Tuning Slide 5.32- Music in a Time of Pandemic

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

This will be our reply to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before.
— Leonard Bernstein

I have used this quote by Bernstein before. It was originally written after the death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. It was a time of uncertainty and chaos, fear and grief. As I sat down to write today, already late in posting this week’s Tuning Slide, I realized that I cannot write what I had intended to write about- the interaction of sound and rhythm in music. I will get back to that, I promise. But first I had to clear my mind of all the things running around in there in the midst of the current time of uncertainty and pandemic and fear.

These are times like none other we have seen in many years. Perhaps the closest we can come to it in the last fifty years is September 11, 2001. Suddenly things were different. It felt like the world of order and sanity was under attack. These things that are this disruptive of life as we have known it don’t happen often, but they are gut-wrenching when they do.

This afternoon I did a simple shopping trip. We are on our way back home to Minnesota from Alabama, our time cut sort by the exponential growth of the virus worldwide and the cultural and societal changes that are coming along. It may be that we will never again see the world as we did just a few short weeks ago. Churches, schools, gyms, concerts, band rehearsals, coffee shops, movie theaters, fast-food restaurants are all different today. As I drove through the small Missouri city where we are staying this evening, I saw the impact with some empty parking lots and empty shelves in Walmart. And not just the hand-sanitizer and toilet paper. Food aisles are empty, too. Over the counter medication shelves are less than fully stocked.

Then I see again that amazing story from Italy where they have been in lockdown for a number of days. The streets are empty across that country. But there’s this trumpet player standing on his balcony or the neighbors singing with each other. Music becomes a source of strength for those as they shared their time and talent, even in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty.

Take time to listen to music these next weeks. Extend that listening into the months after that. Turn this time of fear and chaos into a time when the depths of our humanity can be touched with hope and peace. Those of us who play in musical groups, it doesn’t matter what the style or genre, start thinking about what and how you can make a difference when the curfews come down and the lock-downs open up. Listen and research and practice. Take time away from the daily chaos of the news and retreat into music or reading or meditating or taking a walk if you can. Find the music in your own heart and enhance it.

We may not know where all this will lead; We can know that if we follow the music of the heart and soul- each of our individual hearts and souls- we will find the sound and the harmony, the rhythm and the style that can bring greater hope to the world. Those of us who are musicians have a wondrous gift to share. May we take this time to discover how to expand it for the good of ourselves, our families and friends, and wherever we may go.

I guess I needed to talk about this- to adjust my personal tuning slide, to remind myself of why I am doing this and how important it is to me. Now I’m going to listen to some music, read a while, and do it again tomorrow. I’ll be back next week with the Sound and the Rhythm.

Tuning Slide 5.10- Beyond Playing Music Together

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.
— Casey Stengel

DIY Musician is a website that posts resources and ideas for independent musicians. I came across a post there about one of the potentially most difficult aspects of musicians working together- it is musicians working together. While we trumpet players have a reputation for being difficult to work with due to supposedly large egos, the truth is that most musicians can have the same difficulty. All of us have strong understandings of who we are and what we can do. All of us want music to be seen as important to us. The better we get we also find we can be both more self-centered and more humble.

The self-centeredness comes from an awareness that we know what we are doing and are capable of doing it. It is actually an extension of self-confidence. We have to believe that we can do our music and do it well or we wouldn’t try. Then, when we work with other musicians as either paid or volunteer musicians, we expect the same level of openness and ethic with our colleagues. We don’t want to waste our time with those who may not have the level of commitment. We fear it could hurt our skills and decrease our ability to make the music we want to make. Hence, the ego shows up. I was once talking with a friend who is also a musician. We were discussing the reputation that church musicians are at times difficult to get along with. He looked at me and commented- “Practice more and get better, and you will understand! I practiced more, I got better, and I understand.

But the humility- ah, the humility. If we are honest with ourselves and others we will know both that we are better than we used to be- and most likely now even more aware of how far we still have to go. It takes time and effort to get there. And, if we are truly open to new ideas, it also means teamwork! Chris Robley on the DIY Musician site has tips about musical teamwork- the pillars of effective collaboration. He uses an example from his own story to illustrate how teamwork can and will build all levels of musicianship. He starts with the fact that when you are working on a project:

Time is your greatest resource.
Robley points out, “Athletes don’t just show up for the first game of the season. There’s months of practice (and sometimes pre-season games) beforehand.” In other words, know what you want and prepare for it before you even begin any teamwork. Finding people who have the talent and have been working toward this point is where to begin. But he also points out that talent and preparation have to:

Work with reliable people.
Yes, I have some pet peeves in this area, but I will be nice. Unfortunately, we may not always know who is more reliable until we are in the middle of a project. One aspect of reliability is that each person on a team needs to be willing to go beyond their comfort zone. This can be difficult in early team-building but it has to include expectations of the team members. What are the guiding principles and directions of the members? How do they fit together? How will you resolve concerns or differences? Reliability has to include all these things. Sometimes it is more structured than others, but a team needs to work through these.

A team, though, is more than talent and reliability. Robley calls it:

Get over yourself and take chances.
If we and our team always play it safe, we will never grow. Teams need to be growing. A musical team is no different.

Delegate- share tasks and responsibilities.
Let people use what they are good at beyond their musical talent. Groups need other things, find out what each team member can do- and let them do it. This means that there will be a leader or leaders who do their thing, but teamwork means sharing the work. Robley also points out that “it’s easier to make suggestions and collaborate when it’s clear who’s in charge of what, and who gets the final word.”

Celebrate your successes and debrief your concerns.
None of this is as easy as any set of guidelines can make it seem. Any group, but perhaps especially a musical team, has a lot of ups and downs. On any given day any one of the team could have one of those days we don’t like to think about. I arrived one Sunday morning where our quintet was playing and began to realize I was getting sick. Aches, pains, a cough, and a sore throat built rather quickly through our warm-up/rehearsal. I was far from where I wanted to be in my playing that morning. Sure, it worked, but it could have been a great deal better. I knew that I had the support of my group which helped me. That can happen to any group.

Fortunately, if all these are worked on and built upon, the celebrations will be far more common than the concerns. Make sure you celebrate in some way, even if it’s just sharing the warm glow of a project, job, or performance well done. The joy and wonder of working together with others will often keep us going through the downtimes or until we get a chance to do it again!

For me, the working team or musical group reinforces what I started with above, namely the growing self-confidence and the humble joy of people working together to make music!

How could you have a soccer team if all were goalkeepers? How would it be an orchestra if all were French horns?
— Desmond Tutu

Tuning Slide 4.52- Perception is Reality (from Year 1)

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

(I’m taking four weeks off from new posts while I do a number of things, not all related to this blog. In these four weeks I am posting some from the very first year of The Tuning Slide. Some of it will be to refresh my thoughts, and some of it will just ground what I am doing in the purposes of the blog. This one was post #1.12 on 11/18/2015.)

