You know how in the fall, a squirrel gathers all the nuts and food he can so he can get fat and survive the winter because he knows that there’ll be slim pickings for several months? Well, the summer is usually my time to do that—musically. The concert season is long and when I’m playing a lot, I really don’t have the time to do all the basic work on my instrument that I really should be doing. That’s why in the summer, when I have less concerts (or none at all), I like to get back to playing long tones, and scales, and intervals, and just basically taking care of all those things that I don’t get to spend nearly enough time on during the season when I’m constantly practicing music and getting ready for the next thing. The summer is base-building time—like the squirrel getting fat for the winter, I need to build up a pad for the coming concert season. Except I’ve been so busy performing, that I’m starting to feel a bit skinny.