Tuning Slide #5.18- Keeping Chops

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Miss one day of practice, I notice;
miss two, the critics notice;
miss three, the audience notices.
— Credited to many from Franz Liszt through Louis Armstrong to Doc Severinsen and beyond.

I have not played my trumpet since last Sunday. I had some minor surgery and was told not to play. The pressure needed to play my horn could cause some problems and the last thing I wanted was to find myself with an even longer period of recuperation. I have obeyed. But I have missed it! When something has become a daily habit of years duration, there is an empty spot. I am not particularly worried about its impact on my chops. My last gig of the year is tonight (Monday) and I have plenty of weeks ahead to get things back in shape.

Sidenote: In the 1940s (though it was probably used for some years before it was recorded) chops began meaning one's ability, skill or competence, and was a jazz musician's figurative reference to one's embouchure, that is the use of one’s mouth and lips (i.e. chops) in playing a wind instrument. The better one was, the better chops one had. (Quora)

In any case that age-old statement quoted above did come to mind. If I had an audience just listening to me play tonight, they might even be able to notice that my chops weren’t where they could be.

Of course, that is a problem that many of us can often face since most of us are not full-time musicians. Sure, when I am healthy and in the midst of a series of different gigs, I may actually play as much as 20 hours/week, which, let’s be honest, is less than three hours/day. Doc warms up for that long before a gig! It can be difficult to have consistent chops with so (relatively) little playing. I may think I am doing an amazing job, but that is only in comparison to where I have been in the past. It obviously takes some special, deliberate action to keep the chops in some sort of shape when we are not full-time.

I came across a post at Rod Herbert Big Sound Music which addresses that. He titled it Getting Some “Chops” and Keeping Them! - Brass and Woodwind Skill Development Ideas For Busy Part-Time Community Band Musicians. He lists and describes a number of techniques he recommends to help. Surprise, there is no great big secret in them. What they are is, in essence, musical calisthenics that can be used in short segments at different times of the day. They can give a form and direction to some of the things that can go wrong. Just, for example, he says that breath control is one of the first things he loses. (He’s a bass trombonist!) He uses what he calls a Caruso-style calisthenics for sound, endurance, register development, and breath capacity. Go to the link to see what he does.

But most importantly, in reality, is to make sure that you play something every day. One of my teachers told me that when I got going on this version of my journey about ten years ago. As usual, he was right. Play. Get the horn on the face every day. Rod Herbert has these ideas [link]:

· Leave your instrument out of its case! Just make sure the kids don’t trips over it or use it for a football! Every time you walk past pick it up and play SOMETHING!

· Get a good practice mute or spend some money on a Yamaha Silent Brass System. Essential for both families and nosey neighbors. [That has given me the freedom to practice when I am traveling and staying in hotels/motels.]

· Lock yourself away for twenty minutes and get some chops! The ultimate “me time”. [Do that in a few random times added to regular practice time can make a huge difference.]

He also mentioned something called “Breathing Gym.” What in the world might that be? Well, “Breathing Gym” is a book and exercise routine for musicians developed by tuba players Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan. From a PDF here is the introduction.

•Breathing Gym is designed to give control and efficiency of breath by developing proper breathing habits. It improves tone, stamina, and all-around performance

•Breathing Gym can be used as part of a warm-up routine or a mid-rehearsal change of pace while addressing specific issues such as dynamics, articulation, and phrasing

•Breathing Gym consists of five types of exercises:
⁃ Stretches
⁃ Flow Studies
⁃ Therapies
⁃ Strength and Flexibility
⁃ Breathing for the Brain

Here is a link to the PDF that gives the background and some general directions.

Will these work? Perhaps, especially if breath control is a concern of yours. Breathing exercises of course don’t need to be that intense. They can be meditation and mindfulness breathing. That can help with tension release, deeper inhalation, and increased awareness of how your body feels when breathing smoothly and with intention. It sets the brain/mind and body/muscle connections into greater sync. That will allow the breathing techniques needed for your instrument can become more intuitive.

Okay, so none of this is earth-shattering. What it does, though, is to bring some of these things closer to consciousness. We can pay more attention to our need for better chops if we pay attention to doing what we need to do for better chops. It can be known as deliberate practice, planned exercises, touching the instrument daily, mindful awareness of what makes me a better musician. It takes me away from being content with what I’m doing and moves me to the next level.

I have found over these years that this is most essential in a couple of specific situations.

✓ When I have reached a plateau of my playing. It can get discouraging to feel that things aren’t progressing. Yet, that is exactly when I need to take the effort. I have learned that my chops are not leaving me. They are ready to move on. Back then to the deliberate practice.

✓ When I do not have any specific gigs coming soon to practice for. When I know that I have to be at my best form for that upcoming concert or performance, I will find the time to practice. I will work on my chops and the music and the basics. When there’s nothing coming soon, well, I can get around to it tomorrow. Maybe that is why this came to me a this time. After tonight, my next concert will be at the beginning of February. That’s a long time from now. But I know I won’t be ready to get ready for that concert in January if I lose my focus today.

It doesn’t matter where any of us happens to be in the improvement and maintenance of our chops. The word itself brought to mind an old statement about finding enlightenment. The original was:

Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
— Zen Kōan

For our purposes:

Before you develop your chops, work on them.
After you have developed your chops, work on them.

Keep going, I tell myself. You’re getting closer.

As Rod Herbert said at the end of his post about chops:

DO try this at home!

Tuning Slide 4.12- Don't Ignore the 10%

You have to, take a deep breath. and allow the music to flow through you. Revel in it, allow yourself to awe. When you play allow the music to break your heart with its beauty.
― Kelly White

Here’s where we started last week and then looked at the biggie- mental.

• Trumpet playing is
o 90% mental
o 9% air
o 1% physical

Now it’s time to move to the other two- the physical stuff- our instruments and our bodies.

Ever wonder how some truly excellent trumpet players can always use the same mouthpiece? Or how they can have a completely different tone in different parts of the same piece without changing the mouthpiece?

When I went to trade in my first trumpet my good friend and fellow trumpet player picked it up and played it. His comment was, “How can you play this thing in tune?” which I had been doing for 25 years at that point. “I don’t know,” I said, “it’s the only horn I ever had so I just played it.” Then I got my Bach Strad. Yes, it made an immediate difference! It was “easier” to play, more efficient a horn. I also could build some endurance when playing in a band since I wasn’t always lipping the notes to stay in tune.

Sadly, I didn’t become Doc or Maynard when I started playing it, though. I was a better player and the horn offered me the opportunity to have a better sound and style, but it didn’t turn me into a virtuoso. Let us not forget that in the end it is deliberate, efficient practice that makes us into better musicians. That takes the right attitude, of course, and the proper mental training as well as “equipment” that helps.

So, as I thought about this week’s post I made a list of what does the “physical” entail? Combining “air” and “physical”, what is the 10% that is not directly mental? My non-exhaustive list, in alphabetical order, along with my thoughts on how that may be something to be aware of:

◦ Articulation- These work together to keep us from getting tired as quickly. Efficient articulation styles can certainly help us as we continue to enhance our skills.
⁃ Learning effective tonguing techniques.
⁃ Double and triple tonguing
⁃ Goldman’s exercises and, as always, Arban’s.

◦ Body relaxation- This one takes both the physical and mental into account.
⁃ If I am stressed, I will not be relaxed and my sound will falter.
⁃ Learning how to tense and relax muscles in my arms and upper body will give me a better, brighter, clearer sound.
⁃ Even having tension in my legs and feet will translate into tension in how I play.
⁃ Developing relaxation thoughts and actions is important.
⁃ T’ai Chi and Qigong can be helpful here.