---

Don't be afraid,
just play the music.
― Charlie Parker

As a counselor, one thing I always have to keep in mind is that when someone sees reality a certain way, they believe it. For them it IS reality. It doesn't matter whether it is true or imagined. Reality is often what we perceive it to be. So when they come into my office or group for therapy I have to start where they are- even if I know it to be false or mis-perceived.
As we pick up our horn to practice or to perform, what we consider reality will govern what we do next.

For years I believed I could not play a solo.

I was right. I couldn't play a solo. I would always mess it up. Even though I kept at it in church, for example, if I had a organ or piano and trumpet duet I never, ever got it right. Never. Something would always go wrong. I would miss a count and therefore come in early or late. I would miss a sharp or flat and play a discordant note. Any one of a number of things happened every time. Most people didn't notice it as significant most of the time, but I did.

"See," I would say to myself, "you can't play a solo."
I was proving the truth of Henry Ford's statement:

Whether you think you can,
or you think you can't--
you're right.
― Henry Ford

Fortunately I loved playing trumpet so much I never allowed it to stop me from trying or from continuing to play in bands. I would avoid solos, even in band. My trumpet soloing above even 55 other musicians would send my heart into high gear, the adrenaline would flow, the fight or flight mechanism would kick in- and I would mess it up.

Over and over the refrain- you can't solo, you can't solo, you can't!

My perception of reality was true- even if it wasn't.

Note that this was not a fear of being in front of people. I have been in public for 50 years preaching, radio DJ, cable TV host. I could stand and talk to hundreds of people and not be nervous. Put a trumpet in my hand and make me solo in front of a handful- forget it. I can't do that. So said my perception of reality.

So what happened, esp. since I wouldn't be writing about it if it hadn't changed?

My first step was to work with a teacher. Just to play in his presence was a big step. He gave me some assignments; I worked on them; I improved.

Second, I was invited to join a brass quintet. When there are only five of you, each part is, in essence, a solo. We had a lot of fun practicing and developing a repertoire. When we finally did play in public performance I did okay, but I still messed up somewhere in each performance. Again, not always noticeable and never as badly as I had before, but I was building confidence in myself- and reality was shifting.

Third, I began playing some first parts in our community band. I found that most of the time I could do that! But that wasn't a solo. Again- perceptions were changing internally.

Fourth, one year ago this week the community band had a concert and with a solo on one number. My teacher was also playing first and he told me that I was playing it. I didn't argue. I figured that if he thought I was capable, maybe I was.

We worked on it in my lessons. I could play it very well- at home or in the lesson. But not at any rehearsal. Never.

I can't play solos!

But I refused to back down. (Stubborn ol' cuss!) The director never suggested I give it to someone else. The night before the concert we had our dress rehearsal and ...

Nope, still not right.

Concert night. The piece comes up. ("Valdres March" by Hanssen) It starts with my trumpet solo. I do okay. A little weak, but not particularly strong, either. Maybe I can solo? Maybe?

We get to the end and approach the D.C. back to the top- and the solo. One last chance. As we move along toward the D.C. I have a conversation with myself.

• This music is supposed to be fun.
• You're not having fun.
• Have fun.
• You can do it.
• Screw it.
• Play the damn thing!!!

Yep- it worked.

I nailed it. My teacher gave me a thumbs up!

The first solo I played well in almost 50 years.

Reality made a seismic shift and I was now a "real" trumpet player again.

After the first of the year I will be doing some posts on the idea of "The Inner Game" about how we sabotage ourselves with a "Self One" and a "Self Two". That's what this is really about. It starts with our perception of reality. What we believe is what guides us. Reality or not, if we see it that way, that's the way it is. Don't confuse me with facts.

Unless you want to learn to do it differently. I didn't realize that's what I was doing when I started this journey about five or six years ago; when I said yes to the quintet or decided to take lessons again.

So,

• Get out of yourself and seek support and new insights.
• Stretch yourself. Take some chances and risks. All you can do is make a mistake. It's not the end of the world.
• Keep practicing.
• Hear the perception of reality that is keeping you from doing what you can do.
• Then do it.

That's what I did over the years in my life. It works with any task I think I can or can't do. The trumpet isn't any different.

And it is supposed to be fun. Enjoy it!

(BTW: Thanks to Warren, Steve, and Mike for sticking with me through these past years!)

Tuning Slide 4.49- On Playing Together

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

If I'm playing with a good band, I can last all night but a crappy, loud, out of tune band croaks my chops.
— Unknown

As that quote implies, the people we play with in our bands can make a big difference in how we play. While we may at times like to be the serious, top-shelf musician in our band, the truth is that such a position is not one that we truly want. In the long run, the best type of band to be in is one that is good and yet challenges us to be more than we have been. That begins with the idea of teamwork. In surfing the Internet I came across a number of articles that focus on this aspect of music and life. The first was from Engauge, a company in Great Britain that is in human resources and management consulting. The article, written by Vandy Massey was titled “Orchestras are a model for good teamwork”. There were seven elements in the list and they tell us a great deal about what we can learn in a band of any type that can then be applied to so many areas. As is my habit in these posts, the original material is in normal type and my comments are in italics.

◦ Knowledge – it’s important that everyone knows the repertoire. If not, there are bound to be hold-ups, mistakes or inconsistency as the wrong sheets of music are read, and confusion causes cacophony.

Another description for this is that knowledge keeps us all on the same page. That requires communication among the members of the team. Even for an orchestra, jazz band, or ensemble, it is more than just the repertoire, it is about the team environment and how we express that to each other. Often such communication needs to be a two-way circuit- each member needs to give helpful feedback to continue working on the same agenda.

◦ Resources – ensuring that everyone has all the equipment they need. Are the music stands in place, and is there enough seating, in the right order and at the correct distances from each other? It’s impossible to make sublime music without the right kit.

While this may not always apply to each of us individually, but resources are also part of the communication and knowledge system. Talk with each other; find the areas of uncertainty; make sure each member of the team is willing to do their own part on providing for the growth and betterment of the team.

◦ Culture – Is there a culture of participation or competition? Do all the musicians co-operate to ensure the right collection of instruments play at exactly the right moment at the perfect volume? Or are there some divas who make sure their sound is heard above all others – even when that’s not going to create the best overall experience for the audience

You can also call this the ambiance or environment of the group. Does the group feed you or drain you of energy. It is not about the individual, for example, it is about working together. If that is not a commonly accepted goal, it can be difficult. Sometimes groups have to work hard to fix a broken culture; other times the group just falls apart. With the right culture, built on the other things in this list, a group can grow and improve.

◦ Resilience – What happens if someone skips a beat? Do other members help carry the music? Or does blame culture mean that individuals are pilloried rather than supported.

If the team isn’t communicating and in agreement about the group’s purpose, it is hard to be resilient as a group. Group resilience is, as they say here, how do we respond when there is a mistake, someone makes a mistake or for some reason or another ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Positive and creative support allows the group to grow, to respond, to succeed.

