The Musical Trequartista

Hydration is one of the most important factors in elite level performance--because H2O is essential to life on Earth! An optimally hydrated mind is more agile and an optimally hydrated body is more capable of performing at its best with ease. Your hydration level effects everything from your mood, to your attention, to your gross and fine level motor execution. In this entry Andrew breaks down fac...

Quality of rest is the difference between being able to pursue your life relentlessly and not. Have you ever slept a long time but felt terribly or slept a short time and felt great? This disparity is often a result of clean sleep. High quality vs low quality sleep is the same as the difference between eating steak vs potato chips, and optimal recovery requires both time and quality.  In this...

One of the most important contributors in being non-judgmental of yourself, remaining curious about the world, and getting more enjoyment out of your personal life is having something you pursue outside of your job. Whether it's being active, painting, teaching, building computers, or anything else, an activity that allows you to decompress and remind you of how capable you are at your craft is th...

Vinny Giaconia is the bell maker for Best American Craftsman. He is a trombonist, repair technician, and has recently begun his journey into athletics. https://www.mcgowanmusic.com https://www.instagram.com/musicmcgowan/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbSMiCS-aaadCTKdE943JJQ

Vinny Giaconia is the bell maker for Best American Craftsman. He is a trombonist, repair technician, and has recently begun his journey into athletics. https://www.mcgowanmusic.com https://www.instagram.com/musicmcgowan/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbSMiCS-aaadCTKdE943JJQ

One of the most important practices brass musicians can take up is cleaning their horns. For more active players especially, this can have a major impact on the quality and efficiency of your playing as well as the longevity of your equipment. Over the course of my 4 years as an instrument technician I have cleaned thousands of instruments and dived deeply into the chemistry that drives it in orde...

Elliott Godinez is a percussionist and educator who actively curates contemporary music. He founded the Godinez Percussion School in order to provide percussion equipment and lessons to students in inner city Chicago, and he recently premiered his recording my new work "In the Dark Blue Sky You Keep" for Glockenspiel for Electronics. In this episode we discuss sustainability, commissioning new wor...

Other than maybe “sustainability is king” there’s a good chance that anyone that has ever spoken to me about fitness would say that “train in volume” is my mantra. This philosophy shaped my fitness journey, has impacted nearly every aspect of my life, and proves to me time and time again that it is the best method for building sustainable progress. In this entry I go in-depth to explain training i...

In this episode I break down my thoughts on the Euro 2020 group stages, what teams I like, predict semifinalists, and give some insight on why I think England will lose.

All of us have important parts of our life that we aren’t willing to compromise on. What they are and how you choose to prioritize them is different for everyone. In this entry I break down more specifically what non-negotiable are, how they can serve us, and some shortcomings I find many folks fall into. Follow us here! McGowanMusic.com @MusicMcGowan on instagram https://www.youtube.com/channel/U...