◦ Breath- It’s often all about the breath, the air, and how I use it efficiently.
⁃ Shallow vs. Deep slow breaths.
⁃ Learning to breathe from the depths of the diaphragm
⁃ Keep the air moving through, not at, the sound.
⁃ I have been told that at least an important part of my problems in endurance and sound come from not breathing effectively. It is what I am always working on.

◦ Dexterity- Ease of movement of fingers and lips, builds hand/eye coordination and wires the brain for many different actions. Dexterity- being nimble and agile- is a wonderful skill. You can’t play bebop without it!
⁃ Finger exercises- scales, chromatics, Clarke, Arban’s
⁃ Lip slurs- many ways to do these, but do them.
⁃ Pedal tones- the ability to really play those pedal tones is an important foundation for high register playing, I am told. Slurs and pedals; pedals and slurs.
⁃ Working on balance and agility of movement in the whole body can certainly have a positive impact as well. The movement of energy and oxygen through the whole body system can be quite helpful.

◦ Embouchure- the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing- yep, it is physical.
⁃ Sometimes (too many times?) we get stuck on this as the end-all and be-all of becoming a great trumpet player. It is one part of the physical, but the more I focus on it, the less I end up focusing on playing and getting the sound! I must never forget that the sound is what we are after. Embouchure helps, but it won’t do it alone.

◦ Endurance- All these physical things combine to give us the ability to do what we do for longer and more intense sessions.
⁃ Surprisingly most endurance is built in (relatively) short actions done smoothly and only to about 80% of full effort.
⁃ It is cumulative.
⁃ To build endurance, rest as much as you practice. This is appropriate balance of the physical and mental, for when we push too hard for too long we WILL lose our mental sharpness. It is built on endurance; endurance is not built on extreme will power.

◦ Posture-
⁃ How we sit and stand
⁃ A method called The Alexander Technique is finding an increased number of adherents. It works on posture as well as issues of breath and body relaxation.

There are some of the things I have personally discovered over the past 4 years of growing into a more advanced trumpet player. Most of us will wrestle with these on a regular basis. I for one always want to go one more exercise, one more song, five more minutes, thinking that this will truly push my endurance. Most of the time it won’t. It may only go so far as hurting. I learned this as a group fitness trainer, I learned it the hard way as a musician. Easy, steady, deliberate.

Of course, we can all name many musicians who are not in good physical shape, who don’t take as good a care of their bodies as would be helpful. In fact, that group would probably include most of us. Fortunately we don’t have to be in great physical shape to be great musicians. But I am coming to believe that it does help. As I have worked slowly on my physical conditioning again, I am finding that I do see benefits to my playing. When I have worked on my “core”, I find I can hold notes longer and have better breath control. With the weight/resistance training my arms don’t get as tired as quickly. Yes, these are small, but every little bit helps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way: Barry Green, author of Inner Game of Music and Mastery of Music also has a third book called Bringing Music to Life. In it he works with these ideas applied to breathing (air), pulse (rhythm), and movement (body). He addresses a number of these topics that fit in with what I have been writing about here. I will be doing some posts based on that book sometime in the new year. It’s an excellent resource!

Sidenote: This past Friday I ended an 18 month and one week stretch of not missing a single day of playing my trumpet! I had to have some minor eye surgery and the doctor said “No trumpet playing for a week.” I am a couple days into that right now- and it’s a bummer. As any (in)sane trumpet player would, I Googled whether it was true that I should not play. Maybe I could just play low notes or do long tones below “C” on the staff. “No!” said everything I read. It isn’t worth it. Ever. It is only a short period of time. Mess it up and I’m off for a longer time.

It’s still a bummer. But there is that part of playing that is physical and I have to respect it and take care of the physical. I will let you know what happens as it develops further in the next couple weeks.

Tuning Slide 4.9- Recreation and Playing

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Recreation’s purpose is not to kill time, but to make life,
not to keep a person occupied, but to keep them refreshed,
not to offer an escape from life, but to provide a discovery of life.
—Unknown

I have a hunch about why, at least in English we say that we “play” music.

If you are a musician you may have wondered about the word we use in English to describe what we do when we make music with an instrument. We, of course, “play” the instrument, “play” music. What a wonderful way to describe it. We “play”! We don’t work, or stress, or force music. (Well, we may do that, but that’s what we are doing to ourselves, not the music.)

It got me to thinking about the deeper meaning of this. But first I checked out what some other languages use.

In German, it is the word spielen- to play; in French, it is jouer- to play. Both these are the same meaning for playing a game, etc. as in English.

In Spanish, though, it’s a little different. The word used with music is not the same. It is tocar- to touch, be in contact with, play (as in music.) (The word for playing games, etc. is jugar.)

I love the idea that we play when we make music. It truly is why many of us were hooked by it’s magic, lured into a lifetime of developing playing skills. It is far more than the ability to turn some marks on a page into a sound that can touch souls. (Notice the word “touch”? I’ll come back to that.) To play is to take part in something or to engage in something for enjoyment and relaxation. (Google) Why else would we spend all these hours practicing and learning, running scales and long tones? It must be fun. Since most of us will never earn a living at it, there has to be some deeper and more important thing to making music.

Not that we don’t “work” at it. Of course we do. We run the routine, do our scales, learn (and relearn again and again) the basics of something we may have been doing for decades. That has to be fun, enjoyable, entertaining, purposeful in some way, or we would have quit long ago. But we haven’t quit. We may feel like it some days when we can’t do what we did so easily last week. But we don’t. We know the truth that we haven’t yet reached our best sound, no matter how good it may be today. But it is “play.” Recreation.

But, like “play”, “recreation” is not something purposeless and inane. It is to “create again,” to “renew”. That quote for this week says it so well. Recreation (and the related, relaxation) are paths into life and discovery of wonder and renewal. We are not as good at that as we could be. There is always room for improvement that leads to many positive things. When we take time to re-create, to relax and renew there are many benefits. I went to the Mayo Clinic, Healthy Lifestyles, Stress Management Web page and found a long list of the benefits. I am putting a mark at the end of each one that can be a good example of what playing music can do: (Link)

• Slowing heart rate
• Lowering blood pressure
• Slowing your breathing rate << Playing wind instruments can help us learn how to breathe more efficiently.
• Improving digestion
• Maintaining normal blood sugar levels
• Reducing activity of stress hormones
• Increasing blood flow to major muscles << Increased oxygen from more efficient breathing.
• Reducing muscle tension and chronic pain
• Improving concentration and mood << The mindfulness and focus needed certainly carries into the rest of our lives.
• Improving sleep quality
• Lowering fatigue
• Reducing anger and frustration << Many things about playing music and practicing can help relive these tensions.
• Boosting confidence to handle problems << Being successful can only make us feel better about what we can do.

The Mayo Clinic site then gives some good suggestions about relaxation techniques that I know help improve our music playing- and will then help with stress and recreation- which will then help our music… and it just keeps on going. You will, in fact, find many musicians and books on music (such as Barry Green’s books based on the “inner game”) suggesting many of these.

• Autogenic relaxation. Autogenic means something that comes from within you. In this relaxation technique, you use both visual imagery and body awareness to reduce stress.
You repeat words or suggestions in your mind that may help you relax and reduce muscle tension. For example, you may imagine a peaceful setting and then focus on controlled, relaxing breathing, slowing your heart rate, or feeling different physical sensations, such as relaxing each arm or leg one by one.