◦ Commitment – Months of rehearsal and planning go into a performance. To make sure all the preparation pays off, every member must stay focused and committed to the last note.

If you are in a volunteer group, this can be the source of some of the greatest difficulties. The place of the group in a person’s priorities can get in the way of a commitment. While in any group there can be different levels of commitment, the focus of the group must remain important. Commitment means practicing the music and a willingness to make it the best music you can play. It means supporting the others in the team and being willing to work together.

◦ Sensitivity – Are individual members sensitive to and aware of the needs of the others? If they aren’t, there’s the potential for one person’s difficulties to diminish the overall listening experience. If everyone is aware and responsive, the conductor can adapt the sound at the flick of a baton.

If all I care about is my sound and my needs and my situation, the group will never make it, the teamwork will fall apart.

◦ Leadership – is the whole orchestra inspired and poised to entertain? Do they trust that their conductor will lead them through a flawless performance to rapturous applause?

Each of us is a leader to those around us, but a good group needs a team leader who can make a difference. In smaller ensembles we can learn “shared leadership,” but there is often one who leads if only by serving the whole team or helping set vision and direction. Is there one or sometimes two people in the group who have the ability to inspire you or others? How do YOU contribute to that leadership?

The last question I asked about your contribution to the leadership may be the central focus of the post. Be honest with yourself- are you a help or a hindrance? (Yes, any one of us can be a hindrance. Sometimes it is due to our own egos or just being in a bad mood.) Do you take the time to know the needs of the group and help provide them? Do you support the culture and positive environment of the group, helping it to be resilient? What is your commitment level and how sensitive are you to the other group members' needs? Put them together, how is your leadership helpful to the group and what can I do to continually improve?

Next rehearsal- take a moment to do this personal inventory and then build on it.

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

4.25- Tuning Slide: The Old and the New

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.
— Confucius (500 BCE!)

Music has been around a very long time. (How’s that for an understatement?)

This appears to be borne out by the archaeological evidence. While the first hand axes and spears date back about 1.7 million years and 500,000 years respectively, the earliest known musical instruments are just 40,000 years old. (Link)

I love that phrase that the earliest known musical instruments are JUST 40,000 years old. Wikipedia tells me that this is in the Upper Paleolithic Era which is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. The OLD stone age- as if the stone age wasn’t saying enough about how old it was! What were some of these old instruments? Flutes, of course. An easy instrument to make.

Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying widely between times and ... It is probable that the first musical instrument was the human voice itself… A wood-lined pit contained a group of six flutes made from yew wood, between 30 and 50 cm long, tapered at one end, but without any finger holes. (Link)

Of course no one was writing any of this down for many, many millennia. But cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia have been found which contain the Hurrian hymns, a series of hymns to the goddess Nikkal that date back 3,400 years.

“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is considered the world's earliest melody, but the oldest musical composition to have survived in its entirety is a first century A.D. Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.” The song was found engraved on an ancient marble column used to mark a woman's gravesite in Turkey. (Link)

We do know that there were musical instruments in Biblical times, but in these histories that is kind of late. The Psalms were hymns that were probably chanted and/or sung. Our favorite instrument is far older than the Biblical times.

In Denmark, by 2500 BCE an early form of the trumpet had been developed. This trumpet is what is now known as a "natural trumpet." It is valveless, and depends completely on manipulation of the lips to change pitch.

One of the most popular instruments today was created in 1500 BCE by the Hittites. …the guitar. This was a great step; the use of frets to change the pitch of a vibrating string would lead to later instruments such as the violin and harpsichord.

In 1000 CE Guido D'Arezzo made many improvements in music theory. He first improved and reworked standard notation to be more user-friendly by adding time signatures. Then he invented solfege. This is the vocal note scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la ,ti, do. (Link)

So why all this?
First, some humility. Here we are about to start the 3rd decade of the 21st Century. It humbles me to think that what I and many of us are doing with music is part of a very long history. It is almost something that seems to come naturally, inbred, into the human race. If those ancients could make music that was, to them, inspiring and even “great”, who am I to think that I am something special?

Second, some continuity. Music is a long tradition. As a musician I am in that tradition, as small a part as I may play in it. So what? I am still part of it. So are you. Last week one of our local musicians/writers/journalists called for all the musicians of the Rochester, MN, area to gather for the third annual picture. There were about 75 or so of us. I could probably name another 45 or 50 who I know weren’t there. We were singers and instrumentalists, classical and pop, jazz and rock and country. As we were standing there getting the picture set up the Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy, came over the sound system. Appropriate, of course, but we all started singing along. In harmony!

Third, the possibilities! Music is a varied tradition that can speak to any moment and any time. It moved the ancient Hittites as it moves us.

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
— Confucius

What’s old can be new again? Perhaps it is better to say that in many ways the new is always built on the old. It can be the continuation, the growth, the evolution of the old.

At the end of a year there are many things that we look back on. We are grateful for some, with some never happened, and will forget 99% of the events. But they inform and form us into where we are today.

At the beginning of a year there are many things to look forward to. Most of them are unknown! Many things will happen in the next twelve months that we have no way of anticipating or even specifically planning for. Music will be there to become a soundtrack for our lives.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
― Confucius

◦ Music can turn us inward in reflection, the noble way of learning Confucius tells us.
◦ We imitate some of the greats of music in our learning process. I am not sure that in music that is as easy as Confucius thinks it is.
◦ Experience can be bitter, because we will not always succeed at what we try. We will make mistakes we wish we didn’t make. We will hopefully learn from that experience. Music is a building of experiences. Which is what we look forward to for the next 12 months.

Go- and put your life into it! It’s worth it- as it has been for millennia in every culture.

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
— Confucius

Tuning Slide 4.7-

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

The feeling of togetherness- not togetherness as in some rigid lock step, but togetherness as in dance- is vitally important in music making.
-Barry Green, The Mastery of Music

Barry Green is the author, with Tim Gallwey, of the classic book, The Inner Game of Music. His second book looked at The Mastery of Music: Ten Pathways to True Artistry. In this book Green expanded beyond the Inner Game ideas into developing “true artistry” in our music. Every couple weeks I am going to take one of these ten pathways and bring it to my life and the applications to the Tuning Slide goals.

In The Inner Game of Music Green talked about two of three disciplines than demands mastery. The first was the techniques, the second was concentration. These two are basic, essential, foundations of making music. The conflicts and agreements of our Self 1 which is always ready to remind us of our mistakes and Self 2 which is the innate and intuitive side that knows how to do it are the building blocks. The third discipline is developing what Green calls, “true artistry.” In my view this takes the technique and concentration and begins to develop musicality. To find these, Green looked at different instruments and different people who seem to live and even embody these 10 pathways. He interviewed them and put it all into this book. Let’s start the journey with Green.

