Air = Energy.

My students hear me say this all the time.

Constantly. Incessantly. Naggingly.

It's something that Andrea told me during one of my first lessons with her. Although I was simply being obedient and following directions at the time, it's a concept that has stuck with me for all these years.

But, before we launch into that... Welcome. I had a website that sort of existed in 2017... however, a lot of things are quite a bit different nowadays. I was formerly entrenched in the music retail scene for nearly 9 years. I stopped playing the clarinet completely for nearly two years. I went through some profound emotional challenges & changes, and I learned about myself, my inner strength, and the love that I can share with the world. I started practicing at home again for sheer enjoyment, and I immediately rediscovered my love for the clarinet & clarinet pedagogy.

A few things about me: 1.) I love the clarinet. 2.) I have a lot of opinions and feelings about the clarinet, how to teach, and how to learn. Disclaimer: By no means am I deluded enough to think that I am correct or justified in my opinions. One thing that I love about teaching is that I'm always growing & learning as I teach. 3.) Years & years of meticulously writing customer-facing letters, policies, training guides, and detailed content taught me how to write very well. And, I also just really enjoy writing.

So, here we are. What's the plan?

I don't know! Per usual, I've got loads of ideas... I might submit recordings here & there (gulp). I might just write. Maybe provide guidance that a younger, more anxious me would have needed/appreciated. As an extremely empathetic person who experiences & feels the world very deeply, creating & being entrenched in art is crucial to me.

Music-making is a deep expression of human-ness. It is such an organic path of creating art... because, every part of our bodies becomes the outlet through which we create this art... every nerve ending, every finite muscle, every thought, every memory... it becomes part of the instrument. But, the breath. Oh, the breath.

The breath is so critical. Air is what keeps us living as human beings. Without it, we would cease to exist. So, the fact that the breath is the fundamental core of music-making makes so much sense. In Carl St. Clair's TEDx Talk, he discusses outside-out performing, inside-out performing, and inside-in performing. The tonal and characteristic differences between the outside-out vs. the inside-in versions of the theme from Tchaikovsky 6 are very clear; vibrato becomes more intense, there are more harmonics in the sound, the players are visually moving more, etc. But, you can hear the power in Carl's breaths with each entrance. The power within each breath is what provides the fundamental intent as they begin and end each phrase.

So, it's true. Air really does equal energy...?

Perhaps.

Until next time!