Tuning Slide 5.13- The Tools of Mindfulness

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.
— A. A. Milne

Last week a friend and I were emailing back and forth about “playing the lead pipe” of the trumpet. He was trying some different practice techniques and was sharing what he found with me.

He had just experienced the fundamental foundation of the teaching of Bill Adam- playing the lead pipe to get started each day. (No, I admit, I don’t do that on a regular basis.) Its purpose is to get the player to listen. The goal is not to play the lead pipe in tune. Each lead pipe plays a slightly different note based on length, etc. The goal is to hear the rich, full sound of the proper airflow into the mouthpiece and lead pipe. There is no tuner use with this- we tune the instrument with the tuning slide which compensates for the different tunings of different lead pipes, horns, etc. Play the lead pipe, I was told, and listen for the sound to center and become more full. Some claim to even hear a sound like an old phone ringing when you reach that point. The rest of the goal is to remember that we play every note on the horn that same way. The lead pipe sound and airflow are the foundation. From his experience, my friend had just reinforced for me the insights that Mr. Adam and his students have built over all these years.

[Side note: here is another take on this:]

As I was responding to my friend I realized that some of the reasons this works as it does are because it tunes the ear to listen as well as the lips to form the right shape, the breath to flow smoothly, the arms to hold the trumpet in the right position, and the brain to get in sync with what we’re doing.

In short, it develops mindfulness. And as one moves deeper into what one is paying attention to through mindfulness, it rewires the brain to play the music. It is both muscle memory and aural, hearing memory being developed. I have talked many times over the years about mindfulness. It is a basic, and for me, essential daily skill. Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the most famous modern proponents of mindfulness, defines it as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally…”

When I talk about being more consistent with the mindfulness portion of my routine, I mean I need to slow down and pay deeper attention to what I’m doing. I need to continue the ongoing re-wiring of my brain that improves my musicianship. I am talking about the times I do long tones and flow studies and building awareness through lead pipe playing.

There are mental tools that can be used to strengthen our mindfulness. Wikibooks has a series of articles about what are called “Core Mindfulness Skills.” In that, they present three WHAT tools and three HOW tools.

The WHAT tools
◦ Observe: is simply experiencing, with awareness, your feelings, your thoughts, and sensations directly without the use of words. (Link)
◦ Describe is putting words on experience and experience into words. (Link)
◦ Participate is the skill of throwing yourself into your objectives whole-heartedly without self-consciousness. (Link)

For example, when playing long tones or flow studies, I start by just observing, listening to what I am playing. I (try to) make no judgment, just listen and pay attention to what it sounds like and what it feels like. As I listen, I try to describe what I am hearing or feeling. I will then be participating in the experience. The sounds are with me and come through me. It is at these points that I begin to notice differences as I play. It is at this point that I begin to use the HOW tools.

The HOW tools
◦ Take a nonjudgmental stance. See, but don’t evaluate. Just the facts. Focus on the “what,” not the “good” or “bad,” the “terrible” or “wonderful,” the “should” or “should not.” (Link)
◦ One-mindfully is sustained attention on the present moment which develops concentration. (Link)
◦ Effectively- Focus on what works. Do what needs to be done in each situation. (Link)

This is where you begin to develop the insight into playing and are allowing the sounds to adapt and deepen. Notice I am not saying that the sounds “get better” or that the sound is “bad.” This is not to be a judgment on our part as we listen. It is about the sound and what the sound is like. We do this with a focus that is important. We need that focus or we lose the sound. We notice that and maintain the concentration in the present moment. In this time we then learn what works and what doesn’t. We discover what and when the sound falls into place, becomes richer, closer to what we are listening for and how it just sounds centered.

This can work in other ways when playing in a group of some kind. We are often told to listen to the group. Next time begin by listening, non-judgmentally and with a focus on the person next to you and try to play with them. One of the directors at the Birch Creek camp this past summer suggested we do that. I was amazed at what it did to my awareness of the music- and then my own playing. It is the same thing- mindfulness, in the present moment.

The result, among other things, will be what those working in this call Wise Mind.

◦ Wise Mind is the integration of emotion and reason, where the two overlap.
◦ Wise Mind is a state of mind in which you experience yourself as being calm, centered, and in control of your emotions.
◦ In Wise Mind, you act in accordance with your beliefs, principles, and values which deepen feelings of coherence and integrity.

Again, this is to be non-judgmental. It is based on more than dichotomies of good/bad. It is based on what is working to make music. It is based on the merging of reason and feeling, thinking and emotion and allowing our music to flow from that intersection.