Pathway #1— Communication: The Silent Rhythm (Ensembles and Conductors)
I am working under the assumption that we are musicians because we like to make music and that we practice so that we can do that with others. A solo recitals can be nice, but that isn’t really what making music is all about. Even practicing with a play-along CD doesn’t get to the real joy of music that playing in a combo or band can. In order to play well with others there has to be some way we learn to communicate with each other. There has to be some method, style, trick, or just plain intuition that leads us to do more than just be a collection of musicians doing our own things and hoping (or believing) it works together. And most of the time we have to do it without speaking, on the fly, in the midst of a piece.
Green calls this the “silent rhythm” that unites us in communicating with the audience. He calls it “non-verbal, rhythmic union.” Musicians playing in a group get into something called “entrainment.” They sense the rhythm of the music as played by their colleagues. No one is micromanaging the rhythm through conducting. They feel it. As the group locks into a pulse they become more in tune and more efficient and musical in their playing. Yes, there is a science behind it.

In 1665, Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens, inventor of the pendulum clock, was lying in bed with a minor illness and watching two of his clocks hanging on a wall…. He noticed something odd: No matter how the pendulums on these clocks began, within about a half-hour, they ended up swinging in exactly the opposite direction from each other.

Research has shown that the reason for what Huygens noticed is in vibrations (sounds) on the wall caused by the pendulums swinging works to move them into synch, in tune with each other. In reality this falling into synch is improving efficiency. The two pendulums are no longer working against each other. They are “in tune.” In order to get to that point as musicians we have to go back to the technique and concentration Green related to in the Inner Game. We have to know how to play the parts we have- mistakes, flubs, ineffective fingerings can get out of synch with the rhythm.

We must also give in to the group. We must cease being a lone musician who just happens to be playing with others and let Self 2 do its thing. Self 2 is not as worried about your own technique. Self 2 knows what you or I can do and just wants Self 1 to let us do it. Self 2 knows what’s needed- so let it happen. Distraction, whether by the hyper-critical or hyper-analytical Self 1 or a lapse in focus can easily get you out of synch. Concentration- mindfulness and surrendering to the music- keeps us on.

As we share that with each other, Green lets us know that we are receiving guidance from the music itself, from its pulses and chords, phrases and rhythm. In so doing we receive energy (those vibrations) from the music and our colleagues in the group. In Eastern philosophy there is the idea of “Qi” or “chi” as energy. (Hence Qigong and T’ai Chi). As we play in a group it is that same type of energy that is being shared, silently yet powerfully among us.

Green talked to both percussionists and conductors to explain this idea since it is they who must most fully embody that in the group for all of us. They can get the rhythm, or even set it and communicate non-verbally with the rest of us. As we all fall into it, the “groove” sets in and, well, then it “swings” no matter what the genre of music!

But it is not something that can be forced. One of the musicians Green talked to (Ralph Towner) called it a “zen thing— as soon as you think you have its you lose it.”

There are no secondary roles in music: everything you do affects the total music. So it is critical to be one hundred percent attentive to everything, all the time, and hear the whole as it evolves.

Is it any wonder that right behind “sound” is “rhythm” in the building of musicality? Green concludes:

We don’t just play notes: music is a live current, and we navigate it. This current can be shaped and gently guided, but not pinned down…. The moment we interfere too much, the music’s power, effectiveness, and flow will be disturbed…. We have to be silent, attentive, and sensitive to its shape. We have to intuit a silent rhythm that has the power to unite us. We each have unique capacities to respond to the music, and the better we understand, the more we feel, the closer we will come to the true spirit, and the more artistry we shall have to express.

Just like life.

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
— John Donne (1572-1631)

---

The Mastery of Music: Ten Pathways to True Artistry by Barry Green, chapter 1, pp 21-43.
(2003, Broadway Books.)

3.51- Beyond Luck

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
— Helen Keller

Character:
1. the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.
2. moral or ethical quality:
3. qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity:
4. reputation
5. an account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.
6. a person, especially with reference to behavior or personality:

How does an individual develop “good character?” What difference does it make? How might that impact my music and my musicianship?

As I am writing this, I have some sore muscles and joints. I worked out earlier today and, while didn’t push too hard, I did have to make some effort to get in all the reps on the third set of a couple exercises. As I understand it, muscle has to be broken down a little and then rebuilt. That’s what exercise is all about. (It is probably more technical than that but that’s all I need to know.)

That usually means that when I do my workout I have to exert some energy. It would do a tiny bit of good if I just moved my muscles with no added resistance or weight, but it wouldn’t build much endurance or strength. I could also just sit and watch a TV show about exercise or read a book about it, but unless I put some pressure on the muscle, it won’t grow.

As musicians we know the truth of that. There was a time when playing for 10 minutes would tire me out- physical (lips) and mental (inability to stay focused). Today I practiced for a total of 80 minutes in two separate sessions- a daily routine of about 30 minutes and practicing for upcoming concerts for about 50 minutes. Yes, my lips were tired at the end, but it’s a far cry from getting exhausted after 10 minutes in mid-staff!

Character- who we are as a person- is the same. That’s what Helen Keller meant when she said that only through trial and suffering can character be built. It is also where we get inspired and can move toward success. We have to stretch; we have to move beyond our comfort zones; we have to be challenged. Otherwise we won’t know what we are capable of or what we stand for.

The kind of person I become is built on our past experiences- easy and difficult. It is those qualities- reputation, honesty, and courage, for example, that we also bring to our musicianship. I am sure there have been mean and dishonest musicians. There are musicians who easily ignore others who they feel less talented than they are. And, yes, they can be very successful. But they can be so difficult to deal with that they can face all kinds of other problems.

Another of the lessons from the Trumpet Workshop is that:
• The music is #1;
• Other musicians are #2;
• The audience is #3; and
• I am #4.
None of the first three are there for my benefit alone. Sure, I can definitely get something out of it, but it is the music that gets it started. Then I need the others to help me to what I want to do with the music in mind. Why? So the audience can be entertained, moved, excited, or uplifted. If I can be part of something that does that, I will be more than pleased.

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
— Thomas Jefferson

It isn’t luck. It isn’t even just talent. Sure we have to be in the right place at the right time and we have to be able to do what we want to do. But let’s be honest, the way to “overnight” success is years of hard work.

Tuning Slide 3.43: Listening While You Play

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

To me, groups of musicians playing together, not fighting each other, but playing a groove together is one of the most exciting things to listen to.
-Phil Collins

One of the most exciting things about being a musician is the opportunity to play music with others. I can sit in my practice room for hours playing all the great stuff I want to play, but if I’m only doing it alone, I am missing out on the ultimate joy of music. Our brass quintet recently got back together after a fairly long layoff. I had been practicing the pieces we have played and want to play, but I had no idea any more how they sounded together. At our first rehearsal a few weeks back I actually got lost because I became distracted by the other parts. My part didn’t sound the same as it did in practicing. (Doh!)

I have talked before about the joy of listening to a band play from within the band. What I am talking about this week, actually, is the way we have to listen to each other and how we build that into our performances. Such awareness is not natural for most of us. It makes us move outside of our own bubbles and pay attention to who’s with us and what we are doing.

