Tuning Slide 5.9- Learning from Jazz

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

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

As any regular reader of this blog knows, I am a huge jazz fan. I was first introduced through Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and Al Hirt. I expanded with Buddy Rich and Maynard, then later with Miles. I was hooked when the jazz DJ at the college radio station started playing other musicians and then my good friend Glenn opened the whole jazz world to me. It is a musical language I understand at all kinds of levels and has enriched my life in countless ways. (It’s in my earbuds as I write this!)

Over the past 10-12 years I have been working hard at taking that language into playing it in groups. As I was surfing the other week I came across a post on the Piano Power site on how learning jazz can give us musical superpowers. Overall jazz takes us into all kinds of different nuances, styles, and emotions than we are used to. As I looked over the list all I could say was, “Amen! That IS true.” Here's the gist of it, starting with the question:

How will jazz make me a master of my instrument?

The answer to that is so simple as to defy imagination. Improvisation! (I said simple, but far from easy!) Improvisation moved me away from the printed notes into thinking, listening, feeling, and then playing the music. When I attempt to improvise I end up with a far more physical and even spiritual connection with my instrument and what it can do. Which leads me to see what I can begin to do. Like with any language, it takes practice and it can seem like a long road ahead when you start. The easiest way to start working the sounds and chords is through the blues- and then moving up from there. You get it in your head and heart and you become the composer. As a result I have found that I am also better able to hear the sounds of other music and more easily fall into the rhythms and scales. I become a better trumpet player in all styles I am playing.

Lucas Gillan said in the post, “If all you ever do is read notes on a page, you’ll never quite know what your instrument is capable of.” Nor will you discover what you are truly capable of across the whole range of the instrument.

Another post by Austin Consordini on the Making Music site took me into a different area- about the Seven Everyday Tasks That Every Jazz Player Must Do.

1. Clean Your Instrument
2. Practice Scales
3. Play Something by Ear
4. Practice Improvising
5. Listen to Music
6. Increase Your Repertoire
7. Practice Multiple Instruments

I don’t know whether he put these in this order for any particular reason, but I was struck by #1. Only in the past few years have I paid much attention to that one. How does regularly cleaning my horn make me a better musician? Personally, I have found that taking care of my trumpet is an expression of my caring about the music I am making. I don’t know if my sound or style changes with regular cleaning, but my feeling about my playing does. This reminded me of something else I have long observed. When I take my car to the car wash and get it cleaned inside and out, it “feels” like it drives better. I know it is my perception and reaction, but I feel more comfortable driving a clean car. My horn helps me make music! I need to be kind to it and take care of it!

The second item on the list takes me back to the idea of improvisation and knowing music overall. It is one thing- and an important one thing- to do the scale exercises in Arban’s. It is another to do the 12 major scales by doing them without music in front of you. Sometimes I work my way around the Circle of 4ths (C, F, Bb,…); sometimes I start at middle C and work up the notes to the next C and beyond; sometimes I start on G on the staff and expand down and up one note at a time. All this without music in front of me. It is “relatively” easier to do it from a written page, but I think I learn it more deeply when I don’t use the music. BUT, I found I also have to do scales from the written sheet so that when I see a piece of music in one of the scales, I know what I am looking at! It’s a “Both-And” situation.

I still have to do some work on the minor keys, though.

Playing by ear and practicing improvising have been covered earlier but they lead to the next two for me. The more music I listen to with attention and intention the broader becomes my understanding of music overall. That has then led me to the increase of my repertoire. Sometimes I do that through new or different etude books or some of the solo and etudes I have worked on in the past. Pulling out Mozart or Haydn or taking a fake book and working through the melodies can increase what I am discovering about music. A friend recently mentioned an etude book I had never heard of. I borrowed it and played through some of the pieces. I found them significantly different from any of my other etude exercises in ways that changed my listening skills.

In the end Consordini says in his post:

Becoming a jazz master takes living and breathing jazz music every day. You must be willing to dedicate time each day to mastering your instrument and sound. Being able to integrate these 7 steps into your everyday life will help you to be immersed in jazz and be on your way to becoming one of the greats yourself.

I may not become a jazz master, but I am improving as a musician by doing these things. Amazing how that works.

Tuning Slide 5.7- Make Music- Get the Benefits

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The power of music to integrate and cure … is quite fundamental. It is the profoundest non-chemical medication.
— Oliver Sacks

I’m not sure why I want to post this. It may be simply because I want to remind myself of all the good reasons why I play music. The idea came from a post on the Piano Power website on the benefits of playing an instrument. Perhaps it was originally conceived of to convince parents to agree to getting a child a musical instrument and training. Perhaps those of us who are already musicians can point to this when someone asks why we spend so much time with music- practice, rehearsal, performance; then repeat!

Many of us may know these things on an intuitive level. We know that we get into a “zone” when we play; we have experienced that change in body, mind, and soul that occurs when we play our instrument. Many of these ideas from the Piano Power post by Mike Levitsky may be useful in helping us name what it is we are experiencing on an almost daily basis. If you are not yet experiencing these on some kind of regular basis, look at the edited list below.

I’ll just start with the overview. These four would be reason enough.
◆ Uses Almost Every Part Of The Brain. (from TED Ed)

◆ Enlarges The Brain
◆ Speeds Up Reaction Times
◆ Strengthens Your Immune System
⁃ These physical benefits are just the start, because they are naturally at the base of all the other reasons. In the end it is most likely these physical benefits that feed into allowing all the others to help us, as musicians, to do more than we think we are doing.

Some of the reasons listed are obvious, of course. We may not even realize they are happening. While we may not always succeed at having these occur, we at least become more aware of them.
◆ Allows You To Share With Others
◆ Develops Music Appreciation
◆ Increases Time-Management Skills
- I almost wanted to delete this last one. I know way too many musicians whose time management skills are just plain bad. No matter how much they may insist they want to be there on time, they are always late. I am willing to give them some break since they do manage to practice and get to concerts and gigs on time. Usually. But enough snideness. After all, there are exceptions to everything, and I’m certainly not perfect, either.

Most of the reasons listed fall under what can be called “developmental assets”, no matter what our age. These would be:
◆ Benefits The Brains Of Babies
◆ Benefits Spelling and IQ In Children
⁃ Some of these two benefits are still under investigation, some are questions of nurture vs. nature. There are studies being done to see if those with higher abilities in a number of areas are drawn to music more than those who don’t, for example. In other words, does correlation mean causation? The numbers do show some indication of at least a low level of causation.

◆ Increases Emotional Perception
⁃ Music is emotion through sound. It only makes sense that some music may increase our abilities to perceive emotions. As a counselor, however, I have a hunch that this takes a lot of work to reach that ability.

