Are You A Professional or An Amateur?

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Due to the fact that this post primarily contains information related to the more limited topic of music, the original question could be restated more accurately as “Are You A Professional or An Amateur Musician”? According to the latest AI (Artificial Intelligence) source: A professional musician is someone who earns a living by performing, creating, recording, or teaching music. They may work as freelancers, be employed by institutions (e.g., orchestras, bands, schools), or work independently to create and promote their music. Their level of income and recognition can vary widely, from local performances to global fame. An amateur musician is…

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How to Teach for 30 Years and Still Retain Your Sanity- Example #1

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Today I realized that I have almost been retired as long as I had been employed. How time flies when you’re getting old (older). This morning was spent recalling incidents while teaching at the University of Northern Iowa where I was employed from 1969 until taking early retirement in the year 2000. Some memories stand out as positive moments and others as less than productive circumstances. It is the purpose in this document to illustrate to the younger and less experienced leaders in the field of education just how to keep ones focus while dealing with the everyday problems which…

Shopping For A New Washing Machine

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Recently when our “old” (six years old) washing machine died on us, we were faced with the unpleasant chore of finding a new one. Ugh! After searching online to find a replacement, my wife and I decided to visit our local Home Depot store. The timeline below illustrates the utter frustration spent in purchasing our new unit. Wednesday morning- Arrived at the Home Depot store and was warmly greeted by the store’s representative in the home appliance section. After many questions and comparisons, the decision was made to purchase a particular washer. Money was exchanged and the delivery was scheduled…

Clocking Mouthpieces- A Practice from the Past

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My first introduction to clocking a brass instrument mouthpiece began several decades ago when I was returning home from Willard Elementary School in Moline, Illinois. On the way home I stopped at a local gas station to visit with its owner.  That day I happened to be lugging my Olds Recording cornet home with me and as I visited with the proprietor, we were joined by a customer who aggressively questioned, “Hey kid, what are you doing with that horn”. As a grade school youth, I was more than intimidate as I replied, “I’m taking it home to practice” was…

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NEW Series- Concert Trio Pieces For All Instruments

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We have had several requests to offer some of our original trio compositions for various combinations of instruments. In order to fill these requests, we have opened a new category of arrangements/compositions called “Concert Pieces” which we will add to regularly. This new section of offerings will address these requests in that each arrangement/transcription can be performed as a trio with any three matching instruments in either Treble or Bass clef. To illustrate the flexibility of these pieces, we have included our first offering below, recorded with several applications. Marimba Trio Sample Trombone Trio Sample Clarinet Trio Sample Full length…

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Something Different

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Jokes, Jokes, Jokes and more Jokes by David Edin April 18, 2021 A few weeks back, we featured the A Prairie Home Companion Joke Show. . . it is a 2 hour laugh fest featuring jokes that were submitted by fans on our website.  We hope you enjoyed the rebroadcast and found a laugh or two. . . we wanted to share with you the jokes that were submitted.  To support re-broadcasts and the bandwidth to keep the archive of shows available, please consider a purchasing a Joke related product from our store as proceeds from ALL purchases help support Prairie…

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Are Universities a Thing of the Past?

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This may be strange to hear this from a retired University Professor but just as fashions and musical styles change with time, so does the importance of advanced education. Decades ago, it was imperative to frequent the hallowed halls of the learned institutions for at that time it was a common law that in order to compete for a good job, you had to have a college degree or face the reality that you would not have a chance at decent employment. Today’s work force has changed and for one to amass great debt for advanced degrees seems questionable now…