Summers music was crucial to me from 7^th grade through high school. I honestly don’t know how I would have survived the school year let alone the summers without it. Not only did I continue to take private lessons through my summers, but every summer I would engage in at least one, perhaps multiple band classes or groups. Whatever I could find! And I soaked it all up. Before summer, from about mid-spring to summer it was often all I could think about, the fun I would have in summer band learning a second, third, or fourth instrument!

I met my first college roommate, friend, and musical collaborator one summer at a Berklee Scholarship audition. I met one of my dearest friends that I still communicate with today (nearly 30 years later) at a jazz camp. Some of my most amazing memories from high school were made on drum and bugle corps tours. Summers are so important for music students. Do not let them hang up, store away, or forget their instrument this summer. Sign up now for summer music lessons! If you are already in lessons, keep your slots! If you travel a bit, that’s fine—but don’t give up a great spot with a great teacher because you might miss a few lessons. Take your instrument and make those weeks virtual if you can.

If it weren’t for summer music, I might not know how to play the sax or the drums, and I teach dozens of sax students every week and play sax on recordings! How would I do that?! Summers are a great time to pick up a second or third instrument and learn to play in the sweet time of summer with less distractions of school and busyness. Don’t Waste Your Summer, and don’t let your kids waste theirs either.