◆ Decreases Age-Related Hearing Loss
⁃ I’m not sure about this one. Many of us do have some significant hearing issues as a result of years of being trumpet players or playing without ear protection. But perhaps it has to do with being able to hear with better perception of things. In my case, that is true, when I remember to wear my hearing aids.

◆ Reduces Stress
◆ Produces Patience and Perseverance
◆ Increases Personal Discipline
⁃ These three go together. The more stressed we are, the less patience we have. The more we get worked up over something, the less likely we are to persevere. When we are working on a difficult piece, we can learn to be willing to work on it, sometimes with little patience and too much perseverance That’s when things get difficult. Patience and perseverance also means knowing how to pull back and take a different or more effective approach. Music can do that!

◆ Increases Memory Capability
⁃ If you can’t remember where you left your keys, maybe it is because you forgot to practice your instrument! At least that is what the article said. This may have as much to do with keeping the brain active and engaged than actually improving memory as such. Whichever it is, I’ll take it!

◆ Breeds Confidence
⁃ When all these things begin to show up in our lives, it only makes sense that we will be more confident in what we are doing. And confidence in one area often translates to a better sense of confidence in oneself. Again, the counselor in me sees how this can be sabotaged by other events, but success is a growth mode. Just don’t get overconfident.

◆ Cultivates Creativity
⁃ The result of all this is that we can also become more creative. I found this definition of creativity on the website Creativity at Work:

⁃ Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions.

⁃ If that isn’t what we learn on our instruments, I don’t know what is!

And, as if we needed any more, my final thought is-
◆ It is fun!

Tuning Slide 5.6- Stretching the Boundaries

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The only limits in your life are those that you set yourself.
— Celestine Chua

Reflections from a Concert Band Camp
Last week I ended the post by saying “I would have never believed I could do what I am able to do today just a few years ago.” Some of that is my reaction to being at a different camp in mid-August. I decided to skip the Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop and attend an adult concert band camp at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Egg Harbor, WI. My main reason was to move outside of my musical comfort zone of the past few years.

One word explained it all.
Audition.

I have a very difficult history with auditions. I freeze up and get nervous and generally blow it, just as I have done with solos over the years. When I saw that I would have to “audition” at the start of the camp I knew I had to go. The audition was simply to position the musicians and to give the directors an idea of what the band will be able to do. It was to consist of doing a two octave chromatic scale; doing two scales- concert Bb and concert F; bringing a piece along as a good example of ability; and a sight-reading. None of that scared me. My biggest enemy would be Self 1 telling me that I should be nervous and get all worried about it. It is time to exorcise that demon!

Another reason to go to this camp is summed up in the word
Language.

Different styles of music have different languages. One does not play trumpet in a concert band or orchestra the same way one plays in a big band. In fact, even within styles, one plays differently in a concert band than in a brass quintet, even playing the same type of music. The dynamics of the music, the tonguing, articulation, and tonal harmonies, as well as many small but significant details are different from genre to genre. This is language.

My first trumpet language was wind/concert band music. As with most school musicians, that repertoire is my native tongue. We learn what a march sounds like and can almost intuit what is going to come next. We discover what it is like to play waltzes and suites; we fall in love with Percy Grainger and Gustav Holst; we begin to know melodic changes and rhythm styles. We then allow it to sink into the Self 2 so even if the notes are different, the styles and rhythms are familiar.

I wanted to dig back into that native language and discover what my new skills and insights have to offer me in utilizing that language. I have played in wind/concert bands consistently for most of the last 35 years. Here was a chance to intensely work on that language in a camp setting.

Finally, one more reason- I would be
Playing with different people, people who are strangers to me.

This is an extension of the audition piece. These would be people who have never heard me play before and with whom I have no history- good or bad. I am just another trumpet player in the section. It therefore becomes an opportunity to just be who I am- who I have become over the past four years of intense practice and growth. In doing that I will see if all this stuff I've been working on is real!

Yes, that is stretching my own limits- and testing my inner confidence.
◦ Can I do this?
◦ Am I doing as well as I think I am?
◦ Will others judge me?
◦ Can I keep up with them?

The short answer is that I was amazed!

First, the audition.

◦ After four years of Clark #1, two octaves of chromatics is second nature.
◦ After four years of learning and practicing all 12 major keys, concert Bb and C are the basics.
◦ After many years of playing the 2nd trumpet part of Gabrieli’s Canzon #2, it flows from my trumpet without thinking.
◦ There was no sight reading, but I had no fear.
◦ What I did have was some nervousness- the dry mouth was the giveaway on that. But I didn’t let it get in the way.

As far as digging into the language of concert/wind band- that was exciting. One piece we played was Frank Ticheli’s Sun Dance which we had just played in the community band. Like at home I was on 1st trumpet; thanks to the intensity of the rehearsal schedule, we were able to really dig into the music, to listen to what Ticheli was trying to do, to see how the parts work together, and finding ways of listening and blending with the rest of the band- and with the other trumpets sitting next to me. The music became far more internalized than is possible with a once a week rehearsal schedule. I discovered how it is possible to move beyond the notes to feeling the music, intuiting the rhythm, letting the harmony carry it all forward.

What a great experience. We also did that with other pieces that I had never played before as well as a couple others that I have played, but never in that type of setting. What all that did was add a sense of language to what I already knew- and I learned how the improved skills of the past four years can help me learn the musical language. The skills are the same for all kinds of music, but here was the payoff for all those hours of long tones, scales, and the basic Arban’s exercises- music!

This happened partly because we were in a new and different setting. Not just the intensity of the schedule, but the chance to listen to new insights from different directors with different ways of explaining what we were doing allowed me to pick up more nuances of the language of concert band. I have been doing this with a lot of excitement over the past four years through the Shell Lake Adult Big Band Camp. Here I was doing it in my first musical language- the wind band.

When I got home, the community band had a rehearsal and concert. I found myself applying some of the new insights and language skills there. And it was an even better experience for me.

My take-away for all this applies to life as well.

◦ Let yourself be challenged.
◦ Look at what it is I may be afraid of and face it. Most things are not as frightening when I face them and apply what I already know to dealing with them.
◦ Listen to those around you and learn from them what I may not already know. It doesn’t have to be the experts, it can also be the person in the chair next to me who has had different experiences and different insights.

In short, this is what makes being part of a music-performing group so powerful.

Tuning Slide 5.2- What I've Learned

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
—Henry Ford

As I get into the fifth year of The Tuning Slide I took some time to think about what I have experienced and learned since that first August at Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop. I have decided to put it into the form of a letter to Bob Baca, the director of the workshop and my main mentor these past four years. I am not ignoring the other faculty and people at home who have been part of this journey with me. Together they have helped me implement the ideas and more to where I am today!

