Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just to start...

Welcome to my blog. I created this site to document and share some experiences and interests related to music, mostly with the saxophone. In particular, I have always been interested in doubling. While I have some experience playing flute and clarinet, I have always wanted to pick up double reeds again. My last attempts, I just realized, were in my undergrad days at BYU, now 14 years gone! Not having instruments made it a little difficult to keep things up, but now I have an excellent opportunity while here at the Army School of Music to work on my doubling skills.

Some other interests I have are related to teaching and learning music. I have been experimenting with incorporating Spaced Repetition Learning methods into my daily routine of practicing. There are quite a few sites out on the web that address SRL for various applications, but as far as I know, none deal with it as a way to learn to play a musical instrument. I've been trying various things off and on since late 2007, and I think I've worked out a few kinks. Anyway, I expect I'll write a bit about my experiences here, hoping to spark some interest and draw from your insights to develop this further.

I also have taken an interest in teaching aural skills concurrently with beginning saxophone lessons. Particularly, I wrote my dissertation on integrating Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory with a beginning saxophone curriculum. I would love to develop that further, perhaps even creating some instructional videos that support a "self-teaching" method for those who may not be able to take private lessons for one reason or another.

Well, those are my interests in a nutshell. I expect this blog will evolve as I gain more experience and gather more ideas. Thanks for visiting, and feel free to leave a message.