Playing scales only straight up and down in octaves in of limited usefulness and is soon boring. Spice up your routine by practicing various patterns!
“The best free cultural & educational media on the web.” Links to free: audio books (550), online courses (1,100), MOOCs (1000+), movies (700), language study (300 lessons), textbooks (200), eBooks (700), business courses (150), K-12 education, art & images, music. Such a deal!
Lifehacker.com We love stuff like this: all kinds of bits of information about all kinds of things. Sample article titles: “10 Professional Kitchen Tool I Use in My Kitchen, “Coding isn’t about commands; it’s about learning concepts”; “Most Popular Business Card Printing Site”; “8 Surprising Household Uses for Chalk”; “Remember people’s names and faces by creating visual hooks for them”; “The best time to buy anything during the year.” And so on.
Let’s face it: we’re all adrenaline junkies. We do too much, can’t sit still, check our email/Facebook too much, have forgotten how to de-stress, relax, shut down even momentarily the shrill blah blah radio in our heads (this becomes especially important when we’re trying to perform on the horn). This web site shows a lovely photo of the ocean at sunset and challenges you to simply listen to the sound of waves and watch the sunset for 2 minutes without interruption. If you can’t (even moving the cursor), you “fail.” But you can try again. It’s harder to do than it looks. Give it a try.