Hi Bob,

Well, I missed the trumpet week at Shell Lake this year. It was a tough decision, but I have an opportunity to do some different kind of stretching in my musicianship and I’m taking it. As I told you I will be going to an adult concert band camp in Door County in a couple weeks and couldn’t swing both this year. But more on that later in the year. Instead I want to summarize the many things that you (and the others) have helped me achieve.

What I have learned from these past 4 years:

1. Routine!
I remember from these years at Shell Lake that you and the faculty have often said that one plays a high C the same way one plays a low C. At first I didn’t understand, but I believed you and kept waiting for it to happen while doing what I needed to do. The time spent on playing the lead pipe and LONG TONES has paid off. Last year at the Brass Festival in North Carolina I found myself just playing what was on the page- and the notes came out. The answer to that was a routine. A routine that is regular and consistent.

2. The Basics.
I learned that if we don’t continue to work on our skills, develop our tone, practice rhythms and etudes, we can become stale. Over these past four years I have been renewed in my skills, I have practiced and discovered more ways to speak the language of the trumpet and to put more style and tone and life into it. If I am to grow in any way in my abilities I have to practice the basics- which you have taught me to do and then move into greater technical proficiency. All I wanted to do was be a better musician- and it has happened.

Many years ago I was a first-chair, lead trumpet with whatever skills a high school senior could have in1965. I have learned the importance of being a section player and have discovered all kinds of new techniques. I have never stopped playing, but in the past four years I went from “just playing” to “being musical”. I would never have believed it when I left Shell Lake after that first camp in 2015. I have been amazed at what can happen- and yes, as I have said before, even an old dog can learn many, many new tricks.

Perhaps above all else I have discovered the absolute necessity of never leaving the basic behinds. The Bill Adam routine has taught me not to forget or neglect these basics on a daily basis. I play 10-20 minutes of long tones in various forms every day. It is the foundation. I play exercises in all 12 major keys; I go back and use the first Arban exercises regularly; I discovered that if I can hear it, I can play it. My fingers now move more fluidly through muscle memory and my ears hear more through aural memory. I have learned to always have a beginner's mind!

3. Easy does it. Patience, slow down.
Don’t force it; don’t rush it. The secret to playing fast is to play slowly. Sometimes so slowly that you may not even recognize the tune. If it isn’t working, go back to the basics behind it. So simple, yet so powerful.

4. You can skip a day but you’ll never get it back
I have missed very few days over these last four years, mostly when I was recuperating from surgery and wasn’t allowed to play. Once in a while I may take a day off because there was no way around it. More often I will do the basic long-tones and scales for 30 minutes. On most days I play and now I can play a lot.

5. Listen, listen, listen
Pay attention to yourself in your own practice and to those around you in rehearsal. We practice alone to get to now our part. We rehearse with others to know how our part fits in with the others.

6. The Inner Game- trust self 2
The Inner Game ideas have been around a while and they work. I have known them for years; now I know how to better utilize them and to trust me - Self 2- to do what I can do.

7. Play out. Just do it.
Some may think that a “timid trumpet player” is an oxymoron. Put me in a group or public performance and I would become a timid musician. What a waste. It is exciting. That doesn’t mean to over-perform, be over loud or obnoxious. I means what it says- just do it!

8. Stretch outside the box
I know the importance of stretching one’s skills. It is how we grow. What I have learned in these past four years has given me some directions on how to do that. I enjoy it too much now to even think of stopping.

9. It’s at least 90% mental.
The basics of playing and performing music are the easy parts. Just keep practicing. This goes back to- and expands on the inner game. If you don’t think you can do it- you won’t be able to do it. But if you believe you can- you will- even if it takes months and years of practice.

10. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the basis of a life of hope and growth. Being self-aware and then being aware of all that is around me and living within it- that’s the ability to be mindful. It doesn’t mean lack of growth or being content with just leaving things as they are. It means being attentive and in my musicianship knowing where I can go next.

That’s what I have learned. Here is what I have received:

A. Play like you like it- and you will like playing.
This is perhaps best described in the meme: If you don’t like playing long tones, you probably don’t like playing trumpet. Really? Yep! It is fun to discover something new with different ways of doing long tones each day. I really like playing and it makes a real difference each day.

B. Confidence
Two weeks ago at a community band rehearsal I had to play a solo part that I had never read before since the soloist wasn’t able to be at that rehearsal. Then I had to play some upper register lines. Yep- I did both. Confidence has built. I don’t get panicked when I see some of those notes or at a passage I would have backed off from before. Now, later this week, I will be attending that concert band camp where I have to audition. I am not the least bit afraid. Call out a major key- I can play any of the 12. Give me a sight-reading page- I know the basics. Am I nervous or anxious. Not any more. Now I am excited.

C. Energy and excitement
What can I say? They sum up what I have been given. The other day I was feeling a little under the weather and restless, unable to find something to direct me. My wife looked at me and simply said, “Go play your trumpet. That always works.”

And it did.

Thank you, Bob and the Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop. You have given me one of the greatest boosts of the past 30 years.

Crazy? Yep- crazy good!

Tuning Slide # 4.42- Moving from Voice to Song

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

I think I can hear your song, all of them, even now…
— Dan Millman

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been writing about finding one’s voice using ideas from Stephen Covey and others. Before finding out what that means here’s a recap.

• Voice:
✓ Your voice is your own “unique personal significance.”
✓ Your power to choose the direction of your life allows you to reinvent yourself, to change your future, and to powerfully influence the rest of creation.

For that to happen we have to learn to convert different energies.

• Energies:
✓ mental energy into vision
✓ physical energy into discipline
✓ emotional energy into passion
✓ spiritual energy into conscience

Then, to find that unique voice find out what it is about you by asking some questions.

• Questions:
✓ What angers you?
✓ What makes you cry?
✓ What have you mastered?
✓ What gives you hope?
✓ As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
✓ If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do?
✓ What would blow your mind?
✓ What platform do you own?
✓ What change would you like to see in the world?
✓ If you had one day left, how would you spend it?

Then it is time to find your song. Here is my definition of your song.
• Song:
✓ The message you can uniquely share with the world.
✓ The way your voice is presented to the world.
✓ An outward expression of who you are.

There are a couple of ways to look at this that can help us move toward finding the song we are called to sing or play. One is an actual song that can be a “theme” song for you. It is a song that you turn to when you need support, a song that inspires, directs, comforts, enlivens you, makes you smile. We all have a number of these for different settings. But think about those two or three songs that are always your go-to song.

◦ What are those songs about?
◦ What is their message?
◦ How do you feel when you hear one of those songs?
◦ Why is it important to you?
◦ How does that message fit your life and the mission of who you are?
◦ Can you put this into one or two sentences, or even better, two or three words?