In the book Making Music for the Joy of It, the author, Stephanie Judy goes into considerable detail about the direction of learning to play well with others. She calls it “extended awareness” that goes beyond the notes any one of us is playing to how we play those notes together. (p. 196)

She starts with a new group or even anytime an established group gets a new piece of music. The first time through everyone is essentially playing solos. You know the drill. We stare at the music when it’s put in front of us. We do the normal quick scans- key signature, key changes, tempo, repeats, dynamics, do I need a mute, etc. Then we start playing. We stare more closely at the notes. The pages seem to be endless. We make more mistakes than we care to admit. Unless you are a far more advanced musician than I am (and many of you are) that first run-through will be solos. You have a vague awareness that there are others around you, but most of the time you are listening to yourself with only an intuitive knowledge of what else is going on.

It is in that first run-through with others, though, that we actually do begin to listen. We can’t help it. The longer we have been playing the easier it will be for us to play our parts at least okay and get the feel, the groove, the inner listening of the piece.

Then, even as early as the second time through, we can move beyond our individual part to a better picture of the whole. We begin to hear on some levels how we fit together. We become aware of the ways we play under, over, through, or around others. We can begin to sense when we are leading, supporting, holding back, or enhancing and drawing out another part. Balance comes along as we think (unconsciously?) about it. We see and hear the dynamics. We pay attention to our sound and whether it fits or is not matching the piece. We begin to know our roles in the different parts of the piece.

This takes effort. It takes an ability to do more than one thing at a time. How can I stay focused on my part while watching the director and listening to the flutes or the trombones across the orchestra? How can I pick up the groove from the bass or give appropriate support to that saxophone solo without making it about me?

At the website Making Music, (https://makingmusicmag.com/4-extra-skills-musicians-need-to-play-well-with-others/) Christopher Sutton talks about "4 Extra Skills Musicians Need to Play Well with Others." They all include one form or another of listening. Christopher’s comments are in italics. My comments are in the parentheses in normal type. Here they are:

1. Exercise some patience.

Practice taking some slow, calming breaths when you find yourself getting “worked up” about something. Slow your thinking processes down. It may even help to close your eyes momentarily to remove yourself (if only for a few seconds!) from the stressful situation you find yourself in. (Listen to yourself and what’s going on within you. By learning self-mindfulness you can often discover new ways of reacting and interacting.)

2. Learn to be adaptable.

As human beings, we adapt to our surroundings naturally, though not always willingly. A big part of learning to adapt and accepting change has to do with keeping an open mind. Though it may be temporary, adapting to another musician’s creative process and meshing it with your own may be a big hurdle to overcome. (Listen to what they are saying and/or doing. Be open to hearing new and creative ideas. They may not be what you had hoped for, but you are now playing with others. Collaboration and listening go hand-in-hand.)

3. Make communication a priority.

Just as with pretty much every other relationship in life, communication in a collaborative community is key. In order to effectively balance your creative goals and those of your collaborators, there needs to be clear and consistent conversation. It may seem cliche, but sometimes the safest thing to do is to over-communicate. It’s better to be accused of this than to be reluctant to share your side of the story. (After you listen, make sure to set up and keep communication open to continue the listening.)

4. Try to have a sense of humor.

Perhaps the most important thing to do during this time is to have fun. Learn to not take things or to take yourself too seriously. (In the 12-step communities they will sometimes talk about “Rule 62.” It simply means: Don’t take yourself too damn seriously! Good advice for musicians!)

It is an amazing activity this whole thing of making music with others. Listen, join in and enjoy!

Tuning Slide 3.42: Listening for Your Sound

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Musicians do not get on stage without hearing the song singing inside of them.
― Michael Bassey Johnson

Professor Harold Hill was supposedly a con man. For those who may never have seen the musical The Music Man, Hill would come into town, get people to buy musical instruments and then skip town leaving the wannabe students without a director and their parents without the money. He pushed what he calls the Think System. Just think about what you want to play. Keep thinking and it will get better. Finally, after thinking long and hard enough you will be able to play. And Hill would have skipped town.

In River City Hill met his love, Marian the Librarian and is forced to face the townspeople. In the end the kids DID learn to play and they go marching through the streets of town playing a rousing "76 Trombones". The think system worked- and no one was as surprised as Harold Hill- although he never admitted that.

Many of us know already that the Think System does work, although we do need instructors to lead us in the right direction. One of the most important pieces of it is learning how to listen. Listening to music in general, to other musicians, and then our instrument and to our own sound. These then lead us to listen to the song that is already singing within us.

Some of us start by knowing there is this song in there. Others discover the existence of the song after years of work and practice. All of us who care to be musicians will eventually hear our song- a style, a genre, a sound that fits us. Do you remember the early days of hearing other musicians who played the same instrument? Take a moment and remember that moment when you said, “I want to do that, too!” The world was new and exciting- even infinite. You could have turned to three or four other people standing with you and said, “Can you hear that? Isn’t it incredible?” and they would have looked at you sideways and nodded politely. But you heard it. It was someone else’s music and song, but it touched you and brought your song into consciousness.

It's that first and early listening that gets us to where we are today at whatever level we are currently playing. Setting aside the instruction for the moment, that sound never left you. Fifty-some years later I get the same feeling as when I first heard the opening notes of Al Hirt’s "Java" or Herb Alpert’s "The Lonely Bull". It was and is the sound of the trumpet. It was and is my sound. It has never left me. If I had stopped my playing those songs would today be just nice nostalgia. Instead as I have continued to play and change, they are still living sounds. In me. Through my horn.

I have listened to all kinds of music over the years, all of which shaped and informed my sound. I could never get the guitar to do the same, although I have loved trying- the songs of guitar- bluegrass, folk, rock- have impacted my trumpet sound. But over the years two things happened with my trumpet. As I listened to other trumpet players, Doc and Maynard, Clifford and Lee, Chet and Miles, I discovered that there are many different sounds to the trumpet. Bud Herseth and the Chicago Symphony Brass section and the Canadian Brass opened whole other sounds and styles. The rich and wondrous range to trumpet music was nothing short of a gift from God.

I learned how to make different sounds on the trumpet. I began to realize that I have to pay attention to those sounds- their similarities and differences. Listen and imitate. Experiment. Not just with the specific notes, but with the sound and rhythm, the tonguing and fingering, the phrasing. These soon became intuitive to some extent. Not that I was practicing enough for many years to improve as much as I would have like to, but it was building. I was learning the languages of the trumpet. Even just thinking of the sound as coming from a different style or source would change the music I was making.

That was the part of listening to the horn. My particular horn, an almost 50 year old Bach Strad, that I have been playing now for almost 35 years, is one I know. In the past three years of intense practice and learning I have found that I have barely scratched the surface of what we can do together. A couple years ago when I first found a new mouthpiece and compared it to the one I had been playing I discovered that the new one caught my sound in new ways. It was more me, more alive in the ways I felt the music. That was me, working with my own horn, and bringing them together in my sound.