• Progressive muscle relaxation. In this relaxation technique, you focus on slowly tensing and then relaxing each muscle group.
This can help you focus on the difference between muscle tension and relaxation. You can become more aware of physical sensations.
In one method of progressive muscle relaxation, you start by tensing and relaxing the muscles in your toes and progressively working your way up to your neck and head. You can also start with your head and neck and work down to your toes. Tense your muscles for about five seconds and then relax for 30 seconds, and repeat.

• Visualization. In this relaxation technique, you may form mental images to take a visual journey to a peaceful, calming place or situation.
To relax using visualization, try to incorporate as many senses as you can, including smell, sight, sound and touch. If you imagine relaxing at the ocean, for instance, think about the smell of salt water, the sound of crashing waves and the warmth of the sun on your body.
You may want to close your eyes, sit in a quiet spot, loosen any tight clothing, and concentrate on your breathing. Aim to focus on the present and think positive thoughts.

Other relaxation techniques may include:
• Deep breathing
• Massage
• Meditation
• Tai chi
• Yoga
• Biofeedback
• Music and art therapy
• Aromatherapy
• Hydrotherapy
(Link)

One last thing, though, which goes back to the Spanish word used for “playing” an instrument. That word, tocar, to touch or be in contact with. It is an apt description of the two-way street of making music. It touches us, moves us, gets us in contact with something greater than ourselves. Music is certainly that! But, if we stop and think about it, that is also what we do with music. We “touch” it, make “contact” with it. I can feel that contact when the music is in the groove, or in harmony, or just plain old centered. That’s what our hours of practice can lead us toward- the contact that makes music such a central part of our lives. And from that, we learn how to do that in the rest of our lives as well.

Here is a podcast about mindfulness and self-talk as relaxation and music-playing, music-touching exercises.

Tuning Slide 4.8-

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
— Mark Twain

Summer is over. Yesterday was Labor Day and it’s now time to get back on track. I hope you didn’t take time off from your music for the summer. Summer can be a time of getting things together. There can actually be more time for the music. But regardless of what you did, we often look at the end of summer as a time to get going again. It probably goes back to the dangerous idea that we only have to be learning the nine months of the “school year.” It’s dangerous because it leads us to go the wrong direction and not stay focused on what is in front of us.

As we now mentally get back to whatever it is happens when summer is done, we are heading in the right direction again. We are heading into the future. For me one of the ways I have done this with my music for four years in a row now has been the Shell Lake (WI) Trumpet Workshop. I have an incredible time learning and sharing and growing in those six endurance building (!) days. Some of it is simply (!) remembering the basics that I need to be reminded of. Some of it is getting to play with other musicians or take a lesson. No matter how many things are involved there is often one thing that stands out.

This year for me it was a reminder that at the heart and soul of music is the sound. Not a new insight. Not even all that radical. But with so many trumpet players (myself included) focused on equipment and technique and “how to…”, we can lose sight of the sound and how we get it. We get it by listening to each other. We get it by working with others who have the sound we want and then we work on going that direction. To do that takes concentration and listening. Some of it may be technique, but only to the point of it helping produce the sound.

One specific for me from this year was discovering in my lesson that when doing scales, for example, I would drop the sound just before I went to the next note. That, needless to say, interrupted the sound, weakened it, and got in the way of the musicality. (Thanks, Matt!) I wasn’t playing through the sound, I was playing at the sound, at the note and not through it. How do I change that? By listening and practicing the scales or early Arban and Getchell exercises. But not just going through them to get through them, but intentionally, slowly, mindfully, while listening to the sound. My Self 2 knows what to do and how to do it. I need to relax and play with the sound not against it. That also goes to the breath and style. It is the same whether I am playing a G on the staff or the high C above the staff.

With that example, here is this year’s list of reflections from the students about what they learned from the workshop. I will again deal with a number of these over the next year. They can be a good regular reminder of what making music is all about.
______________________
• Sound
• Know what we want; study it; act on it.
• Tone quality
• Have the mind of a child, i.e. be open and ready to learn.
• The power of ask
• Sight reading
>>> Play everything
>>> Read the sound (pay attention to rhythm)
• Conscious and confident rhythm
• (Slow it down so we) don’t make same mistake twice
• Accomplish something- that’s what makes us happy.
>>> Set goals and meet them.
>>> Setting goals is an essential action but make them achievable
>>> Small victories add up
• Accountability
• Motivation
• Rest as long as you play
• Set a constant routine
• Have different sets of practice each day
>>> Plan what you might do in each set during the day
• Why are the (Bill Adam) routine pieces we learned in that order?
>>> Relaxed breath
>>> Always, always no matter what the part of the routine it’s the breath and sound
• Don’t practice- perform
• Eliminate distractions when you are practicing
• You only see your path of dots looking back
>>> Just make good dots- from a Steve Jobs graduation talk.
• Have continuous energy in your sound
• Record yourself
• Life is about learning and sharing.
>>> Wise ones know what to do when
• Intent with every note
• Play through the sound, not at the sound
• Phrasing consists of tension and release
• Imagination- imagine your best sound - and then play it
• Be solution-oriented
• Non-judgmental practicing
• Principles over emotion
• Listen to music and listen deeply- listen with a musician’s mind.
>>> What is the shaping of the line? (For example)
>>> How can I learn to do it?
• The most successful person sticks with it the longest
>>> Persistence leads to success, therefore…
>>> Be persistent
• Plans- long-term.
>>> Pick something you really want and move toward it
>>> Start with end goal in mind and work backwards to today
• Professional reputation starts today
• Always give 100%
• If you’re on time, you’re late
• Urgent, important, not urgent, not important, etc.
>>> Time management
• Failing forward
>>> Say thank you when you fail
>>> There’s no failure, only feedback
>>> What’s between the two mountains? Valley.
>>> Don’t take yourself too seriously
• It only matters that you are on the journey for today
>>> Journey comes before destination
• Just be yourself- we are constantly evolving
• Inner game- p. 37- the rose. It’s always a rose from the seed to its death.
>>> Petals and thorns. Don’t criticize it for not having the flower.
>>> Grow where you’re planted
• No limits- but be smart
• Solo will never sound good if thinking- look how good I can do
>>> Good soloist is selfless
>>> How it fits with whole.
• Get inspired
• Worst sin is feeling sorry for yourself
>>> Causes many problems
>>> Root of so many issues
>>> It is the sin of pride
>>> Don’t put someone else’s light out to make yours brighter
>>> It’s self centered
• Be engaged with everything you do
>>> Make everything interesting
• Concentration happens in the presence of a quiet mind
>>> Develop mindfulness and focus
• Perception is reality
• Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
• Reality of dreams comes from naïve idealism
• The way you do anything is the way you do everything
• Put it out there and see what happens. Take risk and do it.
• If you think there’s a ladder of comparison between you and another player, you’re done.
>>> When we compare ourselves to others, it takes away our potential.
• If we have a month to prepare, takes a month,
>>> If we have a week, it takes a week
• The part number doesn’t mean a talent level. It’s NOT: first or your dirt.
• Most difficult thing about practicing 3 hours a day- mental preparation.
• If you do something, you will want to do more. Have to start with something.
• If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.

Which ones do you need to focus on this week?

