Jake's Premise and the Amish Guy

Two stories seemingly not connected (but in my mind, they are)...

Jake's Premise

I was lucky enough to have two lessons with Arnold Jacobs before he died. In the second lesson, I just barely made it to the lesson on time.
Pause to imagine that: being late for a lesson with Arnold Jacobs!
Anyway, I started out playing some Bordogni vocalise and chipping some notes. After two lines of music, he stopped me and said, "Well, you've missed 5 notes so far. Do you really know how this goes?"

So, here was his premise: given that you are a reasonably competent musician, the only real reason for missing a note is that the music isn't clear enough in your mind.

Not your breathing,
not your chops,
not the lack of a warm-up.
not even Chicago traffic jams!
Simply this:

you don't hear it clearly enough in your head.

Could it really be that simple?

The Amish Guy

So here's one from one of my students: an Amish guy strikes his thumb with a hammer. Unlike most people (probably me if it happened to me), he didn't get angry. He simply went on with his task. Why get angry when something goes wrong? What good does it do?

As you practice, how do react when you don't play something well?
Ever get angry?
Did the anger help?
Was it necessary?

Akeelah and the Bee

Recently, I saw a very inspirational film, Akeelah and the Bee. I strongly recommend it!!!

Here's the movie's website.

There is a wonderful quote that appears in this movie...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous.
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us -- it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others

-Marianne Williamson

Two Types of People

Here's a favorite saying. I use it often...

There are two types of people..

Those who pursue success
and
Those who avoid failure.

Themes Bubbling to the Surface

What? Two blog entries in a single day? Astounding.
Each semester I teach, it seems that I find myself repeating ideas in different lessons. Enough repetitions and the idea takes on the aura of a theme.
Starting the semester is always interesting because I don't know what themes will bubble to the surface.
We're about at our halfway point in the semester and I believe two themes have arisen:

Play the Hand You're Dealt
This of course is a poker term. Hey, we all want to be in ideal situations. At least some of my students would love have full scholarships to Juilliard with plenty of time to practice every day, good meals to eat, a great circle of friends, inspiring conductors, 8 hours of sleep each night, etc.
Just like in poker, it's hard to lose if you keep getting royal flushes and full houses.
The real question is: how do you respond to a situation that is less than ideal?

I think this is especially relevant in professional orchestras where a young, highly motivated player joins the group and discovers that some of the people around him/her have, shall we say, "lost that spark."

Playing is a Natural Extension of Breathing
So often I need to deal with tension issues in people's playing. I find it interesting that, when someone puts down the horn and just takes a natural, full breath, most of the tension disappears. What is it about the act of picking the horn and looking at music that causes the body to tense up so much? Rhetorical question, really. Obviously these are learned responses that have to be replaced with more effective learned responses.
I like exercises that reinforce the notion that playing the horn isn't so radically different from full breathing.
Here's one idea: try "blowing through" a difficult pattern. In other words, pick up the horn and pretend to play (moving your slide and everything) but simply blow air through the instrument. Make it "musical air" that reflects the phrases you want. I'm guessing you'll find a lot of the tension is gone.