If you have listened long enough and developed enough awareness of your song, your sound, and the potential the music universe of your instrument becomes endless. In the book Making Music for the Joy of It, the author, Stephanie Judy, spends some time talking about listening and sums it all up this way:

Listen without judgement, not what is wrong but what is…. Every note of every instrument is available in a fantastic range of volumes, attacks, duration, and tone qualities. It is both frustrating and liberating. (P. 116)

In essence what you are doing she says is finding more ways to play it, not taking control. If you are judging your playing (Self One at work) you easily end up with feeling that is was “no good.” All that does is shut the door. The path toward your sound, and the path your sound can take, is closed.

There is a sound inside each of us that we want to make. It may not yet be a song, but it has everything you need to make it your song. It may not be a particular song that is already written, although those can lead us. It will most likely be a sound and style that moves you. As it does so, it will also move your playing into new areas. Just do it. Just play it. Listen.

Then listen some more.

Tuning Slide-3.40: Looking Out for #1

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Trumpet players see each other, and it's like we're getting ready
to square off or get into a fight or something.
-Wynton Marsalis

I knew I had to address this myth sometime again. It crops up regularly. So I figured what better time than the week before April Fool’s Day. (How’s that for setting up a problem for the reader and the writer? Neither you nor I will know if I am being serious or not. Actually, I have a hunch that by the end you will figure it out!)

Here it is, then. Our myth or misconception of the week:

• Trumpet players are obnoxious, self-centered, prima donnas who only care about what they play.

Look up “trumpet player” on the “Urban Dictionary” and you will find:

A trumpet player is someone who:
a) plays the trumpet. obviously.
b) kisses amazingly. Trumpet players not only have the strongest lips in the entire marching band, it makes them great kissers.
c) In marching band, the best section there ever was. The lead part. Without this section, there is NOTHING. If you are a trumpet player, you are the best
d) Most are cocky, love to show off, and [brown nose the] band directors and get what they want.
Obviously, the trumpet player is the backbone of any band.

Perhaps the two most common trumpet jokes:
Q: What's the difference between a trumpeter and God?
A: God doesn't think he's a trumpeter.

Q: How to trumpet players traditionally greet each other?
A: "Hi. I'm better than you."

I know I have used some of these comments before. It is hard not to address this issue since it is so prevalent. It is also difficult to address the issue since we have all known trumpet players who fit the stereotype. Sometimes that trumpet player is us.

(Not to leave other musicians out, I have also known many instrumentalists and singers who also fit the stereotype. Old joke: What do you call the music department? The war department.)

Let’s start out with the obvious. The trumpet is a loud instrument. It is often given the lead. It has the ability to soar above almost every instrument in a band. The trumpets are expected to be strong and lead in many situations. I am told it is also a difficult instrument to learn to play. I learned so long ago, that part is lost in the myths mists of time.

Because of all this and perhaps more, it does take a certain kind of personality to become and remain a trumpet player. One has to be ready to be seen and heard. One has to be willing to take certain risks. One has to be open to calling attention to themselves simply because of the instrument they play. Not everyone can do this. Some of it is skill; some is personality; some is mental. (I realize that this, too, is a stereotype. But I must admit that when I see an otherwise shy child say they want to learn trumpet, I do believe they will succeed- and it will change them. But then again, music changes all who play or sing.)

But, and this is never to be forgotten, we, ourselves, are number 4 out of the 4 most important things about making music:

• Music is #1
• Fellow musicians are #2
• The audience is #3
• You, the indiidual musician, are #4.

• I look at the music on the stand in front of me. 
• That is more important than I am.
• I look at the other musicians I am playing with. 
• They are more important than me.
• I look at the audience who has come to enjoy the music. 
• They are more important than me.
• I look at what myself, and my needs and concerns are fourth in line.

The only time a trumpet player is the most important player in the band is when they have a solo. And even then I wonder.

In reality if we are to make music that is powerful and interesting, none of us can do it alone. With the rare exceptions of outstanding soloists playing music for one- and only one- instrument, we are all important to each other. We need the others- they need us. We work together. Just because the trumpet may be the loudest or most visible at times, does not make us any more essential than all the others.

During the last concert I played in this past February I sat there in awe of what we were playing. It was an amazing concert with some difficult and interesting music. At one point I had something like 40 or 50 measures of rest. The sound of the horns and clarinets mesmerized me; the bass clarinet solo was spiritual. I almost lost count I became so entranced. That piece needed all of us.

Life is something like a trumpet.
If you don't put anything in, you won't get anything out.
-William Christopher (W. C.) Handy

It takes all of us doing our best on our parts to bring the whole together. It is not our job as individuals to outshine the others in the band. It is not our task to single-handedly turn a group into something better. It is not who we are to be in music to make sure everyone knows we are good. If our music doesn’t do it, nothing will.

So this week’s Holy Truth, and it is not an April Fool’s joke:

• It’s the music. Always the music!

3.26- The Tuning Slide- Whenever You Can- Share

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

When we share, we open doors to a new beginning.”
― Paul Bradley Smith

I am in the midst of three months of posts from the closing summary at this past summer’s Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop. I continue this week with the theme of the month- The Journey- and a quote that guides us in what we can and need to be doing on our journeys as musicians and humans:

✓ When given the opportunity to share- do it.

This is not a post of how to be a better musician or how to expand your range to triple High C. It will not give you any new insights into how to practice “The Carnival of Venice” or learn the secrets of “rhythm changes” in jazz improvisation. That quote from trumpet workshop is one of the classics from Mr. Baca and says more than at first meets the eye. Like so many such quotes, it is not about what to appears- it is a statement of the health of ones spirit or soul or life.

Let me repeat it:

✓ When given the opportunity to share- do it.

I was surprised when I started digging into the word that there aren’t a lot of synonyms, words that mean the same. Not that it is a unique word, but it is almost always the main word to describe a number of different things:

Share: To give a portion of (something) to another or others.
Share: To allow someone to use or enjoy something that one possesses.
Share: To use or enjoy something jointly or in turns.
Share: To talk about personal experiences or feelings with others.

Some words can be used in the sense we are talking about it here:

• communicate
• disclose
• impart
• reveal
• let somebody in on

Okay, I’ll quit playing fancy wordsmith here and get right down to it. Put all these together and it boils down to

• reaching out beyond ones own life and situation and helping, supporting, guiding, or giving to others.
• It means being caring and generous with others.
• It means it is more blessed to give than receive.

“What does all this have to do with a trumpet workshop?” one might be tempted to ask. As I said above it doesn’t directly unlock anything about the mechanics or process of playing the trumpet or any instrument.

Yes, I waffled there, didn’t I? I added the word “directly” to what it doesn’t do. So let me ask a couple of questions:

What good would a musician be if they weren’t willing to “share” their music and gifts with others? They would be a lone person playing notes in an empty room. Would they get anywhere in their musicianship? What kind of person does that tell us they are?