3.32- The Tuning Slide

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The heavens, whose aspect makes our minds as still
As they themselves appear to be,
Innumerable voices fill
With everlasting harmony;
The towering headlands, crowned with mist,
Their feet among the billows, know
That Ocean is a mighty harmonist;
Thy pinions, universal Air,
Ever waving to and fro,
Are delegates of harmony, and bear
Strains that support the Seasons in their round…
-William Wordsworth, On the Power of Sound

One of the joys of our winter stay on the Gulf Coast in Alabama is the ability to practice on the balcony overlooking the beach and water. I put my silent mute in and do my daily routine whenever it is warm and sunny enough, which is at least 75% of my time there. One day recently I finished my 30-40 minutes of playing and then sat and meditated for another 15-20 minutes. The result was the following reflection on both the practice and how music itself pulls us in and we become part of something greater than any one of us could ever be.

The surf is the constant background. It is a rhythm without a pattern, or better yet, a rhythm and pattern combining into breath. Its constancy is a heartbeat, a watery drum keeping all in motion. There are days it is as soft as a baby’s sleeping breath. This is, after all the Gulf of Mexico, not the expansive ocean. Even at fifty yards it can easily be overpowered by my muted horn.

But it is never lost. It is a pianissimo of my inner heartbeat, a drum cadence. It allows, even invites, movement. My long tones follow in order. They fall in sync with the surf. Then I play scales and it becomes a counterpoint. Play the chromatics too fast and I can lose the rhythm, the pattern under it all.

Slow down, the surf calls.
Follow me, the rhythm beckons.

In my time frame the surf is infinite, perpetual. Any time of day or night I can walk out on the balcony and it will be there. When it isn’t, life itself will have come to an end. This surf, formed by the world-wide waters, has been the breeding source of life itself. It shapes and reshapes the shorelines, constantly changing and challenging what even human grandiosity thinks is permanent. It will destroy and remold what we- and it- have built.

Then come the louder days. Gale force winds whip the tops off large swells. Though it is still the Gulf, its power is beyond what we can know. Most such days I am forced back inside, unable to compete in sound or comfort to the surf. In between the extremes, though, after a storm has moved through, shifted the winds, and roiled the surf, I can take the routine back to the balcony. Now the sound and pattern of my playing shifts. I get a little more aggressive, a little more stubborn in my insistence that I be heard, even by me.

I never win, humbling for a trumpet player to admit. Perhaps if I removed the mute my sound would carry a little further but I don’t want to disturb neighbors- or the surf itself. I must be in tune and time with the surf. Chromatics, Clarke #1, have to fall into the proper places, not just the silence but the ebb and flow of sound. The exercise on thirds must find the note solid in the right place of the surf’s rhythm. Amazing how many things it takes to make music. But with time and experience they do fall into an intuitive second nature. Harmony.

At times I realize I am also hearing and seeing other parts merging in this chamber composition. The birds in the tree below, the silent hopping of the sparrows on the edge of the balcony, the gulls laughing, pelicans soaring and diving. Whom am I to intrude, to insist on the importance of my part over theirs? That’s the harmony. I am not here to force my will on that of the world. I must not or the music will be more than dissonant, it will be destructive.

In between exercises and runs I pause. One is to rest as much as one plays, is the old adage. Here, on the balcony, that is a pleasure. As I stop the surf remains. It brings a moment of refreshment before I pick up the horn again. The others instruments continue their own song, unaware that I am listening. The call and chatter of the gulls, Laughing Gulls, in fact, challenging my hubris that I of all creatures can think I can accompany the greater symphony. Or they just do what they are supposed to do simply because their melody is needed to fill out the sound.

I take an extra 15 minutes at the end of the routine to just improvise over different chords, working on my favorite tunes I want to play at jams- Amazing Grace, This Land is Your Land, and Horace Silver’s The Preacher. They are now my contributions to uniqueness, more than just routine, foundation, they are different every time, influenced I am sure by the mood of the Gulf and the melody playing around me.

I am both humbled (kept in my proper place)
And empowered (given the direction to do what I can do)
By these practice times on the balcony.

• Humbled at how little power I truly have;
• Humbled that I am allowed to accompany such beauty;
• Humbled that the surf and sand, birds and beach could care less!

Yet,

• Empowered because I, too, am part of this symphony simply by being here in this moment;
• Empowered to play and seek ongoing harmony with nature’s music;
• Empowered by the inner and outer beats of the Eternal Heart.

Music is a gift of God!

The Tuning Slide 3.18- Ways to FInd Balance

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

-Albert Einstein

Remember- how you do anything is how you do everything. If our lives as musicians are “out of balance” that means that many things we do are also out of balance. There is also the reverse way of thinking about this. If we begin to find balance in some different ways, the balance will begin to move into other areas as well. Balance is a physical as well as emotional factor. Our “sense of balance” comes from the inner ear, as many of us learned in high school health or biology. As a counselor who loves metaphors, I think the awareness of balance connected to the “inner ear” is a great metaphor well beyond the physical facts of human anatomy.

The “inner ear” is also be about that part of who we are that listens to how we are feeling, inwardly. The “inner ear” listens to the signals and feelings from within. The “inner ear” can “hear” discomfort and internal pain, it can feel “out of balance” and knock us out of whack as much as an inner ear infection can cause us to be dizzy and unable to maintain physical balance. (Yeah, I’ve had that happen!)

In this month’s posts I have been talking about the ways we can be “compleat” musicians. One of the things that seems to jump out of all that I have written is balance. That came to mind on Sunday at the Pops Orchestra concert. As the 4th trumpet I was only needed for the first number. I went out into the audience to enjoy the rest of the show. At intermission I went backstage and told the director how good it was sounding in the auditorium. His only question:

Was it balanced?

Yes, it was. Which was why it sounded good. Of course the question was more than just about whether the oboe could be heard appropriately with the violins. It was also about blend and how everyone was playing. If one trumpet is playing the section staccato and another is playing the same passage legato, it will stand out. So balance is more than just weighing two or more things against the others. It is the overall sound and tone, the style and dynamics. As always:

It’s all about the music

There are different things that I have found that can help me find balance so that I can translate it into my music. Perhaps the most valuable and effective are the movements and disciplines surrounding the ancient arts of yoga, T’ai Chi and Qigong. While yoga has kind of morphed into a wide range of exercise options, at its heart is the ability to move and stretch into a more balanced life. If you want it for aerobic or extreme exercise classes are available all over the place. I am not going to talk much about yoga. I highly recommend it for learning how to move and stretch, to grow into a more flexible and physically fit musician.

For me, the T’ai Chi and Qigong (pronounced chee-gung) based disciplines have become a key part of my own journey into better balance. I have been working on these two disciplines at various levels for four or more years. I am in no way an expert at these. I am a mere beginner who has discovered a way that has helped me in many, many ways. As I did some digging recently I found that a number of music schools, including Berklee and Vanderbilt have T’ai Chi courses for musicians. From Berklee’s catalog:

Tai Chi Chuan, or "Grand Ultimate Fist," is a moving meditation/exercise/martial art that can complement and energize your studies, music, and all the activities of your busy day. ... It is also a constantly evolving art/science that promotes physical, mental, and emotional balance, and is a useful tool for identifying playing-related tension patterns and opening constricted channels of the body. Tai Chi Chuan is a slow, flowing, no-sweat exercise with excellent health benefits that requires no uniforms or equipment, a moderate amount of floor space to perform, and no opponent to compete against except yourself. -Link

For their Qigong class, "Playing in the Key of Qi" Berklee says:

These exercises promote emotional balance, mental clarity, and an optimum physical state. Students will learn about the unique physiological benefits as well as how to apply these exercises to their instrument, daily activities, and creative endeavors. In addition, students will learn how qigong can act as a catalyst for healing or preventing an overuse injury and other health maladies. By the end of the course, students will be more able to conduct the inner orchestra of their mind, body, heart, and spirit through a state of relaxed awareness. -Link

