216: Pathways - Sharilynn Horhota

<p class="p1">Today we’re excited to share another Pathways story with you! We are joined by Musical U member Sharilynn Horhota. Before her engineering career and three children, Sharilynn was headed towards becoming a professional flute player. Now she has returned to the flute in a surprising way.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">Sharilynn has been sharing her journey on her Musical U <em>Progress Journa</em>l. The <em>Progress Journal</em>, or <em>PJ</em>, is a system we use inside the Musical U site for members to share their progress, ask questions, and get feedback and support from the Musical U team and Musical U community. Sharilynn has made fantastic use of her PJ so we had some sense of her interesting backstory and all the cool activities she’s been up to - but as you’ll be hearing, Musical U is just one part of all the resources she’s been drawing on and all the ways she’s been stretching herself since returning to flute.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">In this conversation we talk about:</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">• How studying <a href= "https://www.alexandertechnique.com/fma.htm?utm_source=mupod_shownotes&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=mupodcast"> Alexander Technique</a> in Finland let her feel much freer in her playing and opened up her sound</p> <p class="p1">• The specific resources and exercises that have helped Sharilynn start to improvise, and in a way that feels like she is truly expressing herself, rather than just improv-by-numbers following chord tones.</p> <p class="p1">• And the two clever variants on traditional exercises, scales and long notes, which she now gives her flute students to help them improve faster and enjoy practicing more.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">Part of the intention with this Pathways series is to share stories of music learners who are perhaps more relatable than the world-leading experts we’re so fortunate to have the chance to interview here on the show. But we’re not sure Sharilynn quite fits that bill, because as you’ll discove