Such music would be self-centered and most likely even lifeless. Such a person who only wanted to play their music in a lonely room would perhaps be impressed by their own ability, but isn’t music meant to share? Of course we need to be able to enjoy our music ourselves, but we need to be performers- and that means to share what we have with others. We want them to enjoy it with us, don’t we?

I know there may be those who for various physical or other reasons may not be able to take their music and share it. I am not talking about those circumstances. I have a hunch that those persons will benefit from others sharing with them!

Which brings me to the real point of all this- how we do anything is how we do everything. If we become a sharing person- reaching out to others, not hoarding or being selfish- it will have an impact on our hearts and lives. Then, without a doubt, it will have an impact on our musicianship. There will be greater life in the music because there will be greater life in you.

Be a person who shares.

• Communicate with others in a way to uplift and give them hope.
• Disclose who you are in your heart to help others.
• Impart whatever wisdom and insight you have been given so that others can learn from it.
• Reveal the hopes and dreams, secrets and gifts of your life and others will share in your blessings.
• Let others in on the joys and hopes you have discovered in music, in reading, in life.

Have a great holiday season:
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa
May joy, hope, and peace be yours!

The Tuning Slide 3.17

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

True enjoyment comes from

activity of the mind and exercise of the body;

the two are ever united.

-Wilhelm von Humboldt

We have been talking about how to become a musician this month- at least in behaviors, actions, and attitudes. At the heart of it is always that priority list:

1. The music
2. Our colleagues
3. The audience
4. Ourselves

Unfortunately, since it puts "ourselves" last, people often use that as an excuse NOT to take care of themselves. We end up pushing ourselves beyond our limits into wearing down of our energy, skills, and careers. The issue of balancing extremes that I talked about last week in relation to our actual playing is just as important when it comes to taking care of ourselves. It can be so easy to mess up our lives by not paying attention to what’s important in how we look after ourselves. We ignore warning signs of extreme fatigue, we think that we will always be able to do everything we have always done, we will not take care of our body, mind, and spirit. Many of us will actually take better care of our instrument than we will of ourselves.

In reality if we don’t take care of ourselves we can easily get into deep trouble physically and emotionally. In the end the music we produce will suffer, the relationships with other musicians will deteriorate, and we might not have an audience to play for. Taking care of ourselves, I am convinced, is the same as cleaning, caring for, and tuning an instrument.

Last summer I explained to Bill Bergren at the workshop what I was hoping to get out of an individual lesson. He took my horn from me, pulled out the tuning slide and looked down the lead pipe.

“When was the last time you cleaned this?” He looked in my mouthpiece, handed the trumpet back to me and just shook his head.

I cleaned it that night- and there was way more of the ugly green gunk than I wanted to see. That green gunk is a metaphor for what happens to me when I don’t take care of me!

So I did some surfing around the Internet and found many good bits of advice as I got ready to write this week’s post. They sum up the different areas of our lives that need self-monitoring on a regular basis. That is the “mindfulness” that I talk about so often. The better we pay attention to ourselves and what is going on around us, the better we will learn to take care of ourselves.

I put the things I found into a series of categories:

✓ Balance
Avoiding extremes
✓ Breathing/Relaxation
Developing tension releasing activities
✓ Commitment
Making self-care non-negotiable. (It has to be part of the daily routine!)
✓ Exercise
Keeping the instrument of self physically tuned
✓ Gratitude
Developing an attitude of humility and grace
✓ Mindfulness
Learning to be self-aware both inwardly and outwardly

First, on the Musician’s Way website, (https://www.musiciansway.com/blog/2009/11/the-12-habits-of-healthy-musicians/) Gerald Klickstein had twelve habits of a healthy musician. Here are the ones I felt fit best with this post:

• Manage your workload (Balance)
• Heed warning signs (Mindfulness)
• Minimize tension (Breathing/Relaxation)
• Take charge of anxiety (Breathing/Relaxation)
• Keep fit and strong (Exercise)

On the website Psych Central (https://psychcentral.com/lib/how-clinicians-practice-self-care-9-tips-for-readers/) there was an article about how medical clinicians and counselors learn to take care of themselves. Here are some of the tips from there that seems most appropriate.

• Remember that self-care is non-negotiable. (Commitment)
• Put it on your calendar — in ink! (Commitment)
• Know when to say no. (Balance)
• Identify what activities help you feel your best. (Balance)
• Take care of yourself physically. (Exercise)
• Surround yourself with great people. (Mindfulness)
• Meditation (Mindfulness)
• Check in with yourself regularly (Mindfulness)

To be a healthy musician, then, let's put these together:

• Mindfulness:
  
  • Check in with yourself regularly
  • Heed warning signs
  • Meditation
• Gratitude:
  
  • Surround yourself with great people
• Balance:
  
  • Know when to say no
  • Manage your workload
  • Identify the activities for relaxation and renewal that can help you feel your best
• Commitment:
  
  • Put your self-care activities on your calendar in ink
  • Remember they need to be non-negotiable
• Breathing/Relaxation:
  
  • Minimize sources of tension
  • Take charge of anxiety
• Exercise:
  
  • Take care of yourself physically
  • Keep fit and strong

As to that last one, I have been a wannabe exerciser for years. I manage to keep at it for a while, then something changes and I get lazy or off-track. (I have been a certified group trainer, as well.) Yet I have always known and experienced that when I am taking care of myself physically through exercise and better eating, I am better overall, and I am a better musician. There are many places to find ideas about exercise for musicians. I came across one set that was really helpful. The site is Take Lessons (https://takelessons.com/blog/fitness-exercises-for-musicians) and they had a wonderful bit of information for musicians. They also had a number of links to helpful videos. Here are seven of their ten ideas, chosen more by my own experience to share:

• Yoga- Stretching and movement with balance and intention is a great metaphor for musicians. We can learn it well through yoga. The website talked about “power” yoga. Not a necessity in my opinion. Yoga will do it without all the extras added.
• Core Exercises- The core, the abs, are the supporting foundation for all good health. They provide a way for musicians to be more focused and relaxed because they are well supported. The benefits of a strong core I don’t think can be overstated! Pilates is an excellent way to build this.
• Posture- We have all heard that having good posture does a lot- we just ignore it. Yet a good posture will support better music. It also has a lot to do with breathing. And efficient use of breath is essential to those of us who are wind musicians!
  (http://brassmusician.com/posture-and-breathing-by-mike-white/)
• Arm Strength (biceps, triceps, shoulders)- Think about holding the instrument! Need I say more?
• Cardio- A healthy heart will help get that air moving and increase endurance.
• Neck & Shoulder stretches
  (http://www.musicnotes.com/blog/2014/06/17/stretches-for-musicians/)
• Meditation- Yes, this can be an important part of exercise. Next week I will talk more about this in relation to T’ai Chi and Qigong.

I hope I am preaching to the choir in this post. I am a strong supporter of self-care. It is not being selfish. It is taking care of yourself as a way of helping others. It is in line with the instructions you hear on an airplane. If the oxygen mask drops down, put yours on FIRST before helping even a little child put their on. You can’t help if you aren’t safe yourself.

