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!

The Tuning Slide: Inner Game 2: Trust

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The nerves are a problem on trumpet,
because when you mess up everyone can hear it.

Just remember most people are too polite
to say anything about it.

That should calm your nerves.
-- Wynton Marsalis

I have introduced the background of the Inner Game in a couple earlier posts. In the Inner Game of Music Barry Green adapted the original work of W. Timothy Gallwey. Basically Gallwey and Green describe two parts of who we are, Self 1 and Self 2. Simply put,

• If it interferes with your potential, it is Self 1.
• If it enhances your potential, it is Self 2.

The next part then is to learn and develop three fundamental “inner game” skills. Candace Brower on the Albuquerque Music Teacher’s blog writes:

Green advises us that if we want to reach our full potential as musicians, we need to learn three fundamental skills: (1) awareness, (2) will, and (3) trust. Awareness is about being fully aware of the sounds, sights, and feelings of playing while avoiding self-judgments that could distort our perceptions. Will is about setting goals, then using the feedback we get from being aware to reach our goals through a process of trial and error. Trust is about letting go of self-judgment and of the physical act of playing to Self 2 and trusting Self 2 to get it right.

Without specifically dealing with the Inner Game, I have spent quite a bit of time already on awareness (mindfulness, attention, etc.) and setting goals. So what’s this thing with trust? Green writes that this is

Not blind trust, but the trust that comes after hard work, and the trust that comes from knowing there is music inside you….

In order to achieve our ultimate goal and enter the state of relaxed concentration where we are one with the music, there is one more skill we need. We need to trust ourselves.

There are, according to Green, three major obstacles to trust:

• Worries about your self-image,
• The feeling that things are out of your control, and
• Doubts and fears about your own ability.

These feed Self 1’s objections to our playing well. Any of these can creep in and interfere with our music. Let's look at each as Green talks about them.

• Self-image
  "Music is a performing art," says Green. He then says the secret to getting beyond self-image is to give "yourself the character and emotions of the music. You become the music, not yourself." This is like being an actor playing a part. The goal of the actor is to express the character not their own personality. So it is with music. We come to accept our role as "interpreters of the composer's music."
  
  Okay- easier said than done, especially when we are playing a solo. Our image as a performer can be at stake, we think, if we flub it. If we keep aware of the fact that it is not about us, we are well along the way.
  
  
• Out of control
  Self 1 wants to keep control and make sure everything is going the way it wants. Letting go of control is then the direction to go in our learning. How do we learn to "let go" to Self 2?
  
  That depends to a great extent on the awareness, goal-setting, and preparation work we have been doing. It is based on trusting ourselves. Why should we? Because we have had years of listening and playing; we have had years of physical training of our embouchure, breathing, fingering; and we have been storing all kinds of information in our nervous system to respond when needed. Every one of us has known that moment when we stop worrying and let go to the music. That is the moment when we are in "the groove" - and it works. That's trusting ourselves. We are not in control- and don't need to be- because Self 2 and the music are.
  
  
• Doubting our abilities
  Hard to believe that a trumpet player will ever doubt his or her ability. That sure doesn't match our perceived self-image and personality. But we didn't start that self-assured about our ability nor do we always have it conquered. But really, what's the worst that could happen? Self 1 will be good at making a catastrophe out of it, but really, what is the worst that is most likely to happen? Chances are it won't be anywhere near as bad as good, old Self 1 thinks.
  
  What's the best that could happen? Probably a more likely prospect than the worst. Plus, unless there is a recruiter from the New York Philharmonic or the Canadian Brass sitting in the audience the best that could happen is most likely the warmth of having done a job well.

Many years ago my daughter and I were pondering our first ever roller coaster ride. She was 8 or 9 and I was in my early 40s. I had not ridden a coaster in decades; she never. We sat on a bench where we could watch the coaster we were considering. I counted the seconds to the top. I counted the seconds of the first drop. I timed the whole ride. We asked each other the questions about worst and best. Could we survive for those couple seconds it took to drop? Would I be way too nervous to bear the tension of the ride to the top? Would we get sick? (Probably not- and it wouldn't last long if we did.) Would we like it? (Probably- but if not, we just don't have to do it again.) We would be completely out of control. (But strapped in.)

We went on the ride.

And then got back in line to do it again. For the next hour. The worst didn't happen, but the best did. We had, in the end, only one real decision to make- did we trust the people who built, maintain, and operate the ride? Just like needing to trust my own ability to play.

Self-trust is the result of our practice and techniques we learn. That crazy run in Tchaikovsky's "Finale to Symphony #4" doesn't look quite as impossible when you realize it is just a variation on all those scales you have been doing for the past years. The solo in Holst's "Song Without Words" from Holst's "Second Suite" isn't quite as scary when you have listened to it for months and done some innovations on how it is constructed and you can see it's form in your mind.

Self-trust. Do you believe you can do it? Have you worked on being able to do it? Have you set goals, formal or informal to be ready to do it? Have you allowed you and the music to meld into a unique idea?

If so, you can do it.

If not, don't quit, just go back and work some more. But remember, sooner or later we will have to be ready. Do it. You know you can.

The player needs to be able to forget about himself. This is when real communication begins. For with the elimination of the self, he is able to reach the very core of the music, and is free to transmit it. 

-Kato Havas

[Footnote: Ms. Brower in the blog post cited above gives a very good counter argument about the seeming “bad guy” status that Green gives to Self 1. She focuses instead on Galleway’s original idea that the purpose of the inner game is to bring Self 1 and Self 2 into harmony with each other. (How’s that for a good musical idea?) I agree with Ms. Brower and will do some more on this and the insights from neurologists about the brain in a future post.]

Control and Interpretation

I guess that the idea of "being in control" or, as we often hear it these days, being a "control freak" is really based on our interpretation of thing. These of course include

• the world,
• our place in the world,
• our ability to change things in our world, and, at the bottom,
• our ability to have enough power over ourselves and others that we get what we want.

I have been reading a book on Improvisation for the Spirit and at one point she talks about control.

Control is elusive and wanting control just leads to suffering.
-Katie Goodman

Suffering. Not something any of us would naturally accept. But that brings to mind another saying that goes around the recovery community from time to time:

Pain is real; suffering is optional.

In other words our perception of pain and our interpretation of it can lead us into suffering or something else. The suffering naturally leads to things like resentments, "poor me", anger, fear. We then pull away, isolate or strike back. We try yo find ways and places of control. We suffer.

Goodman then says something profound in the improv book:

Trust is the opposite of control.

Wait! Trust? But trust in what? Or who?

Trust, among other things that the world is the way it is and that in some way or another beyond our control, it will be okay for the world.

…All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
-Julian of Norwich

Then things begin to fall into place a whole lot easier. The daily themes we have talked about can begin to intertwine:

• Acceptance- all is what it is
• Compassion- others are in the same place we are
• Gratitude- that all is and will be in the hands of a power greater than ourselves
• Deeper meaning- which can be found in the midst of that lack of control
• Forgiveness- for others and ourselves when we seek to take that control
• Celebration- for all that we have been given
• Prayer and meditation- to keep in greater and greater contact with our higher power

Life begins to flow differently when that begins to happen. Life begins to have a rhythm that we can fit into because the world is just doing its thing (for better or worse in our interpretations.)

As I learn more of being mindful and to meditate I learn that my focus needs to be on what is and what that means. I learn that much is far beyond my control and to fight back like that is to cause myself to suffer. I need to be mindful of needing to trust and let go of my ways and learn the ways of peace.