What to do when between groups

[Ed Svoboda]

So I just played my last concert with my normal group (a local University) and have a couple of months until I start playing with my "summer" group. The normal group is basically classical in nature and the "summer" group is a big band. Obviously I'll be hitting the jazz side of my practice material hot and heavy and I'll be trying to play as many of the horns I have on hand as possible because I never know what I'm going to play with this other group.

What do the rest of you do when you have some nice downtime? Hit the scales hot and heavy or play a bunch of tunes?

[Merlin]

Catch up on my backlog of DVDs.

[Gandalfe]

Since I play in four bands year round, I've never considered this question before. And that doesn't include the new quartet that I'm trying to put together or the pit orchestra work. However, if I had some spare time, I think I'd try to memorize a couple more solos and improve upon my ability to read changes in increasingly more challenging keys.