The occasional break can be a very good thing.

On Boxing Day, December 26th, I held what has now become a studio tradition: the annual Christmas Tea for former students home for the holidays.

Really. It started innocently enough.

Once during a particularly intense week of rehearsals and extra concerts, my husband Matt commented, “This week feels like one long day.”

‘Tis the Season.

A number of years ago I was in the middle of a rehearsal with a clarinetist when he turned to me: “Where are you with your Thanksgiving preparations?”

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my grandparents.

These days, it’s all about recital preparation.

This summer I reread a lot of books sitting on my shelves.

“So, Miss Amy, what about Scale Olympics?”

Around mid-July, in a good year, the monsoons begin here in the high desert.

Last Tuesday was ten-year-old Noah’s first lesson of the school year.

Dear Grace:

Just got the pictures yesterday that were taken at the lake the Sunday you were here…With best wishes. Your friend, Kenneth Schenck

Recently I listened to an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert on the podcast On Being. Gilbert, you may recall, was the author of the book Eat, Pray, Love.

Last week my best friend Lora and I were talking on the phone. “I have decided,” Lora said, “that I need a total of 15 outfits, with options for mix and match.”

It is officially too hot to do anything.

I’m afraid, like many people, I have a rather binary, all or nothing mentality.

Some of my students have discovered a whole new meaning to the concept of efficient practicing.

In March, I played a piece for one of Matt’s choirs called Songstream by Alice Parker.

No matter what happens, I’ve always known I was inheriting the amaryllis.