Posts

Baby Steps

Baby Steps That’s the term we use to describe incremental progress, and just doing a little to keep moving forward. Baby steps. “Just take tiny pieces at a time, work through the process, don’t get overwhelmed. Small progress is progress, nonetheless.” Enough baby steps, and you can get anywhere. That’s all true, and good. But one of the key factors we so often miss (in so many things) is perspective. Sure, at the point where you can grasp the concept, “baby steps” are tiny and seem insignificant. Sure, our minds tell us, I understand that if I just take the sum of all those “baby steps,” I know I can trace real distance in progression. It’s just that those tiny steps can become so tedious, and seem so insignificant in the moment as to wear down even the most stalwart dedication into frustration, and sometimes even apathy. Babies aren’t worn down by “baby steps.” Each step is a lurch of experimentation, faith, innocence, determination, fear, exci...

Practicing at Home: Noise Regulations v. Professional Development

Hi Horn Homies, and any other musician friends who may have found their way here! It's mid-March 2020, and suddenly, it seems many of us younger musicians are faced with something that we have maybe not seen before in our endeavors to build a professional career in music: having to practice in our residences, since we are quickly finding our public spaces closed to try and slow the spread of COVID-19. While for some of us this may be old hat, for others it is the first time we have really had to ask things like "Will my neighbors complain?" and "Will my landlord evict me for noise violations?" With the fluidity of everything that's going on around us right now, I wanted to try and provide some insight as to what your rights are as a musician, and try to help soothe some concerns that may make us hesitant in our practice habits. (If we're going to be telecommuting and isolating for an indeterminate amount of time, what better opportunity to be able to h...