is my queen.

i-dont-care

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Weekly Roundup 9/22/15

Reading: Work Hard, Be Nice almost got cracked open yesterday but I took a nap instead.

Arranging: Nothing on the docket.

Practicing: Annie Laurie in high gear. Hoping to read through it with Metro Brass at our Oct 4th rehearsal. My big tenor went off to the shop for service today, so I’ll try it on small horn this afternoon and see if I like that feeling.

Rehearsing: Metro rehearsed Sunday night with friend of Trombone a Trois (my old trombone trio) Nick Syman auditioning for the second tenor/jazz spot. We’ll meet again this weekend to try out a different candidate.

Performing: The Satellites at 612Brew! Saturday! 8pm! FREE!

Listening: Lots of news and podcasts, actually, and sometimes a little classical. Not feeling too adventurous.

Teaching: I love giving the ‘long tone’ lesson and that’s what I’ve been doing with a few new students this week.

Relaxing: Lots of social activities this week. That’s a nice thing sometimes.

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Weekly Roundup 9/15/15

Reading: Work Hard, Be Nice is now waiting for me on my bookshelf!

Arranging: All arrangements are now edited for the Satellites to be bigger and easier to read! Next step, buy more printer ink.

Practicing: Annie Laurie in high gear. Hoping to read through it with Metro Brass at our Oct 4th rehearsal.

Rehearsing: Midnight in Moscow tomorrow to read new tunes and organize our books. Metro on Sunday night- our first meeting after little break- and we’re hoping to audition a new trombonist!

Performing: No performances this week.

Listening: Lots of news and podcasts, actually, and sometimes a little classical. Not feeling too adventurous.

Teaching: It might be a good time to do a ‘volume workshop’ with some students- work on projection and accuracy at double f and air flow and consistency at double p.

Relaxing: Reliving all the drama of the X-Files. Going camping at Wild River SP this weekend. Enjoying the last days of summer, and they have been beautiful.

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Weekly Roundup 9/9/15

Reading: Work Hard, Be Nice is waiting for me at the library.

Arranging: I learned a few things from our first Satellites gig. The foremost: make the music bigger so you can actually read it on a dim stage. That’s this week’s task.

Practicing: My practice grid is working out great! I ran through trill exercises today and practiced chromatic and major scale patterns. Feeling fleet on the slide!

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Rehearsing: Minnehaha Repertory Orchestra begins meeting again this Saturday! We’re playing Brahms 2. ❤

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-qMtWVf0NA

Performing: No performances this week.

Listening: See above.

Teaching: Back to school! Met with my Chanhassen students yesterday, and am starting the year strong by encouraging good practice habits and routine-building.

Relaxing: Gong to ASI on Friday night for Cocktails at the Castle, a wedding reception on Saturday, and starting Buffy season 6 with my friend M on Sunday.

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Goal Accomplished!

We did it! We funded my Husting Studio Scholarship Fund in less than 2 weeks! I am so honored, humbled, thrilled, overwhelmed, and frankly, amazed by all the generosity and support my community has shown in helping me provide music lessons to underprivileged youth. Because we funded it within my goal time of 11 days, I’ll offer two students the opportunity to take lessons!

The campaign will remain live until the end of the month. Any additional donations will go toward additional materials for the students, or possibly toward organizing a studio recital.

My next step is to find candidates for the scholarship and then go through the hard process of choosing the best one! I’ll be emailing band directors at schools with a large population of children receiving the free or reduced lunch program and asking them to nominate students they feel would benefit from the experience. From there, the student will fill out my Scholarship Application and tell me a little bit about why they want lessons.

If you are a band director and you think you have a student who’d be a good fit for my studio, please contact me at lahusting AT gmail DOT com, or fill out the contact form.

Thanks again to all who participated. You have no idea how grateful I am that this was so well-received. I look forward to meeting my new student and getting started!

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Weekly Roundup 9/1/15

Reading: Re-reading a few special chapters of Musicophilia in honor of the legendary Oliver Sacks, who passed away on Sunday. Minds and spirits like his occur only a few times a generation.

Arranging: A few edits (and one major revision) for Satellites charts.

Practicing: I’ve created a practice grid to help me remember to cover all the basics!

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Rehearsing: Satellites had full band rehearsal on Sunday night. I’m so excited to put this band on a stage and see what we can do.

Performing: TONIGHT at Jazz Central Studios, playing 3rd bone with the Bill Simenson Orchestra. AND Saturday: The Satellites Sept 5 at 11pm, Icehouse. Our premiere gig!