I talk about several songs since they may be in different places in our lives, expressions of different ideas. They may or may not be songs we play on whatever our instrument might be. But they are only a starting point- a way of discovering and then expressing you, your voice.

That can lead to the song of your soul. When digging around for thoughts on this I came across a Facebook page titled, of course, “Finding Your Song.” It is from Sangeeta Bhagwat who calls herself an Inner Landscape Artist in India. On the Facebook page, she tells the story of an African tribe.

◆ When a woman in one African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child. They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose.
◆ When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud. Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone else.
◆ And when children are born into the village, the community gathers and sings their song, one unique melody for each unique child.
◆ Later, when children begin their education, the village gathers and chants each child's song.
◆ They sing again when each child passes into the initiation of adulthood, and at the time of marriage.
◆ Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the bedside, as they did at birth, and they sing the person to the next life.
◆ If at any time during a person's life, he or she commits a crime or aberrant social act, that individual is called to stand in the center of a circle formed by all members of the tribe. And once again the villagers chant the child's song. The tribe recognizes that the proper correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment, but love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.
◆ A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it.
◆ Life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn't. (- Link)

There are a number of important insights in this. The obvious one that it takes a village is quite clear. We do not find or develop our song in a vacuum. It may be something that only we understand, but it is found in interactions and relationships in some form of community. Thus the importance of finding a community that is willing to take the time to know you and who you are while not allowing you to stay stuck in a spot. The community is one that can nurture and challenge, comfort you when you are afflicted and afflict you when you are comfortable while always expressing compassion and support.

Our song then becomes associated with us and with our own unique journey. Even those of us who do not live in a community where the tribe finds your song and sings it to you, the environment we surround ourselves with, the people we pay attention to, the mentors, teachers, and guides who come into our lives lead us onto the paths if we pay attention and internalize the direction we are moving.

Where that can take us will be next week. Until then look at your community or communities that you are part of. Which ones nurture you and which ones ignore you? Who are the mentors who have that something that enhances your life and uplifts your soul? Think about what they have taught you, directly or indirectly, and how that has allowed you to be the singer of your own song.

Don’t get hung up in words, just listen to your heart and see where it leads.

Tuning Slide

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we are a rhythm machine, that's what we are.
— Mickey Hart

Mickey Hart, one of the percussionists with the Grateful Dead has written much about rhythm and its location at the very center of our lives. It is not a pun to say it is the heart of who we are. To be in touch with the rhythm of our lives is one of those tasks that we can never end. The give and take, the pulses of daily living, the ups and downs of emotions can all fit into a rhythm. Many experiments have shown that different sources of rhythm will fall into sync with each other. Rhythm is one of the basics of music itself, and is therefore, I think, music is one of the best ways to learn about the importance of keeping the beat.

For the past month I have been pulling together the ideas of music and life, how they interact and what one can teach us about the other. Last week I raised the importance of jazz in this process. All musical styles can and will change our lives if we are open to them. Each of us just responds in different ways to different styles. For me- and for many- jazz is one of the most effective teachers of life and rhythm, timing and pace.

Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you how to coordinate with them.
— Wynton Marsalis

Back at the end year one of the Tuning Slide I had a post that dug into the writing of Wynton Marsalis in his book, Moving to Higher Ground. The focus of that was the idea of “swing,” one of the historically important- and still living- genres of jazz. Jazz musicians will use the generic word “swing” to describe what happens when a piece falls into its intended groove and moves beyond a simple sum of its parts. When a song “swings”, when a musician is “swinging,” they are in the best of all possible musical worlds. You are not just you, but you are, as Wynton described it above, coordinating with the others. It is that coordination that makes it work! This is not just in jazz, by the way. Bach may have produced some of the best music to "swing" to in all of history!

Here is some more of what Marsalis says in the book:

Jazz is the art of timing. It teaches you when. When to start, when to wait, when to step it up, and when to take your time- indispensable tools for making someone else happy….

Actual time is a constant. Your time is a perception. Swing time is a collective action. Everyone in jazz is trying to create a more flexible alternative to actual time. [Emphasis added in both quotes]

Swing can be to a great extent what you accent and how you do it. Different tempos, different tonguing, different rhythms go together to make the music work. It means listening to each other and learning to flow together.

But something always seems to get in the way. In the brass quintet I play in we, like every musical group, can have great difficulty playing in a consistent tempo. There are all kinds of obstacles. Listening to a recording of a rehearsal I found that different ones of us can cause a tempo change within a beat or two if we

◦ Come to a change in dynamics from louder to softer.
◦ Come to a change in instrumentation adding a new tonal sound or removing one.
◦ Make a mistake and let our mind wander into self criticism
◦ Play something better than usual and let our mind wander into how good it sounds

Music teaches us how to deal with change, anticipating it and knowing how to move through it without losing who we are and what we are doing. Something we can always depend on is change, so if we learn the skill of flowing with and through change, no matter what the source, we can discover more direction in our lives.

Rhythm is sound in motion. It is related to the pulse, the heartbeat, the way we breathe. It rises and falls. It takes us into ourselves; it takes us out of ourselves.
— Edward Hirsch

Wynton Marsalis applies all this to our daily lives. Swing helps us in:

1. Adjusting to changes without losing your equilibrium;
2. Mastering moments of crisis with clear thinking;
3. Living in the moment and accepting reality instead of trying to force everyone to do things your way;
4. Concentrating on a collective goal even when your conception of the collective doesn’t dominate.

In the end, Wynton Marsalis says, swing demands three things:

1. Extreme coordination- it is a dance with others inventing steps as they go;
2. Intelligent decision making- what’s good for group.
3. Good intentions- trust you and others want great music.

The most prized possession in this music is your own unique sound. Through sound, jazz leads you to the core of yourself and says “Express that.” Through jazz, we learn that people are never all one way. Each musician has strengths and weaknesses. That is where we each find first our voice and then our song. When we do that we fall into rhythm with our lives and the world, giving back to others the gifts of our own lives.

So then next week we move to finding our “voice” so we can then learn to live our “song.” This may be the greatest gift music has to offer us.

Until then, keep the beat, watch the rhythm, and keep swinging.

Note: All Wynton Marsalis quotes are from the book:
• Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward. 2008, Random House.

Tuning Slide 4.38- Why Jazz

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The thing to judge in any jazz artist is, does the man project and does he have ideas.
— Miles Davis

[I left Miles’s male pronouns so as not to interrupt the thought.]

