Last summer update

You may be wondering why the title is "Last Summer update"? It is because I have one week left of summer vacation before I return to my elementary music job. To be honest, I'd rather be on tour with Sting or somebody like that. Since he hasn't called me, I'll go back to teaching.

In a way, I am looking forward to this year. This may be the last year I am at my present school. It's not because of budget cuts, hating my job or anything like that. I am thinking of staring my PhD in music next summer. At the schools that I am researching, I have to go to school full time for 2 consecutive semesters. That means I would have to leave full time teaching for a year. I believe I can get a leave of absence and the following year return back to my county. I may not be at the same school at that point, but I would have a job. I have spoken to my wife in depth and she's OK as long as the bills are paid. Right now, we doing more and more to pay off the debt we have currently so that we'll have some choices with our lives.

Basically, this year could be a turning point for my career in music education. I am also teaching more private woodwind students and writing a sax method book. I am hoping to have as many as 35-40 students by Christmas.If that's happening and I am gigging frequently, I will have to make some choices. At the same time, I will be practicing for auditions and other things.

I understand that things could end at anytime. My mom always told me to have teaching as a back up plan. I never wanted that mindset. I always thought that if I was going to teach, I need to give 100% and not see it as just a representation of a failing playing career. The facts are that times right now are tough. I am lucky that I'm in a school system that DID NOT lay off teachers. I have colleagues that were told that they would not have a job this year. One colleague is teaching band and orchestra this year. It's hard out there. In my opinion, that is no excuse for not following my dreams. What I am understanding now that sometimes, our dreams can be edited and modified based on our life situations. Right now, I want to teach saxophone. This may change over the school year and I'll write something else, but I don't want to feel like I have to stay at a job or situation for the rest of my career. I believe that if an opportunity presents itself to me, that I should go for it, as long as my wife and kids are supportive. I have to do what is right and smart for my family because I do not want to put them in a situation that will be more difficult for us all just because of me. We'll see as the year progress what my direction will be. Right now, I just have to pray and leave it up to God.

I'm going to bed. Goodnight...or good morning.

New gigs

Hey everybody,

I will be playing with Orquestra Nova Sound on Friday August 7, 2009 at E'Clipse D'Luna at Miami Circle in Atlanta from 7:45-11:55. There is a possibility for a 2nd gig with them on the 22nd I'll keep everyone informed.

One thing I was reminded of as a professional musician: Don't let your attitude get in the way of your money! I can't let my feelings get in the way of doing gigs. As musicians, we can pick and choose the gigs we want, even if all you do is play full time. There will be times that personalities will clash between band members. Regardless if you don't like the person or the situation, you have to act like a professional. There are many people in Corporate America that do not like their bosses or their co-workers. Do they whine and complain? No! They do the job, get paid, and go spend time with their family or friends or whatever. I can't be a whiner or complainer. I just need to do the job and go home. I have that same attitude when I'm teaching. I do my job and go home. Life is too short to walk around with an attitude or mad all of the time. Concentrate on the good parts of the gig, lesson, rehearsal, whatever. I have to work in this constantly. When I focus on the good, things seem to go better. That's all for now. TTYL

Schedule

Today I had two students, a beginning sax student and a clarinet student. Both of the lessons went well. I didn't expect them to go well, since it's the summer and most kids aren't thinking about much. Actually one was an adult student who is making real progress.

Before lessons, we took my youngest daughter to the doctor. It was a follow up visit from before she was born. There is some duplication in one of her kidneys. The urologist performed an ultra sound and told us that there was nothing to worry about. We were very relieved to find that out.

Nothing much to report for today. Now I'm getting ready for bed. Talk to you soon.

Summer Posting

Hello all,

I decided to take some time off to spend time with family and do some other things. besides gigging, I have been doing some private teaching and I've been on vacation with the family to Nashville. Love that place!!! Now, some updates.

1. I may have to push some things back. I wanted to record some of my original tunes (jazz) in August, but I don't think it will happen. Hopefully in the fall I can get into the studio.

2. I'm going back to work in about 2 weeks. I need to get my violin playing together.

3. Within a few weeks, I will have my 1st CD, Sunset, presses on to disk. Half of them I will be giving away and the other half will be for sale at gigs.

4. The 2nd electronic CD will be out in the fall. My laptop had some issues (the hard drive failed) and I've been dealing with that.

5. I will be going back to school in August. That means I need to start my research back for my thesis and get into study mode. I should be done in January 2010. I am weighing my options. I'm not sure if I want to continue with doctoral study or not. I still want to continue my studies. I'm just not sure what manner I should go forward.

6. I have more private students and more teaching opportunities. I will be teaching privately 5 days out of 7. I don't mind the work and the schedule. I have to be careful and not overload my schedule. It's in God's hands.

7. I'm continuing my efforts on a method book. Hopefully by Christmas I will be done.

8. All of my electronic music work will be under "The Odyssey Project", I am setting up a myspace page, facebook page and other social networking tools for this project. I am even thinking of doing some "live" gigs, with me playing sax/keyboards and EWI (when I get one. I'm in the market for one). We'll see how it goes.

9. I am applying to different companies for endorsements. I believe that I got the talent, chops and teaching ability to get something. We'll see how it goes.

More to come later.