Congrats @Julie McKenna for winning the Feb. Intros Contest! March is on, and the new contest is this: funniest flute face! This contest encourages recording yourself and listening to your recordings. Winner - by most likes from the community - gets a free private duet lesson session with me! Record yourself playing a flute improv or go back and look closely at a previous recording: ever noticed yourself making funny or weird faces while you’re playing? Sometimes I do! My video will pause on a frame sometimes and I think, “oh God! What was I thinking there? That face is awful! I can’t publish this!” But then I just pray no one notices and just appreciates the music. Haha! I’ll try to find one of mine. Post yours in the comments! PS - this breeds mindfulness of foul faces you might make when you make a mistake. Try not to show it on your face!

Did you see the lunar eclipse last night? I didn't. I was resting up for TUESDAY IMPROV GAMES! Join us? PS - Have you ever played your flute at the moon?

I've been really enjoying Tatiana Thaele's channel when it pops up on my YouTube. Follow her if you aren't already. I totally agree with what she's saying here!!!

Don't you agree that flutes have a generally more pleasant sound?

Practicing “licks” is good, but it is like practicing phrases from a foreign language dictionary: If you never learn the grammar, and why the phrases have meaning, you’ll be at a loss when you try to engage in a 2-way conversation! At various points in my music life I have met musicians, trying to learn to play jazz, who practice licks a LOT but rarely if ever practice playing slowly by ear. They were sometimes able to whip out an fast lick in a jam, but often it sounded disjointed, disconnected, or out of context. They didn't know how to continue the musical conversation once the lick was over. That's why I focus in Improv Games on playing by ear and with chords relatively slowly, so you practice understanding how the notes fit into the overall musical conversation. That being said, I intend to learn more licks this year! The more you have in your mental musical library, the more you can use them as a source of creativity in your improvisations. A lick is any quote or small segment of music that can be snipped out and re-used elsewhere in another song. Listen closely and you might hear famous licks like bassoon intro in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" or even "Happy Birthday!"