Last week I brought the three life lesson posts together in the post about lessons from jazz. But that hardly scratched the surface of jazz and its importance in the world of music. Jazz encompasses so many genres that it would be hard to make a complete list. Wikipedia’s jazz subgenera page lists 54 styles from Acid Jazz to West Coast Jazz with all kinds in-between. I have been a fan of jazz for over 55 years now. I don’t remember the first jazz I discovered, although it included anything I might have heard by Louis Armstrong, Doc Severinsen, Buddy Rich, and others on the Tonight Show or Dick Cavett, and perhaps the first, Al Hirt’s "Java".

Learning and listening to jazz, let alone playing it, is a difficult journey unless you get introduced wisely or have some inner DNA tuned to it. I have worked and wrestled and wrangled away at aspects of jazz in the 50+ years since a fellow DJ at our college station introduced me to the breadth of jazz beyond Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck. The performance and album that did that was the live album Swiss Movement by Les McCann and Eddie Harris. The now iconic “Compared to What” blew me away. I have never looked back, forever glad I found it.



So, what did Miles mean in that quote above and how is that a basic lesson from jazz? First, as in last week’s post, it is the reminder that unless you are willing to be out front, “projecting yourself,” your jazz street cred will be suspect. A jazz musician will, by the nature of the beast, be up front. Jazz means to be yourself and let people get to know who you are. Not an easy thing to do. That iconic Miles Davis style of playing downward and wandering the stage with his back to the audience was not a way of hiding. It brought the audience upright, searching for the sound. He did it with a microphone, of course, so his sound would get out there, especially with the Harmon mute. He was in charge of the stage and projected energy, electricity, spirit. You never doubted Miles, even when you didn’t understand a thing he was doing.

Which is the second thing from jazz- you have to work on your ideas. Miles was a man with ideas, way more than any one person could follow. He was never satisfied with what he had already developed. He all but invented “cool jazz” and then “modal jazz” and immediately moved to something else. Once he did it, it was time to move on, discover something different, invent something no one ever played before. He made the complex sound so simple, but few could duplicate it. No one sounded like Miles, though many of us wanted to. His ideas were so rich and diverse.

Apply that to life and you have a powerful understanding of what makes a person stand out, and what each of us can learn to do.

✓ First, be yourself- and project that self. That does not mean that introverts need to stand up and shout to the world who they are. That’s not what Miles means. It means be who you are. Is the “you” that people meet in your daily life the “real you?” Sure we have different persona depending on the location and group, but do you shine through, no matter what?

✓ Second, think for yourself. Knowledge is, I believe, a combination of learning, study, experience, personality, and personal interpretation. Too often we just blindly accept something that someone else has said- as long as it matches our beliefs, or reject it because it doesn’t. That isn’t thinking for yourself. That’s allowing someone else to do it for you. When learning jazz, we start by listening and learning from others, we play transcriptions or develop them ourselves. But then we learn to think of our own melodies and improvisations. Do that with your daily life.

Brent Vaarstra at the Learn Jazz Standards website had a list of four reasons why every musician should study jazz. Like Miles’s quote, it is a starting place for that life and music connection. Brent’s four reasons are:

1. [Jazz] will expand your harmonic knowledge.

2. It will force you to be proficient on your instrument.

3. It will improve your ear…big time.

4. It will help you become a better composer.

As I look at those, three things come to mind, reasons why these four are important, no matter what your favorite music genre, if you play jazz or not.

• It will make you think because
• It will be a new language that
• Will introduce you to things you never thought about before.

Now that makes sense. When you start paying attention, your mind begins to learn to focus on what ’s happening. It is a development of a mindfulness of what is happening. You are no longer a passive observer or listener, you are moving toward an understanding. A few months ago my wife and I were driving and I was listening to jazz and blues. My wife is not a musician so I asked her if she wanted to understand what was happening in the music- changes, 12-bar blues, etc. I spent a couple of songs lining it out. She commented that she now had a different appreciation for what she was hearing. She still doesn’t know music theory, but she is hearing something different.

Which is a language, a different language. I have spent many, many years working on the language of jazz and how someone like John Coltrane can do what he does. I am now beginning to hear the language. I have crossed some line into a different language- and culture. I am amazed at what I hear in unique ways that I never knew were there.

Which opens me to differences, diversity, cultural complexities, ways of thinking that impact my world-view.

And if that doesn’t apply to life, I don’t know what does.

Tuning Slide 4.34- Applying Experience

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Music is … A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy
― Ludwig van Beethoven

I keep saying that this blog is “reflections on life and music”, but then I have to admit that most of it is about the music part. Sure, I have put many connections into the posts, but I don’t often just take aim at the “life lessons” from music. I thought I would take a few weeks to talk about some of the life lessons I (and others) have gotten from being musicians. I started with a Google search, of course, and found three pages in particular that have given me the foundation for this and the next two posts.

Of course it could be argued that many of us bring these life lessons into music and not the other way around. Many of us do know that some of the things we have discovered in life are very applicable to the music side of our lives. It may be the case that people who have certain ideas, ideals, and habits more easily become musicians, but I think it more often works the other way around since most of us started music before we developed these lessons, habits, and traits. If we stayed with music after high school or college, chances are these habits grew together and became woven into the fabric of who we are.

So, with that as an introduction, let me turn to the first set of lessons. These are from a website, The Odyssey Online, where Amanda Gribbin reflected on "Eight Life Lessons Through Music."

1. Do not expect instant gratification.
2. Mistakes are okay.
3. Wholeheartedly pursue your passion.
4. Have people to look up to.
5. Keep an open mind.
6. Challenge yourself.
7. Set personal goals.
8. Working for something that you love will never feel like work.
(— Link)

Some of these are obvious, though easily forgotten (instant gratification). Some we have looked at in different ways and the application to life from music is clear to see (challenge and goals). Let me reflect on several of them. (This is something I learned from jazz, by the way. I start with an idea and then riff on it, improvise on the theme. Or is that one of the reasons I life Jazz? See how it goes both ways?)

✓ Instant gratification
I love guitar. If I want to learn any other instrument and be able to play it at least reasonably okay, it would be the guitar. Back in high school, after I was already an established trumpet player (and therefore a musician) I bought a guitar and started taking lessons. I was doing okay and, since I played trumpet in a Tijuana Brass-style group with my guitar teacher, he actually had be learn the chords for one of our TJB songs and I would play guitar when we did that song. My problem was that I was not able to be as good at guitar as I was at trumpet. At least not able to do it overnight. Instant gratification! I have since taken lessons several times and still own a guitar. There was a point when I did play more, but I never really got it. I would get frustrated and quit. In many other areas of my life I have learned to wait, be patient, do what needs to be done. I just never had the time (or took the time) to do it with guitar. I know why I am not a good guitar player today. But it never became a goal. That’s how these go together. I know there isn’t instant gratification. I also know that there are other things more important (higher priority) than being a guitar player.