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(look at that sweet branding!)

Listening: Sometimes the overloaded music brain needs a break. I’ve been mostly listening to news and podcasts.

Teaching: End of summer preparation for lots of students- getting those chops back for band camp and rehearsals and auditions. For some marching band folks, I’m offering ‘crash courses’ on how to effectively memorize music.

Relaxing: Labor Day weekend is upon us already! I’m taking it easy- staying in town- and enjoying the daylight while it lasts.

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Weekly Roundup 8/25/15

Reading: nothing on the shelf.

Arranging: A few edits (and one major revision) for Satellites charts.

Practicing: Time to start really digging into Annie Laurie, which I’ll perform with Metro Brass as accompaniment sometime in our next performance season. This means hoping my work revitalizing my multiple tonguing skills and quick slide work has paid off!

Rehearsing: Satellites core group got together on Sunday to revise and finalize our charts. We’ll have full band rehearsal this coming Sunday for our gig on the 5th!

Performing: Midnight in Moscow Aug 26th at Driftwood Char Bar, 7pm. The Satellites Sept 5 at 11pm, Icehouse.

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(look at that sweet branding!)

Listening: I’m painting another room in my house, and it feels like an 80s pop playlist kind of activity.

Teaching: End of summer preparation for lots of students- getting those chops back for band camp and rehearsals and auditions. For some marching band folks, I’m offering ‘crash courses’ on how to effectively memorize music.

Relaxing: HOLY COW the State Fair starts this week. I’ll be there on Saturday. Then a beach day, then some kayaking- gotta make that summer last.

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Weekly Roundup 8/18/15

Reading: nothing on the shelf.

Arranging: A few edits for Satellites charts.

Practicing: Time to start really digging into Annie Laurie, which I’ll perform with Metro Brass as accompaniment sometime in our next performance season. This means hoping my work revitalizing my multiple tonguing skills and quick slide work has paid off!

Rehearsing: Nothing this week.

Performing: Midnight in Moscow Aug 26th at Driftwood Char Bar, 7pm. The Satellites Sept 5 at 11pm, Icehouse.

Listening: Nothing super new on the list.

Teaching: End of summer preparation for lots of students- getting those chops back for band camp and rehearsals and auditions.

Relaxing: A weekend at the cabin + comic books.

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Weekly Roundup 8/11/15

I was on a road trip through Big Sky Country last week- got to see moose, bison, pronghorns, elk, and lots and lots of beautiful mountains and flora. Now it’s back to work and gearing up for fall lessons!

Reading: nothing on the shelf.

Arranging: A few edits for Satellites charts.

Practicing: Rebuild time after a week off. This means a few days of long tones and lip slurs, and lots of tunes in 12 keys with the Intonation Helper before I’m ready to jump back into my technical work. Buzz buzz buzz, sing sing sing.

Rehearsing: Satellites on Sunday- gearing up for next month’s gigs!

Performing: Midnight in Moscow Aug 26th at Driftwood Char Bar, 7pm.

Listening: Doing research for Midnight’s new gig book. We’re streamlining and looking for new tunes to add to our repertoire. This means listening to lots of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Preservation Hall! Not bad.

Teaching: End of summer preparation for lots of students- getting those chops back for band camp and rehearsals.

Relaxing: Tomorrow night the Perseid meteor shower peaks! Get out of the city and find some dark sky to enjoy the show.

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Weekly Roundup 7/28/15

Last Tuesday was my birthday, so I took the week off from weekly roundups. And now we’re back! Except for next week. I’ll be out of town. 🙂

Reading:  Finished: Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music by Glenn Kurtz. Currently reading: nothing!

Arranging: Clear of arranging duties for a few weeks.

Practicing: Range extension. I’ve added quite a few partials to my daily lip slurs and gone down into the trigger and pedal register, looking for solidity and reliability of sound.

Rehearsing: No rehearsals scheduled.

Performing: Midnight in Moscow August 8th at Mekong Little Night Market. Time TBD. I have a new performance calendar! Bookmark it, subscribe to do, do what you gotta do- see you at the gig.

Listening: Needing a little break from organized sound, as happens occasionally.

Teaching: Good routine development and attention to detail. A mistake is not a problem- until you repeatedly practice it.

Relaxing: Watching Nature365 videos, going to the beach to take advantage of the hot days while we have them, riding bike all manner of places.