The Harvard Medical School Guide to T’ai Chi (Harvard, 2013) lists ingredients that are the framework for T’ai Chi. Five that have particular impact for musicians:

• Awareness
• Intention
• Active relaxation
• Strengthening and flexibility
• Natural freer breathing

In that same book, there is a chapter on enhancing creativity with T’ai Chi. Artists and musicians make comments like:

If you like music, you will probably like T’ai Chi. You can learn to tune into your body and know what that means. (Harvard Guide, p. 254)

T’ai Chi is about getting flow to happen, from inside to outside, side to side, and top to bottom. This is the same as creativity. (Harvard Guide, p. 252)

The experience [of T’ai Chi] felt so similar to playing music. Movement, rhythm, themes, and even vibrations, all come into play in both activities. When you play music, you have to play in tune, balance with your fellow players, and know where you are without thinking about it. Practicing T’ai Chi teaches you to tune in to the mind-body, the sense of balance, of being in the moment, and nowhere else.Doing the T’ai Chi form is a lot like playing chamber music. (Harvard Guide, p. 253)

Okay, I know this is sounding like an infomercial on T’ai Chi and Qigong. I guess what I am trying to say is that this is one way I have discovered to build balance into my own practice. The meditation in motion enhances my awareness and mindfulness. The discipline of easy breathing is an aid to relaxation before or after practice or performance. (Sometimes even during a performance.) Playing music is for many of us far more than just the notes on the page. It is deep movement, it is the breathing, it is the experience of doing something with others that is moving and entertaining. Above all, it is also a gift to ourselves allowing us to find the melody and the balance in tune with ourselves and the world around us.

There are more places offering T’ai Chi or Qigong than in the past. Google it for your area or check with a local community education program or healthy living center. Do some exploring for yourself. The best way is to learn with a teacher, but there are some good videos that can help you discover what it means. Here are links to three videos that I have personally found helpful:

Don Fiore T’ai Chi
Qigong at Spark People
T’ai Chi Chih

Mindful Musician
Tai Chi Health Products

With these we come to the end of this month's tips on being a "compleat" musician. In the end, self-care in all its forms allows us to grow and develop our skills. We can learn to be better balanced in music as well as the daily lives that surround our music. Or perhaps the music surrounds our lives to give us greater harmony and joy in life.

Next month we will jump back into ideas about practice, reminding us of the effective, efficient, and deliberate ways that we can use on a regular basis. See you then.

The Tuning Slide: 2.24- The Magic in the Music

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

I said last week that, as usual, Bill Bergren had opened a new thought pattern for me in my post on his teaching a non-trumpet player how to play. Here, again, is his response from last week:

Everything I did was in reaction to the student. It's all about understanding the concept then articulating/communicating in your own words and style. IMO this can't be expressed in the written word and is the reason Mr. Adam never wrote a book. Imagine the master in Zen In The Art of Archery writing a book on his methods. I don't think so.

I bolded the part I want to talk about this week. It is, in essence, a challenge to the written word as the sole way of learning how to do something. He mentioned an older book: Zen in the Art of Archery that was written in the early 1930s and updated in the late 1940s. It is the first of many books that have taken the teachings of Zen and applied them to any number of other activities. The classic from the 1970s, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was one of the more famous. Such books, to oversimplify them, are philosophical discussions based on or around particular subjects. They take “Zen” ideas and apply them to life.

Here’s Wikipedia’s description of the archery book:

[German philosophy professor Eugen] Herrigel has an accepting spirit towards and about unconscious control of outer activity Westerners heretofore considered wholly to be under conscious-waking control and direction. For example, a central idea in the book is how through years of practice, a physical activity becomes effortless both mentally and physically, as if our habit body executes complex and difficult movements without conscious control from the mind.

Herrigel describes Zen in archery as follows:
"(...) The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art (...)"

It is a short book and an easy read, unless you want to allow it to work on you. Then slow down and listen to it. I could do a number of posts on what I wrote down, but let me take a few ideas.

Part of what this boils down to is that learning “technique” is not always enough. For the archery master Herrigel studied under to have given him a step-by-step description of the way to become proficient at archery, would not have produced a master. For us to simply know that pressing a certain valve or combination of valves produces a certain note does not make a good trumpet player. The “inner game” books by Timothy Gallwey and others present the same ideas in a different form. But I want to stick with the “Zen” idea for this post to give a slightly different perspective from the inner game. This perspective may actually prod us further into being less conscious about our playing and more in-tune (intentional phrase!) with ourselves, our playing, and our fellow musicians.

So what might “Zen and the Art of Music” be like? I found this description from David Michael Wolff, founder and conductor of the Carolina Philharmonic with that very title:

Music has a certain magic to it, a magic infused with zen. If you start to see the energy underneath music instead of dwelling on the surface emotion, you see that lines of energy and rhythm guide the architecture… How can you work with the flow of energy instead of against it? Just as a great martial artist can defeat the opponent using his own energy, so a zen music master learns to bend musical energy to his will, or better, ride it effortlessly by bending himself to the will of music. -Link

Bend yourself as the musician to the will of music. But in order to do that you must also “see” the energy in the music and that there is a structure, an architecture to the energy and rhythm. Somewhat like the inner game except this clearly says that there is more to being a good musician than getting “self one” to be quite so “self two” can get in the flow. It is saying that together, self one and self two can get in the low with that is already in the music waiting to be released. Yes, self one will attempt to shoe-horn and pressure the music to fit its ideas, but sooner or later self two will say “Relax! Hear and feel the power underneath!

Personally I love the idea in this. I know there is “magic” in the music that is waiting for the musician to share it. The technical notes on the page or the strategies we learned in Arban’s or Clarke are the starting points, but they only work on the surface. They help us feel familiar with the technical aspects of playing, but if they don’t move us to hear the music energy, we will simply be playing the notes and not the music itself. I find that exciting. That means for me that in each piece of music I am working on, whether an etude in Charlier or an old band favorite for a concert, there is something more than meets the eye. We can call it the architecture, but that is made up of the rhythms and energy connecting with us.

Bach is one of the best examples in this for me. It is precise, almost mathematically correct. It is some of the most “logical” music ever written. But that isn’t why Bach’s music remains as unique as it is. Logic and precision can get pretty boring. If you hear the “metronome” in the performer’s head, you know the performer has missed the point of the music. But listen… there’s the amazing love of Anna Magdelena in the notes or the soaring craving for God that sings like heaven in Bach’s variations on what we know as “The Passion Chorale.” Yes, it can take technical skill (i.e. years of practice) to get that into a performance, but it’s the emotions that make it a real musical event.

How do we achieve this zen-like attitude?

Many of these are what you would expect.
You have to know your instrument, its feel, its balance in your hands, the way it centers your sound. Think playing the lead pipe along for this. That’s one of the ways we begin to connect with our instrument.

You have to build your strength or endurance. Think long tones centered and improving as you feel the center.

You have to breathe with your instrument and the music. Think long tones and the Clarke exercises.

You have to practice. Herrigel is told by the Master, “Don’t ask- practice.” There are aspects of practice that are important like singing the piece, playing it slow enough to know what the notes feel and sound like, recording yourself, listening to other recordings. All of these are not a prescription to zen and music, they are simply part of the practice. A classic zen idea is to realize that you will know it’s happening when it is time. Until then wait with patience- and keep practicing.