✓ Mistakes are okay
We have to be careful here. Mistakes are okay if we correct them by learning from them. We must not get the attitude that if I make a mistake in a performance, eh, who cares? Expect to make mistakes since none of us is perfect. Don’t be satisfied with the mistakes and use this as an excuse not to improve. I can name many mistakes I have made as a counselor. I have forgotten important points, responded out of my personal motives, even been called on the carpet by supervisors. But I made sure I didn’t do it again- and didn’t beat myself up over it.

✓ Have people to look up to
Mentors, gurus, wise colleagues, experienced elders are all people to look up to. I still “look up to” a professor and a supervisor I had 45 years ago who set me on the path I have taken. I remember with joy a colleague who taught me more by his example how to be a person of humble spirit and soul. In all that I do, I try to incarnate the lessons they gave me. I still have people- colleagues, friends, and/or musicians- who come to mind when I need a personal reminder.

✓ An open mind
For me this is always a growing edge. In some ways it is the summation of the others. If I think I am always right, my mind is closed to opportunities and life itself. If I think I have nothing to learn from others, I am going the wrong direction. If I am satisfied with where I am today and not willing to accept challenges to grow, I might as well sell the horn. I’m done and will miss many things. Life itself is always changing. Just because it isn’t how it was when I was growing up in those “good, old days” doesn’t mean it’s wrong today. An open mind is one that is mindful of the world and able to move within it with a sense of personal acceptance and then to learn from it. Essential in our very difficult age.

✓ It will never feel like work if you love it.
This is a variation on the old statement, “If you love what you do you will never work a day in your life.” While that is an extreme statement that certainly leads in the right direction, it is a lesson we have to learn. The lesson is that even on the difficult or bad days, if you love what you do, you will find ways to enjoy it. A quote from one of the instructors at the Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop that I quoted a few weeks ago says the same thing. “If you don’t like playing long tones, you don’t like playing the trumpet.” Or at least you are playing it for some wrong reasons. Every job, every part of life, has its times of boredom and drudgery. You finish washing the dishes, and more are dirty; you get the wash folded, and there’s a new pile. Most of us in music know the feeling of picking up our instrument and having life change in an instant. That is an important lesson for all of life.

Tuning Slide 4.32- Beyond the Plateau

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Plateaus are a manifestation of the law of diminishing returns, and when we reach one it simply means that it is time to adjust our methods.
― Chris Matakas, The Tao of Jiu Jitsu

Last week I talked some about the perennial problem of getting stuck in our movement forward as musicians- or in life, for that matter. I mentioned four of the main reasons that I have discovered for my “stuckness.” They were:

• Boredom
• Fear
• Exhaustion
• Lack of direction

Discovering some of these reasons behind my getting stuck may help find a way around them and into the next stage of growth. In order to do that I have to be willing and able to confront my plateaus and discover what to do next. Often what I am really facing is a decision point. In the musical world that question goes back to making a decision whether I am willing to settle for where I am. I have a hunch that any of us can always grow beyond where we are. Here is a famous quote from the great cellist Pablo Casals:

He was asked one day why he continued to practice four and five hours a day. Casals answered, “Because I think I am making progress.”
— Leonard Lyons

Who am I to disagree? So first I have to change my language to have a better, more positive way of describing the moment. Instead of being “stuck” I remind myself that I am at a “plateau.” I remember that in my past every musical or life-changing growth has been preceded by the plateau. A plateau is better than a stuck place- think flat land vs. a swamp or quicksand. Given a choice, I’ll take the flat plain. A plain or plateau tells me there is movement possible, even if for the moment it is at the same “level.” I am still moving, hopefully toward my goal.

My wife and I discussed this last week. She has been on an exercise development program following a period of medical concerns. At this point her goal was simply to walk a mile four times/week. Two days in a row she had some difficulties and I could sense she was on the edge of giving up. She was at a stuck point. I didn’t say anything specific, I just encouraged her to try it one more time. As it turns out the next time we went, she had made a step toward a better place. She was pleased and energized. She had been at the point I described last week as the “darkest before the dawn” point. She has continued to move forward.

I doing research on this topic, I found many websites that give thoughts and directions. One, the Every Day Power blog has five game-changing strategies for when you’re feeling stuck in life from Erika Boissiere. (https://everydaypowerblog.com/strategies-feeling-stuck-life/) They were:

◆ Challenge your assumptions- every last one of them!
She says that we may believe we have explored all the things that are happening. If we are still on the plateau of stuck, we probably haven’t. She suggests brainstorming more ideas, even crazy ideas. The goal is to come up with as many things as you can find. She adds, “Stop ruminating on the ideas you’ve already come up with!”

◆ Talk yourself through your worst-case scenario
Boissiere continues then to look at the worst-case options. What if this is as good as it gets? Could you continue? What might happen if you did continue? Could you survive? “If the answer is YES, you will un-tether yourself from fear of the worst case happening – and move forward.”

◆ Learn about courage
Sometimes it might take a bit of courage to move on. If fear is one of the main reasons behind this plateau, this one becomes especially important. Courage is the ability to do the next right thing, the next important thing, even if it is challenging or uncomfortable. Chances are that in my musical life, this will not kill me, that I can survive the next step and move forward anyway. For me that continues to be those solos that can trip me up. That I why I continue to play in the quintet and work on it. I am more exposed and my errors could be more devastating than playing fourth in a big band or being a section player in the concert band. Again from Boissiere, “Allow yourself to be scared. If you fall flat on your face, believe that you will pick yourself up again.”

◆ Use your village
Our individual “villages” are those people around us who we trust, who have our best interests in mind, and know something about what we are doing. So go ask them. Trust them. This what my wife did the other week when she was stuck. She trusted me and continued on her journey. It might mean finding a mentor or teacher and taking a lesson or two. Broissiere tells us to “[g]o to your strongest allies, and get their input.”

◆ Create your vision
At this point it usually comes back to what I talked about last week, make some goals, give myself some new direction. It might be learning a new piece, working on a specific technique, getting back to some basics and building on them. Broissiere remind us that “[y]ou must look beyond your short-term anxieties and create a vision for yourself.” It is, as she says, looking at the horizon instead of down at your feet. Where am I going?

I have been taking my winter season to work on these things. A few weeks ago I talked about my work on improving my precision and sound. As I said then it has been working, although there have been plateaus. That in and of itself is one of the best motivators to keep moving forward. I have also been working on my jazz language skills. I am building my vocabulary of jazz and learning how to be more free-flowing in improvising. While this may sound like it’s at odds with the “precision” goal, at this point they are beginning to merge, much to my surprise. Because I worked on my sound and attack, I feel more comfortable to working with chord changes and trusting the sound I am hearing in my mind. It all begins to meld into something new and different. My two goals are working together. They give me a direction.

