Don’t you think this chart from Atomic Habits applies to most worthwhile endeavors? When I was a child, somewhere I got a set of juggling balls. I thought it was so cool what the jugglers did at the circus!! But I gave up trying to juggle before I ever even got close. I tried and dropped the balls. I tried again and dropped the balls again. I lacked understanding and persistence. I succumbed to the disappointment of failure. I was in the valley of disappointment. It wasn’t until about a year ago that my interest in juggling resurfaced. At the Play It Again Sports store I picked up a microfiber hacky sack spontaneously. I began to love its texture, and I realized the first of two critical principles when it comes to learning to juggle, or any other challenging hobby: 1. You have to love it. I realized that it was important that, if I ever wanted to become proficient at juggling three balls, I needed to have tools that I really loved. This is like having a flute that you really like. Or improvising with songs you actually love. So, when I saw someone on TikTok playing with FlopBalls, I thought, “ah! I will love these toys. Let’s give it a try.” Then, I took a leap of faith and bought a set of 5, setting my intention to be able to juggle at least 3 of them at a time one day. I thought, “Playing the flute is HARD. If I can learn to play the flute, I can learn to juggle, right?” Then I had another revelation: 1. Chunk it. Some of my best flute teachers taught me that, when I wanted to master a challenging technique or section of music, it could be done by breaking it up into small, digestible chunks - and then practicing those chunks separately until they became natural, and THEN combining them. I thought, “how can I break this juggling skill up into chunks, like when I learn something new on flute?” That’s when I watched a 3-ball juggling video in slow motion until I could see what each ball was doing individually. I realized they work together in a unit like a musical triplet! And with a triplet, what happens when you remove one? We get the long-short pattern we find so frequently in jazz.

Sometimes I improvise with sheet music. I see what's written and then change something here or there to make it my own. I found this sheet music of Let It Be today and thought you might like to try it! PS - Join Improv Games tonight at 7pm CT if you can! And be on the lookout for a newsletter-type of announcements! More "LET IT BE" in the new year!!

One of my intentions for 2026: To create more flute meditation music. I've received some really wonderful compliments in 2025 with regards to my flute playing: they said it took them into a deep state of meditation and rest. I promised my friend Karen that I'd produce some flute meditations this year. So I was intrigued when I connected with Ahmy Brook through another Skool community (for group owners!) and read that she helps people manage thoughts, calm emotions, and find balance... I wondered, what similarities might she have in her community & ours? Might she have something to teach us about managing performance anxiety and building improv confidence? So she shared with me her meditation on Confidence and now I'm sharing it with you... After I've added my own flavor of flute accompaniment. Rather than using some "generic" background track to accompany her voice, now it has my flute sounds. I just added some reverb and played as I was moved by the meditation... sometimes playfully mimicking the scene Ahmy describes or mimicking the tone & rhythm of her voice. I'm actually not satisfied with this recording because of the "hiss" of background noise! But since this group and the "Improvisation Waterfall" category are not about perfection but about making progress, I decided to share it with you today as well. I promised myself I would get at least 1% better with the sound quality next time I record. Listen here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yjjkr7HPI-TyGnYDAPFl-QgJ5dMA1QVV/view?usp=sharing You can look forward to another recording in the future. Would you like to hear more guided meditations + flute music in 2026? Who wants the original voice recording so you can try adding your own flute sounds?