One way I have found that seems to be working for me is moving beyond simply playing scales to improvising on them. I have never been able to improvise, except when singing along with a song, alone, in my car. I am a jazz lover and am empowered by listening to it. Since Shell Lake’s Adult Big Band Workshop two years ago I have been moving toward experiencing what improvising is life. I went through the technical stuff of scales- major, seventh, and minor. They began to feel familiar under my fingers. I was accomplishing several of the things I mentioned above- the instrument, endurance, breathing- technical skills. I just kept practicing. I had difficulty playing with the Aebersold CDs, so I stopped trying. It wasn’t time. I did slightly better with the iReal Pro app on my iPhone, but still struggled.

Then, one day, it was time. As I finished playing through my scales one afternoon I decided to play around with the scale. I started improvising. By ear. (It’s amazing how much faster we can play a scale or a riff if we don’t have to look at the music. I was flabbergasted!) I played with scales and chord arpeggios. I then added a structure of rhythm. Finally I started adding structure of chord changes. I started working on 8- and 16-bar blues changes, then some ii-V7-I changes. I started playing them in different keys. I wanted to look in a mirror to make sure that it was still me playing the horn. The freedom that gave me was nothing short of miraculous. I started composing melodies across the changes. Sure, they were very elementary and quite dull, but I was doing something different.

I was experiencing the zen.

I then started applying all this to a song I have been wanting to arrange for our quintet- the folk song Sloop John B. I worked it out by ear, then I started playing with it, checking different rhythms and chord changes, descants and the like. All by ear. I began to experience the zen of this song. I then heard new things that I could play and ways to truly move beyond simple improvisation to some slightly more interesting variations. As I did this the power and energy of the song became apparent. I could feel it in my horn and embouchure. (I know that anyone who loves technical stuff will probably give up at this point. That’s okay. It is working for me!)

Each time I play through the song now, I get a different insight into its structure and energy. I am almost ready to be getting the composing part going. Because I know the music, the song’s zen, it will be more interesting than if I had simply done some technical study and fit that to the song.

Be careful, of course, that you don't get into some bad habits. It could be easy to get used to doing things some incorrect ways. More on that in another post. For this week, Zen works. Go with the musical flow- it's energy and rhythm, its architecture and texture.

Bill, as usual, you’ve done it again.

And as usual, thanks.

The Tuning Slide: 2.6- All About the Sound

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Last week I talked about the basic (and oversimplified) physics and acoustics of trumpet playing. Being centered in sound was at the heart of it and the way practicing long tones can help us visualize and enhance the resonance of the sound we produce. That can then lead us to finding ways to center our own lives through focus, visualization, and breathing. The result is the congruence of who we are and how we play.

This week I want to look a little more at this fine instrument many of us have fallen in love (and hate?) with.

First, here’s how it’s made from the How Products Are Made website:

Brass instruments are almost universally made from brass, but a solid gold or silver trumpet might be created for special occasions. The most common type of brass used is yellow brass, which is 70 percent copper and 30 percent zinc. Other types include gold brass (80 percent copper and 20 percent zinc), and silver brass (made from copper, zinc, and nickel). The relatively small amount of zinc present in the alloy is necessary to make brass that is workable when cold. Some small manufacturers will use such special brasses as Ambronze (85 percent copper, 2 percent tin, and 13 percent zinc) for making certain parts of the trumpet (such as the bell) because such alloys produce a sonorous, ringing sound when struck. Some manufacturers will silver- or goldplate the basic brass instrument.

Very little of the trumpet is not made of brass. Any screws are usually steel; the water key is usually lined with cork; the rubbing surfaces in the valves and slides might be electroplated with chromium or a stainless nickel alloy such as monel; the valves may be lined with felt; and the valve keys may be decorated with mother-of-pearl.

[Not a surprise that they look for alloys that produce a “sonorous, ringing sound.” That’s part of the overall acoustics we talked about last week. The trumpet is about $5.00 or so in metal. Probably less on the junk market where you may get as much as $1.30/pound. Weighing in at an average 2.5 pounds of metal, you might get $3 - $3.50 for the metal as junk. The thousands of dollars a Strad costs is in the design that helps make the sound.]

The most important feature of a trumpet is sound quality. Besides meeting exacting tolerances of approximately 1 x 105 meters, every trumpet that is manufactured is tested by professional musicians who check the tone and pitch of the instrument while listening to see if it is in tune within its desired dynamic range. The musicians test-play in different acoustical set-ups, ranging from small studios to large concert halls, depending on the eventual use of the trumpet. Large trumpet manufacturers hire professional musicians as full-time testers, while small manufacturers rely on themselves or the customer to test their product. --Link

Now comes what may be the most important paragraph from the website:

At least half the work involved in creating and maintaining a clear-sounding trumpet is done by the customer. [Emphasis added.] The delicate instruments require special handling, and, because of their inherent asymmetry, they are prone to imbalance. Therefore, great care must be taken so as not to carelessly damage the instrument. To prevent dents, trumpets are kept in cases, where they are held in place by trumpet-shaped cavities that are lined with velvet. The trumpet needs to be lubricated once a day or whenever it is played. The lubricant is usually a petroleum derivative similar to kerosene for inside the valves, mineral oil for the key mechanism, and axle grease for the slides. The grime in the mouthpiece and main pipe should be cleaned every month, and every three months the entire trumpet should soak in soapy water for 15 minutes. It should then be scrubbed throughout with special small brushes, rinsed, and dried. --Link

Perhaps I am overdoing it with this whole thing, but the one thread working through these quotes as well as what we talked about last week:

The Sound.
It’s all about the sound! Sound is everything- tone, upper register, melody, etc.

Everything is done in order to produce the best sound possible. From the chemistry of mixing metals to the long tones we practice, the end product is the best sound possible from the instrument you own. Period. With that in mind let me quote Mr. Bob Baca from the Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop.

These are the three characteristics of a great trumpet player:
1. Every time you play you have a great- not a good- sound.
2. You have great- not good- rhythm.
3. You have great- not good- ears to hear the sound.

Let’s expand some more about developing a great sound. Remember that after the right mix of metals, tubing, etc. it is:
• being centered,
• finding the resonance,
• utilizing long tones in our basic practice.

Going beyond those basics, them, here are some thoughts from Brass Musician magazine’s web site.

We must have a very definite concept of a beautiful tone in order to produce a great sound. Conception of tone is a mental memory, aural visualization, imagination or recollection of what a beautiful tone sounds like. We cannot imagine or remember what we have not heard and memorized so we must frequently listen to fine players live and on recordings. Daily listening to recordings of fine players will develop our concept of tone. … Playing along with recordings… helps imprint the aural role model and imitation in our minds.

Olympic champion Michael Phelps and Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski were interviewed on TV last week. Both of them spoke of the value of “visualization.” Phelps said he works through the possibilities in a race beforehand- including potential problems. That way, he said, he will be ready for anything. Coach K. said he prepares visualizations for his players to use on iPads. They can see what a “champion” looks like- how champions carry themselves- including how they walk and talk. That’s what the above paragraph is talking about. You can’t hit the notes if you don’t know what they sound like. What better way to learn than to hear them, get them aurally imprinted, visualize the sound, and then “rehearse” it in your mind. I have heard a number of musicians say they hear the note or sound in that small fraction of a second before they play it.