Life is not a bunch of disconnected boxes. Life and music are all the things that I am and all that I can learn. I have a hunch that it is still an endless and growing path in front of me.

Tuning Slide 4.29- Getting Technical Beyond Will

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Be stubborn about your goals and flexible about your methods.
–Unknown

One of the great fallacies of human endeavor is the idea of “willpower.” We often will hear that all something takes is enough willpower and we can do whatever we want. I did a quick Google-search on willpower and found many quotes that will tell you that willpower is what makes the difference between success and failure. Well, sadly, this is a myth, misconception, and almost surefire road to failure in the long run.

Willpower alone won’t do it.
No one has enough of it to get everything done.

Yes, you need the “will” to do something; you have to have the drive and desire to do what needs to be done. But just depending on willpower alone won’t cut it. Researchers in a number of fields with different experiments have shown that willpower is a limited quantity. If you spend your whole day exercising willpower to make sure you can get everything done, you will get home at night exhausted- your willpower will be shot, gone, depleted. It is actually more like a muscle than some hidden secret strength.

If I want to ride thirty miles on my bike, it will take more than exerting my “willpower” to complete it. I will not have the stamina, the physical strength, or the mental endurance to accomplish it. At least not without training.

Which is what my musical practice routine is- training to accomplish more. But there’s the catch of finite amounts of “willpower.”

Over the past month I have been focused on my physical exercise. I am working hard to losing weight and improving my overall health. I have been exerting more “willpower” to motivate myself to get to the gym and do my routine. During that time I was having a more difficult time getting beyond my basic daily trumpet routine. In fact, to be honest, I missed some days on the trumpet- often the days when I had to exert more “willpower” to get to the gym. It also impacted the time I have spent writing- the third of my personal trinity of self-growth.

Sometimes we have to suck it in and Just Do It!

Which is what I finally managed to do last week. First, I sat down and just played the horn with iReal Pro to get my creativity going again. Second, I pulled out the computer and just started writing. Third, I got in enough exercise to boost the energy. But I still need some work on how to fit all these together- the balance.

It seems to me that “willpower” is not one thing; it is several.
◆ Desire- the “want-to-do-it”;
◆ Discipline- the “plan-to-do-it”;
◆ Habit- the “do-it-every-day” pattern;
It is the combination of the three, as well as others, I am sure, that make what we call “willpower” successful.

Josiah Boornazian, one of the regular contributors at Learn Jazz Standards (https://www.learnjazzstandards.com/), had a post two weeks ago that explained why the habit part of “willpower” is important. The post is about what he calls Three Pivotal Exercises that can help one’s jazz technique. These three exercises are learning how to utilize technical studies of intervals, chords, and arpeggios in jazz. He makes sure to point out that there are many good and very useful technical studies that one can use, of course. (Link)

First, though, he gives his philosophy of using technical studies and urging people to think on three levels. While he is talking from the jazz genre, it applies just as well to any kind of skill we want to get better at.

#1: Firstly, we want to develop muscle memory and sharpen our physical intelligence. I call this “thinking with our fingers.”

#2: Secondly, we want to improve our ability to recognize chords and melodies by ear. I call this “thinking with our ears.”

#3: Thirdly, we want to sharpen our understanding of jazz theory, especially scale/chord theory, because it is so helpful for learning how to improvise fluently. I call this “thinking with our (theory) brains,” “thinking with our intellect,” or “thinking using concepts.”

I like his phrase “physical intelligence” to describe what we often call “muscle memory.” I have often been amazed at how practicing some of the basic technical studies like he recommends can apply so quickly and easily in so many different settings. It happened again recently in the community band I play in for the winter. We are playing the Carmina Burana suite which I surprisingly have never played before. In the 3rd movement there is a four measure run of tongued and slurred quarter notes in the basic G major scale. My brain with Self 2 recognized it immediately, although not consciously. My fingers responded with little hesitation and got it right the first time through. That is muscle memory, developed from jazz and technical studies.

The technical studies in the back of Getchell’s First Book of Practical Studies give a way of training for the physical, but also with the intervals to recognize the chord structures. I have been amazed at times how working these allows me to know what a piece of music is going to do- or at least be prepared for it. Whether it is a standard wind band piece or some comping behind a solo in a big band, that “aural” intelligence and awareness is invaluable.

That easily leads to Josiah’s third level, theory. We practice the technical studies, hear, and then experience the theory. Somewhere in our Self 2 we go- “Oh yeah! I know what that means” which gives Self 1 no reason to jump in and get worried.

One more thought related to the technical studies and their importance is to make sure we play them conscious of their sound and their musicality. It is difficult at times to get beyond simply playing it technically correct but with dull sound or poor musicality. Without looking at the sound and music, we will get bored. But with that awareness, we will develop the ability to play musically, no matter what the study!

It is always the music; always the sound. But more on that another time!

Tuning Slide 4.28- On Being a Student

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward.
— Conrad Hall

Yes, I missed last week’s post. As has been said by a number of people including both John Lennon and myself, “Life is what happens when you are making plans to do other things.” I had a month of that from mid-December to mid-January. I had planned ahead and had a number of posts ready to publish, but I just couldn’t get to that one last one for last week. I will talk more about that next week. But for this week, it’s about being a student.

We are all students of something. Some of us are deeply involved as students in school, studying, reading, going to class. Some of us have left that regimen far behind. All of us are students of what we like and are interested in. Obvious statement, I realize. But it can be so easy to forget until we hit something difficult or hit one of those plateaus where it feels more like we are moving backward than getting better.

Things music students need to learn

Let me start with a slightly tongue-in-cheek list that speaks much truth. There are ten on the original list, but here are the five that I really liked

(Five of the )Top Ten Things You’ll Never Understand About a Musician (which means these are things we need to learn about ourselves):
✓ Music isn’t a dream. It’s a way of life.
✓ Just because you haven’t heard of us doesn’t mean we aren’t successful.
✓ Don’t hate us because we do something we love.
✓ Listening to music means something very different to us.
✓ You can take a musician out of music but you can’t take the music out of a musician.
(https://www.talkbass.com/threads/top-10-things-youll-never-understand-about-a-musician.1381134/)

We do need to get a little more serious about being a student in general.

(https://flypaper.soundfly.com/hustle/how-to-be-a-student/)

Society restricts the formal construct of a “student” to mean a person enrolled in some sort of academic program. It is an identity you take on when you’re in school and abandon once you graduate. But the world continues to change at a rapid clip, requiring us to learn new things constantly — this situation requires us to expand the definition of what it means to be a student.