Take care of you. It’s the only you that you will have.

The Tuning Slide 3.16- Avoiding the Extremes

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Happiness is not a matter of intensity

but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.

-Thomas Merton

We’re thinking about musician etiquette this month. Really, it boils down to being a good musician. Remember the four things we are to focus on - in this order…

• The music.
• Other musicians
• The audience
• Ourselves.

"Etiquette" is being a good colleague who displays “musicianship”. That brings all four into play on a regular basis. Last week I looked at how our actions and behaviors in both rehearsals and performances can get in the way of all these things. If we do not practice good musical etiquette in general:

• The music will suffer. It won’t have the quality we want it to have.
• Our colleagues will suffer. They won’t be able to count on us to be equal members of the group.
• The audience will suffer. The performances won’t have the zip and fun that they want to hear.
• In the end we will suffer. We will get fed up with what is happening, especially if we blame it on others, and give up.

Having set that as the foundation of what we are aiming at, here are some of the things that we trumpet players do to others- and to ourselves.

Item #1- and at the top of our list of trumpet player sins.
Wanting to get to that great and wonderful Double High C.

It is the goal, the aim, the end of all being in the great trumpet room in the sky! For most of us it is summed up in one word:

Maynard! (For non-trumpet players, that would be Maynard Ferguson- the trumpet screamer to beat all trumpet screamers.)

To be a great trumpet player we all think we have to play high and loud. Like Maynard. Our hero!

Which of course means that if we can’t play the way-up-in-the-stratosphere register, there is something wrong with us as trumpet players. Many of us have fought that internal self-esteem killer most of our lives. Then we work- and overwork- our embouchure to reach those rare heights and we end up playing hurt, which only makes it worse. I have a hunch that is why, in the end for many of us, our true icon of trumpet playing is Miles Davis who personified for many years the good solid sound of a trumpet- and even played with a Harmon mute! It was almost like he was saying to the world:

I can play loud; I choose not to.

One of the great solos of his was the solo on the classic cut- “So What”. It doesn’t go anywhere near the stratosphere; it has a solid, almost reserved sound. Looking at a transcription of it you might say, “What’s so hard about that?”

Until you try to play it. Most of us could spend a lifetime practicing that and still not get it as solid as Davis does.

Herb Alpert is in the same field as Davis. Davis was once quoted as saying that all he had to hear was a couple notes and he could tell it was Alpert. Which brings me to the lesson for all of us in trumpet- and musical- etiquette. It was one of the items on the Trumpet Camp reflection list. One of our goals is to

Have the same “sound” for everything I play

Davis, Alpert, Chet Baker, Lee Morgan, and any of the greats always have the same “sound”, the same quality and tone no matter what they play. It is their sound. And they don’t have to scream to make it heard. But for my money, the greatest at doing that today - and for most of the past 60+ years - is Doc Severinsen. Here is one of his best examples of not screaming yet managing the complete range of the horn. He plays in that stratosphere as if it were just your every day middle of the staff music.

Item # 2: Equipment
Trumpet players always seem to be playing around with equipment, looking for the perfect piece that will make us into the next great star. Usually it starts with the mouthpiece itself. Get two trumpet players together and they will have at least six opinions on mouthpieces, the advantages and disadvantages, why they use- or don’t use this one or that one. Not that there aren’t differences and different ones allow you to do different things. Not to mention that each of us has a slightly different physiology which may mean that certain mouthpieces work differently.

But in general my research seems to show that most people start with a “beginner” mouthpiece that usually comes with the horn. Eventually most move to the good, old, reliable Bach 3C (or equivalent) and stay with that for the rest of their lives or careers, whichever comes first. Should we look at other mouthpieces? I guess. But the thought that comes to mind is “If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”

That doesn’t mean that a change won’t work well at times. I had that happen starting about a year and a half ago. I tried one of the new Bach Commercial mouthpieces at a workshop. It was a modified “v” cup. It seemed to allow me some freedom at the upper register and an extended endurance. The problem was all they had was a “5mv” and I was nervous about moving from the “3” size. So I didn’t get it. Earlier this year I had a chance to try the “3 MV”. I gave it quite a workout. It was as good, or better than the “5 MV” I had tried earlier. I bought it.

This new mouthpiece has allowed greater dynamic and sound range, higher register, and endurance. Was it a mouthpiece version of the “placebo” effect? I don’t think so- for two reasons. When I first played it for my wife she heard the difference in tone and dynamic immediately. Then, a few months later I accidentally pulled the “3C” out of the bag without noticing. Since the rim size was the same I didn’t feel the difference- until I realized my range and dynamic was off. At first I thought it was because I had been playing too much and was just tired. Then I realized it wasn’t the new mouthpiece. I switched and all the things that felt off went away.

But that alone isn’t what did it or allowed me to do it. What does it is another from the Trumpet Workshop list:

Learning to hear

By allowing me to hear a cleaner sound with greater dynamic and range I began to know what those notes should sound like. I like the sound of the “3MV” for me. I like hearing it and how it feels on my lip. It did not solve my “problems” and perhaps it gave me some new ones. (See next item.) But it did improve my ability to hear and that will always bring about an improvement in musicianship! The equipment we use is there to help us, it won’t do it for us.

The final item of trumpet sinful activities for this post:
Item #3: Balance.

Actually it’s the lack of balance that plagues us. It’s wanting to be a screamer the first time we pick up the horn. It’s wanting to be able to sound like Miles, or Maynard, or Doc without the years of practice. It’s wanting to be able to play loud for hours on end and getting pissed when we get tired- or worse- hurt. It’s wanting the equipment to save us or take us someplace we are still unable to go. Sure, if your valves don’t work smoothly you may never be able to play some of those amazing arpeggios. But a new horn may not be the problem- your present horn may be too dirty, your valves clogged, springs not working right.

Take the time to take care of the equipment and it will probably do what you need it to do. Sure, if you move into a new level of musicianship and career building you may need to upgrade the horn. But probably not. You are the musician that produces the sound. The horn or the valves or whatever doesn’t do it for you. Learn to balance your sound and work.

From our workshop list, this brings up:

Being efficient in playing

Efficiency is balance. If you strain and push constantly, you are not in balance and something will happen to your playing. If you want everything to happen yesterday, it won’t come tomorrow. Balance is taking care of your instrument so it doesn’t get so gunked up that its sound is compromised. Ignoring the basics of say the Arban’s first couple sections will put us out of balance with the whole range of what we want to do. Again, back to the video from Doc (above) the ability to play equally across the whole range of the horn is the result of balance.

Next week I’ll talk about personal balance and self care as it is part of our musicianship. That will get us into the greater aspects of what we can learn from being a “compleat musician”.

Until then, look for the balance, don’t only push to the extremes, but build the solid foundation and middle in order to support the greater sounds and range. Be efficient in order to be effective. Finally, nothing can do it for you.