For years I had the problem of not being able to come in on the right note after a rest, or at the beginning of a piece. Sometimes the note would slide off downward or I would overshoot it higher. It was particularly difficult if it was happening during or after an unusual chord structure where my note didn’t seem to be right. I asked one of my colleagues how she did it- and why I was having difficulty. She simply told me that I have to hear the note before I play it. No, I do not have anything like perfect or near-perfect pitch. If you asked me to sing that note in tune I probably couldn’t. What I could do was take a second and silently “sing” my way to the note using the open tones- middle C, G, and the C on the staff. That helped with the B or D on the staff. If I was going for the E or F at the top of the staff, I just silently sang the open notes to the E. It worked. I am still not in the habit of doing that as regularly as I could, but I don’t miss the notes as often as I used to.

Such visualization helps with a player like me who rends to be somewhat lazy in hitting notes. It focuses, centers my sound and keeps me in the music. That also means I am less tense when I come to the notes. I find myself able to hit the note with a stronger sound, probably more in tune and less pressured. Which brings me to the next paragraph from Brass Musician:

A steady relaxed airstream is critical to a full, beautiful tone. … When we ascend into the upper register we should blow faster and avoid tightening the abdominal muscles, which restricts the throat and causes a strained, brighter, sharper sound. There are many ways to improve breathing, blowing and tone. I recommend visiting windsongpress.com, reading books and articles about or by Arnold Jacobs…

◆ Steady
◆ Relaxed
◆ Don’t tighten the abs
◆ Keep the throat open

Seems simple enough.

Check your shoulder position? Have you pulled your shoulders up toward your ears? You are probably tense. Drop them. Let them droop.

Are you holding the trumpet with a left-hand death grip? Relax. That tension is going all the way up your arm and even into your jaw. Loosen it.

It is amazing how much physical work is involved in playing a trumpet. For me it even goes to my posture either sitting or standing. I know, sadly, that if I took the iconic “Miles Davis Stance” I would not be relaxed. MY sound, at least at this point, would be constricted. That may be part of what Miles wanted. For me, it hurts my style. I have to sit up, give my abs the room to relax. Leaning forward tightens them, reduces my airflow and abdominal support for my sound.

That is where those infernal long tones help. Playing them in a relaxed but appropriate position helps our bodies to learn how to do it and enhance our muscle memory.

Arnold Jacobs is mentioned above. He was principal tubist for the Chicago Symphony and many consider Jacobs one of the great music instructors of the second half of the 20th Century. He has become well known as an expert on breathing and wind instruments.

(Here is a collection of quotes and explanations of some of what he taught.)

One of the quotes and explanations from the site.(Bold in original):

"Conceive, don´t perceive"

Controling our thoughts is one of the most important parts of musical performance. When we are playing, it is very common to ask ourselves questions like "does this sound good?" "am I breathing right?", "am I using my fingers correctly", "do I feel okay?", etc.

Arnold Jacobs thinks we shouldn´t ask ourselves these kind of questions during the performance because we´re sending information from our muscles to our brain when we should be doing exactly the opposite; creating music in our mind and making our muscles to produce it.

As Jacobs says, "be a great artist in your imagination", since analysis does not help performance. If we want to progress and improve we should present what we want listeners to perceive.

Jacobs points out that musicians should show their feeling and tell stories with their sound. If we want a specific colour in our sound, we have to create it in our mind and then our body will produce it by making the necessary adjustments. The idea is to tell a story though musical orders.

All this talk about breathing- remember that it is always in support of the sound, the great sound that we should always be seeking for. Breathing is the best way to start in any attempt to improve our playing. But it is also the starting point for stress reduction, personal centering, meditative focus, and many other introductions to better health.

Keep breathing- and learning to breathe better.

Tuning Slide: The World in a Note

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The more you get into music, the more you discover that

a whole note becomes the whole world.

- Trumpet Camp 2015

The Music Lesson is a wonderful musical philosophy book by bassist Victor Wooten. Early in the book Victor's "mentor" Michael asks him if he remembers the Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who. "Do you remember what the poor elephant found inside the little speck of dust?"

"There was a whole civilization living inside it."

"Exactly," [Michael] said, pointing at me. "Notes are the same. If you listen closely, you can find a whole world living inside each one. Notes are alive, and like you and me, they need to breathe. The song will dictate how much air is needed."

At the end of trumpet camp last year we heard the same thing in our closing session as quoted above.

Months ago, as I put together the themes for this blog year, I sent Mr. Baca an email asking for an explanation, a line or two that I could riff on. He was always too busy.

Actually, I think he was doing me a favor. He was letting me figure it out on my own. I would schedule a post on the subject, then push it back. A few weeks ahead, I would say,

"Nope, Mr. Baca hasn't answered me yet."

I would push it back again. It seems I needed to discover the world in a note for myself.

To understand how the world exists in a single note is not something that can be clearly taught. It is one of those things that makes sense only when you have your "Aha!" moment. Sure I've been given clues and ideas about what it means, but, hey, I can be a little slow. The answer was right in front of me all the time. It was shown over and over on web sites and articles. It showed up every day I picked up my horn to practice.

A couple weeks ago it came to me. Clear as the bell on my trumpet. It came together when watching a video of Wynton Marsalis on the website- Arban Method. (Video at bottom of post.)

Long tones. The boring, bane of every trumpet player.

I remembered Mr. Baca at Big Band Camp telling me to take the tuning slide off and just play that single tone, basically, "G" on the staff.

• Play it; 
• listen to the sound;
• center it; 
• hold it; 
• just let the air go through; 
• listen to the sound;
• keep it centered;
• Now do it again.

In that note is the whole world of trumpet music. In that note will be every note you play.

Now, put the slide back in and do it with "G". It's still there. THAT note hasn't changed. The trumpet does the work.

Play up the scale. Every note is still that single buzzing tone- the single note of the world. Play down the scale. The same thing is happening.

With every long tone, you play that same single tone. It is, in essence, the foundation of every note on the horn. As long as you keep that in mind, and the physics and philosophy of the buzz note, you will have the whole scale.

How simple.

One of our local PBS stations is currently rerunning the Ken Burns series Jazz. It's amazing how much different the series is 16 years after first aired. I am hearing and seeing things that were irrelevant to me when I first saw it. In last week's episode one of the commentators was discussing the revolutionary genius of Louis Armstrong. (An understatement!) He was describing how Armstrong took "pop" songs and interpreted them for his jazz bands. No one else was doing that. They played them straight. Armstrong, the commentator said, went to the very essence of the songs. He would often distill it all to one note (!) playing the tempo and swinging the groove. One note! The whole song in that single note.

When I started this trumpet journey last summer I thought the purpose of doing long tones was to build chops. If I did long tones on a regular basis I would improve the embouchure, increase my range, build endurance, develop breath, and learn to center each note. All of which is true. But now I have a hunch these are the important results of finding the whole world in the single note on the horn.

Most instrumentalists face the same task. We can't make chords on our instruments like a pianist or guitarist (or even banjo player) can. We have one note at a time to work with. At first we learn the notes. We discover the ways to play each individual note. It has its place on the scale and we play it. We do our version of "chords" when we move to intervals, playing thirds and arpeggios. But it is still only one note at a time. (Ignore overtones for this discussion.)

Somewhere along the line we begin to hear differently. We begin to discover the world in our trumpet, the voice we talked about in an earlier post that is uniquely ours.

And it's all in that single note we can only play one at a time.

Let's move away from music for a moment and get philosophical. My goal in this blog is as much to "tune" our individual lives as it is to "tune" our musical chops. This is as true for who we are and what we hope to do or be each and every day.  That single, buzzing "G" is our individual core. It is our personality, our skills, our hopes and dreams. If we try to focus too much on these and seek all the answers we will quickly become unfocused. Our lives simply responding to the next "thing" or next "crisis" or even next "dream."