A student is anyone who wants to create new neural pathways by exposing themselves to new information and experiences. You become a student when you feel the desire to do something you can’t and start taking actions to turn that around. To be a student, you have to be a combination of a researcher, a craftsperson, an artist, a manager, and a writer.

He goes on to expand on each of those from his point of view.

◆ Researcher

The path to learning complex skills is nonlinear and ambiguous. The most effective compass to help you navigate this ambiguity is your curiosity. It’s hard to figure out where to go next, but an effective way to determine the right direction is to come up with hypotheses and test them.

◆ Craftsperson

Being good at something means your output consistently exudes a sense of quality and attention to detail. How you get there is by showing up every day and practicing the fundamentals. This can be difficult, particularly if you have a chaotic mind with a short attention span like I do.
The problem is compounded if you consider that the rewards of working on your craft only become obvious months after you’ve put in the effort. This decoupling of effort and reward makes it hard to create powerful feedback loops to keep you coming back. But your success as a craftsperson depends on your ability to show up even if you don’t feel like it.

◆ Artist

Craft is important, but it is only the foundation. Once you have the craft nailed down, you have to figure out what to do with it. “Artistry” is the ability to point your craft in a direction — to expand your audience’s minds by showing them new possibilities, to provide warmth and comfort by letting them know that they’re not alone, or even create a whole new response that we haven’t yet discovered.
You can be the kind of artist that cuts through the bullshit and surfaces fundamental truths about the human experience. Or you can be the kind that creates perfect experiences of escapism. It depends on your personal motivations — what led you to embark on this journey in the first place?

◆ Manager

Good managers don’t just allocate resources and impose schedules. They create conditions in which awesome work can happen. The best manager I’ve worked with describes himself as a “shit umbrella.” Managing is as much about creating positive feedback loops and support systems as it is about staying on schedule and tracking progress.
The trick is to not overdo it. It can be very tempting to draft long project plans and get very granular with scheduling tasks. The first step is to acknowledge that no plan will be followed exactly as intended. The second step is to try and identify all the ways in which things won’t work out. The third step is to create mechanisms that pull you back on track if you ever go off the rails.

◆ Writer

If you don’t take a moment to pause and reflect on where you’re going and what you’re doing, you run the risk of running in circles. Writing is a great way to formalize new knowledge as you acquire it, and also create resources that can help others who are on their own journeys. Writing can be incredibly difficult if you aim for a finished piece on your first attempt. You can make it easier for yourself by working in different levels of fidelity. The first draft should be an outburst. Just sit there and pour out everything that’s in your mind without any regard for sense or structure. That way, you have a collection of ideas you can start curating. In subsequent drafts, you can refine and arrange these ideas in a way that ensures impact.

Next week I will dig a little into each of these areas and look at applying some of them to what we all do as musicians. Until then… think about your goals and directions and how you are a student of what you want to be doing.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever. — Gandhi

4.26- Tuning Slide- Halfway in a Tuning Slide Year

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Believe you can and you're halfway there.
— Theodore Roosevelt

Well, we’ve made it to post #26 in this year’s Tuning Slide. That means we’re halfway there. Which says a great deal about music. Believe it and you are on the right road. I have spent the last several years believing that

1. An old dog can learn new tricks
2. Making music is fun, and
3. They both go together to make life even more joyous than it otherwise would be.

I got my first trumpet when I was in 8th grade in 1961. I was thirteen-years old. There have been very few years in the past 57 when I haven’t played trumpet for something. I went through all kinds of times of not practicing much (if at all) for months and months. I may even have gone a year or or so when I didn’t touch the trumpet. It was always there calling me, reminding me of its joy and wonder. I never stopped being a trumpet player- and for that I am extremely grateful. It is how I live my life.

When I started on this part of my trumpet/musical journey in the last ten years and then connected with the amazing musicians at the Shell Lake Arts Center/UW-Eau Claire, new doors opened that enhanced, then multiplied the wonder of making music and how it relates to my life.

I am the kind of person who likes to share what I learn. As I have been learning I have been writing; as I have been doing research I have been telling you about it; as I have been playing more music more often I can’t help but share it. That is what the Tuning Slide has been all about. Nothing is changing about that.

This post is at mid-point of year four. Lots of things have been covered, some more than once. The whole idea of the “inner game” has been at the heart of what I talk about. Mindfulness and deepening awareness are an essential of that. Trusting Self Two and quieting Self One build into that. The joy of playing is one of the results.

As I look at the next six months of this year’s Tuning Slide here is what I plan to work on. I confess it here, by the way, to keep myself accountable. Even though it will change, at least I am setting it down for me- and all- to see.

First, I am currently working on “precision.” I am not a precise trumpet player. I tend to have that “jazz” sound that never quite lands the note the same way every time. (I don’t think that is an excuse, by the way, but more on that in February, I think.) What this boils down to is awareness of sound. It is always sound, so I am back at that level, playing the single-tongue Arban’s and Getchell exercises in slower, more precise ways. (When in doubt, always go back to Arban and Getchell.)

Second, I am working on being more relaxed in my improvisation. I will be doing more with iReal Pro and Aebersold in the next couple months. (I also hope to do some more composing. That should go together with the improvisation as well.)

Third, as always I will be expanding what I know about the Inner Game. Always being a student, working on improving whatever it takes to be better, continuing to take the time to keep moving and not get stuck in any one spot.

So to get started, here is something I found posted on Facebook. It will be a good thing to think about in the next week as I settle in to the second half of this Tuning Slide year. It is a reminder of the Inner Game:

And, so as to not take ourselves too seriously, here is a list from The Trumpet Blog. Here are a few of them.

1. Trumpets most often play the melody so everyone knows if we play the wrong notes. Unlike the Bassoon, which plays notes that only Canada geese can hear, the trumpet is expected to play every note the way it was intended.

4. Trumpet players rely on their air to sustain a long slow, painful phrase, while an organist could place a book on the keys and go out for lunch and no one would know the difference.

6. The fingering of a trumpet is very complex. For a clarinet player to play a corresponding scale, the clarinet fingerings are simplified because of their use of nine fingers. The trumpet play is limited to only three and is expected to be able to play the same notes.

And then the best reason I can think of (with tongue in cheek, of course, which makes it even harder to play the trumpet:)

10. Trumpets have a much more difficult time working within their section. Nowhere in music is this more challenging for every trumpet player has to put up with other trumpet players and we all know what that requires.

Take a moment and go see the whole list and the truth about why the trumpet is the most difficult instrument to play. Then pat yourself on the back for being so great! (Link)

Have a great week and we’ll kick off the second half of the year next week!

Halfway means there's no sense turning back. It is just as far back as it is to the goal.
— Unknown (Well, actually, I said it.)

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?