life

66 & Fearless

September 1, 2010

Hardly any time to write a post this week. I’m spending nearly every non-working hour with my newfound hero. My mother. I’ve written about being fearless before. And “fearless” is not a word I would have previously used to describe the woman that gave birth to me. I’ve gone much of my life hearing from [...]

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Creating A Plan Of Attack

August 25, 2010

Darn you, Joel Runyon. After an insanely busy week, I was so looking forward to taking a few days to kick back and do as little as humanly possible. But no . . . You have to go and post this last week, sending me head-first into a process of analyzing what I’m doing with [...]

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Do It: Make Yourself Known

August 18, 2010

Right around the same time every spring, I get approached by at least one or two college percussionists, asking for a few minutes of my time. I’ve come to believe that they must be completing an end-of-the-year assignment given to them in some sort of Music Business class. Meet with, and interview, someone in your [...]

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Es Un Viaje!

August 11, 2010

Let me start with a short demography lesson. Then a somewhat lengthy story before wrapping things up with the reason for this whole post, and a quick question for you. The Lesson: My 2nd edition Puerto Rico Lonely Planet guidebook says that La Perla, “is not a place to wander into.” Squashed into a small [...]

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Ups, Downs and Pushing Buttons

August 4, 2010

Ups and downs. We all have ‘em. And for creative types, it’s not at all uncommon to be emotionally affected by the public’s response to our work. You’re flying high off the mad success of your previous CD sales and the reviews that came with it. Suddenly, the follow-up album tanks, you’re sitting on a [...]

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How Long Until I’m Good?

July 28, 2010

Last week I talked about one of the most common questions I’m asked as a drum instructor, “How long does he/she (or, do I) need to take lessons?” Today, I wanted to tackle another similar question I often get. Like the first, this one also relates to many endeavors in life outside of music lessons. [...]

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Never. Stop. Learning.

July 21, 2010

I’m currently in the Atlanta airport, en route to Puerto Rico. This is the third annual trip I’ve made to the island, to attend La Fiesta de Santiago Apostol in the town of Loiza, and to learn more about the traditional percussion rhythms of Bomba and Plena. Before I get to the point of this [...]

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I’m Such a Failure

July 7, 2010

It’s true. I continually fail at far more attempted endeavors than I’ll ever succeed at. Lost auditions, school rejection letters, unaccepted grant applications, uninterested publishers, girls who wouldn’t give their number, uncompleted projects, ideas that proved to be altogether worthless. I’ve seen it all- and that’s the short list. The long one just might be [...]

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The First Questions for Career Creatives

June 30, 2010

Want to make a full-time career out of your music, art or other creative interests? Part of my reason for blogging is to encourage you to do so, and show you how! But first, let me try to talk you out of it. Before stepping out on that long, difficult road, seriously consider the following: [...]

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My List

June 23, 2010

As I mentioned in the Fearless . . . Ruthless post, “I have a list of life goals that I say I’m going to accomplish . . . a neverending bucket list of places to see, percussion instruments to study, educational materials to produce, languages to be at least passable in.” Inspired by similar lists [...]

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