But what is your "G" tone? What is your world in a single note at the center of your soul? What's in your heart? How does that define what you can do and how you do it? Take the time to center on that. Meditate on it. Learn to live it and let it guide you no matter what is happening.

The Spirit Catcher

Sitting here watching people fly kites on the beach the other day, the question arose, "Why do people like flying kites?" After all, once you get the kite up in the air, there's nothing to do but hold on and watch. Well, at least try to hold on and watch.

Some people even tie a number of kites along the string with the big one at the end going higher with the others floating along behind.

Yes, and we observers become entranced by it also. It is almost hypnotizing to sit on my balcony or even on the beach and watch the kites. I keep trying to get good pictures and even video of them flying. Others stand and watch as well.

It is not just on a beach, either. Sure there may be more breeze or wind there, but find a large enough park area anywhere and you will, on a windy day, often see kites.

A couple things come to mind. First is the desire to harness the power of the wind. There is a sense of accomplishment when that kite is up there with the wind moving it, holding it aloft. We humans want to harness whatever energy, whatever source of power we can find. Letting the kite catch it for us is a good substitute.

Second, to catch the wind is to do the impossible. The 60s song by Donovan laments that he might as well try and catch the wind as have his love fulfilled.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind

For standin' in your heart
Is where I want to be and long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

So there, in the air at the other end of that string- we have done the impossible. Maybe, just maybe the other impossible things of life could happen, too!

Third, perhaps Dylan captures the paradox, the ambiguity, of the wind in those haunting lyrics of his:

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?

How many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

In typical Dylanesque fashion you can read that in at least two ways. One would be the same as Donovan's words- the answer is not to be found. It is out there in the wind and only time will tell. There can be a fatalistic turn in those words. Why bother? Why even try? We are doomed.

Or, and the one my generation heard in Dylan's prophetic voice was one of hope. There is an answer. It is out there. Listen. Pay attention. The answer is blowing in the wind.

Back in the early 70s I was a counselor at a church summer camp for the first time. One of our leaders had brought kites to use as part of the program. He built on the background in both Hebrew and Greek for the words we translate in the Bible into Spirit. They are the words for breath, and wind. In Genesis the "wind" of the "breath" of God moved across the deep and creation began. The holy "breath," "Spirit" of God came down and landed on Jesus, anointing him as the Messiah.

Ever since then I never see a kite flying without remembering the connection between wind, breath, and spirit. The kite becomes a spirit catcher, picked up by the movement of the air and carried to new heights. It has a tether to the earth, otherwise it is lost and has no possible rhyme or reason.

I continue to choose the hopeful, prophetic words of Bob Dylan. They echo what I read in Scripture. They affirm what I have
personally experienced countless times in my own life. You cannot see the Spirit or the wind. But you can connect with them. You can allow yourself to be captured by the movement that is there, while remaining connected to others, to community and family, and to the presence of the Holy, what we may often call God, in our midst.

The answer is blowing in the wind.

Listen.

The Tuning Slide - Panic and Air

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

If you panic,

you will die.

-R. Baca

A couple years ago I was doing a hike near Lake Itasca here in Minnesota. There was this circular trail around a lake that branched off the main trail. Or, at least is felt like that. In reality it was just a loop that came back to the same spot and then back out. The problem was that at the spot where the trail started the loop, the two sides of the loop were almost parallel to each other. So, as I returned to the point where the loop started, I found myself facing a "Y" and I didn't know which way to turn. I turned left and realized I was passing things I already passed in the same direction. So I turned around and got back to the "Y" and turned right. Yep- wrong again. I was now heading up the loop from the other side. I wasn't sure of this until I got to a place where I took some pictures of a beaver dam.

By this time I am already later than I expected to be in getting back to the car. My wife would certainly be getting worried. (She was.) We were out in the wilderness and the GPS on my iPhone wasn't showing any map. I knew I wasn't lost. But I knew I could become like Winnie-the-Pooh going in circles around the same tree. The only lesson I could think of at that time was an old hiking reminder:

Don't panic! Your life may depend on it.

I am not sure I was quite at "panic" level on the trail, but I was beginning to get concerned. I thought I knew what I was doing. But it was getting warm, I was getting a little tired. How was I going to deal with this?

I stopped, took a deep breath or two, calmed my mind and set about figuring out that I needed just to be more observant of what I was doing. It worked.

So when Bob Baca said the quote at the top of this post at Trumpet Camp it resonated. It applies to playing the trumpet, as much as it applies to hiking Itasca Park. Don't panic.

We can sure panic when we aren't prepared to play that solo in tomorrow's concert. We can panic when we get lost in the middle of a complicated (or easy) piece in the band's gig. Maybe we're in the midst of the show and our lip decides to quiver and rebel. What are we to do?

First and foremost: Don't panic. It will work against you. We have developed quite a system for survival over the years of our human evolution. the "panic" response is one of them. Panic, or anxiety, can happen when we are facing a "dangerous" or even "life-threatening" situation. Way back in our human development such anxiety or panic got all the systems moving in order for us to survive.

We can call it today the "Fight, Flight, or Freeze" response.

But that quivering lip, the un-prepared solo or jumped line in a song is not life-threatening. Our response is just a left-over. But we can easily metaphorically "die" if we allow the panic to take over. The extra adrenaline pumping with an elevated blood-pressure moving blood away from the thinking brain so we react intuitively makes it more likely that we will not get through the panic. The solo will fail, we won't find our spot in time for our next entrance, the quivering lip just gets work.

But there is another response that we can learn and cultivate. Instead of fight, flight, or freeze, we can learn "Flow." As in "Go with the flow!" I don't know who T. McIrvine is, but I found this quote from him online about playing the trumpet.

Release the air,
don't blow the air.

-T. McIrvine

This is, of course, good advice at all times, which I may talk about some other time. For today, though, this is a great way to think when facing those moments of panic. Stop and breathe. No, not that short, panting breath or that heavy rush of air as if you were blowing out the candles on your 100th birthday cake. Something more relaxed, conscious.

So let's put these things together: Panic and air. Take it easy. Allow the air to fill from the diaphragm. Count to five as you are inhaling through the nose. Hold for a count of two. Count to six as you slowly exhale, letting the air move from your stomach. Do this a couple of times. Don't focus on anything but your breathing.

Can you do this while playing? Probably not to its fullest, but look for several measures of rest. Then do it. Sure you won't revitalize your quivering lip, but you will loosen the tension that only makes the quivering worse. Pay attention to the ease of playing- letting the air release through the mouthpiece and around through the horn. It may be just enough to get you through the rest of the gig.

In your practice on that day before the concert, it will slow you down enough to figure out what you need to do.

Getting rid of the panic response will reconnect you to the music and you will more easily recognize where you might be in the music. After all, you have been practicing and you know the piece, right?

Lots of ways breathing can work for us, not just making a better sound. Perhaps good breathing exercises should be in our regular routine. Long tones, of course, can help with that as can "releasing" air through the lead tube without the tuning slide. But regular daily meditative, mindful breathing may do as much for our tone and music as scales. (BOTH are important, of course.)

As we learn to breathe, life itself can be a lot easier to come with.

Here's a closing quote from a new book I just came across:

Sometimes it's okay if the only thing
you did today was breathe.
-Yumi Sakugawa, There's No Right Way to Meditate

Lent Picture A Day (44): Breath