Summer projects!

People that tell me they've never missed a day of practice in their lives (something James Galway is rather fond of saying) usually just make me roll my eyes.

Come on -- we have all had the flu. Or other health problems - like a burst appendix! Or if you're a great musician like Sir Galway, you've been on planes for more than 12 hours at a time. And don't tell me that when you got off the plane, you picked up your flute and a book of Andersen etudes and headed for sonic bliss.

At the same time, it's ideal to practice as much as you can. And summer means a hiatus from school, and maybe even a break from flute lessons for some, but I always thought of summer as a special time to attack new projects we don't have time for during the rest of the year. Order a new book of music that's just for fun. Find a friend (any instrumentalist, or a good singer) and have weekly duet reading hangouts. In the past I've enjoyed doing something serial or numerical, like learning all 20 Karg-Elert Caprices. I mapped out ten weeks and learned two a week. I've memorized concerti. One particularly dorky and ambitious summer found me with the goal of keeping everything in the Baxtresser Orchestral Excerpt book in my fingers at the same time.

My project for this summer is exceptional: tour Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. As exciting as that is, though, I think I'm going to miss (a little) the time I've had before to make my own practice choices for a month or two.

What sounds fun for you this summer?