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Last week, after a duo concert in New York, a student who had been in the audience made her way over while I was packing up my equipment. After congratulating me, she hesitated, then asked an unexpected question: “I want to be happy. How do you find joy in your work when it becomes too stressful? How do you take care of yourself?” It seriously took me a moment to answer because I myself had been there and wanted to make sure I gave sound advice. I also felt a little guilty be

"How do you do something like this?" That is the most common question we get from students while we're on tour as Metaphor Percussion Duo. The funny thing is that the answer is both simple, and not. It’s simple in the sense that there’s no secret formula. We didn’t study with the biggest names, and we didn't study in the most world-famous conservatories. We went to a good program, had a down-to-earth teacher who supported us, and started building a duo with what we had: our i

Congratulations: You decided to major in music! As a former music major myself, I can tell you these will be some of the most exciting and meaningful years of your life. If you've already been here for a while, you can probably relate to a few of these things: Your manager needs you to skip an ensemble concert because your co-worker called out of that essential Saturday night shift. "Will they even notice you're gone?" You have that coveted practice room signed out for the ne

My husband and I recently finished yet another watch-through of Avater: The Last Airbender (the OG 2004 series). Not only is it one of my favorite shows of all time, but every time I watch it, depending on the phase of my life I find that I relate to a different character. When I was younger, it was Katara, the plucky young woman who struck out on her own to master her craft and help the Avatar save the world. Sometimes it was Aang, on whose shoulders the fate of the world re

I’ve thought about naming this blog AdjunctArtist (idk if that will stick. I'm open to naming ideas!) Not only because right now, that’s what I do professionally, but also because it was the source of the turmoil that spurred me to start this blog. I’m hoping some people can relate, and maybe I can also help some young educators walk this same journey and find the incredibly important value in what they do. That’s certainly not all this blog will be about, but it seemed like