Maybe I am the only one who experiences plateaus in my practice…who am I kidding? We all experience plateaus in our practices and other goals whether they be career, fitness, or life related. We tend to reach a point where we question if our hard work is actually paying off or perhaps we are no longer able to find the motivation to keep up the hard work day in and day out. Whatever it is, it always seems to hit in the spring (at least for me). The school year is finished, the summer lies ahead, and nice weather and new opportunities disguise themselves as distractions from the goals we are aft ..read more

This year has been full of firsts for me, including playing in the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra’s principal trumpet audition yesterday. This audition had been on my radar for quite some time and I went through many doubts if I should take it or not. Long story short, I decided to stop ‘should-ing’ myself and just try it out. What’s the worst that could happen? There are many factors that contribute to performing a strong audition including ones physical practice, mental game, travel accommodations, and other general characteristics that make professionals (i.e. punctuality, politeness, and a ..read more

Today, I had the pleasure of competing in the Open Brass sections of the Kiwanis Music Festival of Guelph. Honestly, with everything I’ve been up to this past month, I felt as though my repertoire just wasn’t at the level that I had imagined it would be. That being said, I find performing underprepared repertoire very useful as a practice tool to further isolate the sections that are working from the parts that are not. Performing is also a great way to test ones memory and force a real run-through of a larger work. Without weekly masterclasses and mandatory recital requirements this year, I h ..read more

I have had some time now to somewhat digest my experience performing Stockhausen’s, INVASION-EXPLOSION in the Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam. It is still hard to believe that only eight short months ago I was inquiring with the Koninklijk Conservatorium to see if my participation in this project was even possible. Travelling and studying this year has been a dream come true that has allowed me to meet many great musicians and study with amazing teachers while pushing myself out of my performance comfort zones. Before this year, I never imagined that I would be able to memorize and execute ..read more

It was only two weeks ago that I was performing Stockhausen’s, INVASION-EXPLOSION, in Amsterdam and I have been in a completely different realm of music performance this past weekend: the North American Brass Band Association Championships (NABBA). At the start of this year, I began rehearsing with the Weston Silver Band in preparation for NABBA. Having never played a cornet before, I had no idea what to expect. Of course, I am familiar with cornet solos (curtesy of Wynton Marsalis’ Carnival recording with the Eastman Wind Ensemble under the baton of Donald Hunsberger), but that is/was the ent ..read more

After a busy wedding weekend, I finally have some time to relax and recover from what was an amazing few months of party planning and being in the wedding party, standing up with my now sister-in-law as she married my brother. Those months of planning will pay off in the years to come as we all remember and reminisce the beautiful, outdoor, winter, wedding that Robert and Beverley put together. Ok, the wedding part is true, but relax and recover? Yesterday, after driving home from Collingwood, ON bright and early, I did some last minute packing and was then off to the airport to fly back to Th ..read more

It is hard to believe that January is already over! As an emerging artist, January has always been busy trying to put together the ‘perfect’ video auditions to submit for summer festivals and training orchestras. Endlessly attempting to perform multiple orchestral excerpts perfectly in one straight take has felt like high intensity interval training (HIIT) for trumpet. I have recently been attending Orangetheory Fitness where they specialize in heart rate based interval training. There, I have experienced and observed the importance of pushing ourselves to ‘get uncomfortable’ and ‘go all out ..read more

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope your 2018 has been off to a great start. Although I haven’t travelled in January, I still have adventures to share. My year began by reading Jen Sincero’s, You Are A Badass, and spiralled in all directions from there. Back in November, when I was in Florence, I submitted an online application for the Miss World Canada pageant as the pageant clearly stated that, “no experience [was] required” and I thought, “what do I have to lose?” I’ve never competed in a beauty pageant and thought it would be interesting to try as I was filled with curiosity about what the gi ..read more

I’ve been home now for almost a week and am starting to find my rhythm with trumpet practice and next steps (i.e. auditions to take and apply for). Readjusting to life at home, I have had a lot of family to see, meals to share, and jet lag to fight and on top of all of that. there is real work to get done: trumpet practice! One ‘obstacle’ I hadn’t considered was that I would be returning in prime Christmas shopping and decorating season. I’m sure things will settle soon, but for now I can’t resist hunting for the perfect Christmas tree, shopping for gifts to give, and maybe making a few batche ..read more

Sevens weeks ago, I had the best send-off to my European adventures with a Thanksgiving lunch with my family! When Elisabeth and I were planning our travels, we somehow had conflicts with both the Canadian and American Thanksgivings, but they both came together in their own unique ways. The American Thanksgiving supper took place last night and was fully a team effort. With some passionate team-leaders (i.e. the Americans amongst us), all of the classic thanksgiving dishes were delegated and appeared on the table. We went around the table and heard about the different Thanksgiving family tradi ..read more