Sunday, January 28, 2024

Trombone

One thing I've added to my routine is practicing trombone, just maybe ten minutes a day. (I'll time myself today to see how long I'm actually going for.)

Currently, I'm working through "40 Progressive Etudes for Trombone" by Sigmund Hering plus some scales and a medley of Christmas music.

I'm looking forward to starting to take a look at Arban's famous method for slide and valve trombone and baritone (bass clef) soon, which I found based on the recommendation of a longterm family friend and trombone player. He also pointed out that he enjoys playing the Bach cello concertos, transcribed to trombone. I'm taking inspiration from this performance of them: SUITE Nº1 IN G MAJOR (BWV 1007) J. S. BACH FOR TROMBONE ALONE BY JAVIER YERA (though I'm so far off from this level at the moment). I think this portion of it will be a good place for me to start: Cello Suite No.1 in G major BWV1007:I Präludium For Trombone.

I'm looking forward to making progress, to learning from the larger trombone community. Another thing I'm looking at is Douglas Yeo's FAQ.

If you have any favorite resources for improving your trombine skills, I'd love to hear about them. Thank you.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

"The Five Parts of Every Business"

I'm enjoying The Personal MBA, though I don't think I'll be able to finish it before I have to return it to the library.
Roughly defined, a business is a repeatable process that:
  1. Creates and delivers something of value ...
  2. That other people want or need ...
  3. At a price they're willing to pay ...
  4. In a way that satisfies the customer's needs and expectations ...
  5. So that the business brings in enough Profit to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation.
One point that caught my attention: while it means more competition, the fact that other businesses are succeeding in an area at least means that there is demand for what they're producing. So, if there's existing competition, it at least indicates there are some potential customers, avoiding one pitfall.