Tuning Slide #5.23- Learning from Fitness and Exercise

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Fitness needs to be perceived as fun and games or we subconsciously avoid it.
— Alan Thicke

Trumpet playing, making music, like fitness takes discipline. While discipline doesn’t sound like fun and games, I have discovered over these years of music and exercise that it isn’t always in the moment that it feels that way- it is the result when you are done.

Trumpeter Davy DeArmond is both an athlete and trumpet player. He is the trumpet instrumentalist in the United States Naval Academy Band. In this position, he leads the Brass Quintet, performs with the Concert Band, Next Wave Jazz Ensemble, Brass Ensemble, the New Orleans-style brass band Crabtowne Stompers as well as several ceremonial and marching units and has recorded and toured nationally with many of these groups. He is also a member of the International Chamber Orchestra of Washington. As if that isn’t enough he is a competition-level triathlete! A number of years ago the blog Trumpet Journey interviewed Davy about the things he has learned about music from his athletics. It is not a surprise that he had some good things to say. As I have said before, there are many lessons to be learned from music about life- and vice versa.

Here are some of the things that DeArmond reported as important lessons. (As usual, my thoughts in italics…) (Link)

• WARMING-UP
… As a trumpet player you might find yourself saying, “I can do this short gig without a warm-up,” or “I’m just going to go through the motions today.”… If I take off on a track workout without warming up, I’m probably going to pull something—ending my workout early and possibly affecting my bike ride the next day. The same principle goes for trumpet. If you don’t take care of yourself on a daily basis, it will catch up to you and be extremely detrimental.

[I used to be afraid that if I warmed up on my trumpet for too long, I wouldn’t be able to play. So I kept the warm up as short as possible. I learned the importance of warming up from fitness training. In my music, it is just as important. The difference starts in the planning. Hence DeArmond’s next lesson:]

• IMPLEMENT THOUGHTFUL SESSIONS
In school, it is easy to get in six to eight hour practice days. As your time becomes more valuable and you have more responsibilities, it is imperative that you have thoughtful sessions. When I began training … I found that I couldn’t spend more time on fitness, so I realized that I needed to work smarter and more efficiently. … I realized that I needed to do the same thing with my trumpet playing. I don’t have the luxury of practicing six to eight hours anymore, so I need to ensure that the time I do spend is thoughtful and productive.

[When I began to plan what I wanted to do, it all became part of the discipline. My fitness warm-up time on the bike or elliptical is just as important as the weights or machines. It’s all part of the whole. Make plans and carry them out.]

• LISTEN TO AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY
[DeArmond talks about the necessity to take easy days after pushing the body to its limits in a race or competition. He says it is important to not push yourself to a point of getting hurt. He then goes on…]
… My trumpet playing colleagues and I have a phrase we use—that we have to “undo the day before.” What this means is simply that we take care of our chops the day after a big blow. Some days are more punishing than others, so, if you do have a rough playing day, take care of yourself the next day, and “undo” the pounding that you took. It might be an extended easy warm-up with soft articulations or maybe even a day completely off, but make sure those muscles, just like your leg or arm muscles, are not getting overworked.

[I am aware of the danger of days off. They can become habits- bad habits. The trick is in the planning of the “slower” days, and not in the “doing nothing.”]

• SET AND ACCOMPLISH GOALS
If you’ve never run a marathon before, you don’t really know what to expect, so you get a plan and follow it to success. Unfortunately, as trumpet players, we fall into these ruts of practicing or performing. We stick with the same practice patterns we’ve had for years, and we remain good at the trumpet. However, if you take the time to set and accomplish goals, you can improve on your trumpeting skills no matter how accomplished you are. Simply set a goal (recital, audition, etc.), devise a plan (I will work out of the Goldman book for articulations, Schlossberg for flexibility, Top Tones for endurance) and execute the plan. When you are done, you will be better, but it is of utmost importance to….

[Goals are the natural extension of plans and discipline. Set the goals. Learn the new stuff!]

• ASSESS PROGRESS
As musicians, it is easy to become too emotional when assessing our performance or progress. When I’m done with a long race, first and foremost, I am happy for my accomplishment. At that point, I can think about how I could have gone faster, trained harder, slept or ate better, but I am still happy there is a medal around my neck. For a long time, it was hard for me to assess my trumpet playing, because I was worried about missing notes. Now, I assess the two similarly. I have found that I can assess it fairly without falling into the depths of depression if I miss some notes! Was I relaxed? Did I do what I wanted musically? At what point did it start to feel uncomfortable? Why? Once you can ask yourself questions like this without getting too emotional, you can adjust your training plan and get ready for your next performance.

There’s one more that I have learned over the past five years from my fitness work and applying it to my music. After all these things that DeArmond lists,

• MOVE FROM THE COMFORT ZONE
You never get better doing only what you did yesterday. I need to push that extra ten minutes on the bike (sensibly) just as much as I need to take the time to do the Arban characteristic study, the Charlier etude or the slow, methodical work on the basics. I have to keep moving or nothing new will happen.

All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.
— Michael John Bobak, digital artist

Tuning Slide 5.11- Interview a Musician: Yourself

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.
― Shannon L. Alder

I came across a post a few weeks ago that was aimed at journalists who were to interview musicians. It was a good list of questions to ask in order to write the story you were assigned. As I looked at it I realized that it was also a good list that could be used by the musician to review where they are and what some goals might be. They might not all apply to you or me in particular, but the idea is good.

First, the list of questions from the post:

▪ What drew you to the music industry?
▪ Who are you inspired by?
▪ Please explain your creative process
▪ What’s an average day like for you?
▪ Is there a hidden meaning in any of your music?
▪ Do you collaborate with others? What is that process?
▪ Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans
▪ What is your favorite part about this line of work? Your least favorite? Why?
▪ Have you ever dealt with performance anxiety?
▪ Tell me about your favorite performance venues
▪ What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps? (Link)

To the list I would add, for personal reflection:

▪ What area(s) need(s) to be worked on?
▪ Where do I hope to be in the next year?

Me? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here are some of the things I discover by using some of these questions to interview myself.

▪ What drew you to music?

⁃ I don’t remember any time when I was not drawn to music. It almost comes naturally. I like most music and love some even more. It might have been the piano in the den or the old 78 rpm vinyl records in my grandpa’s record cabinet. Sheet music of “Show Me the Way to Go Home” and “Yes, We Have No Bananas” was fun. Records of “Tennessee Waltz” and “Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania” were almost magnetic. I took piano lessons in the 3rd and 4th grades but was kind of bored. Then came the trumpet in 8th grade- and I haven’t looked back!

▪ Who are you inspired by?

⁃ Today- My mentor and teacher, Bob Baca; Doc Severinsen who is still going strong at 92-years old and Herb Alpert at 82; John Raymond, friend and up and coming trumpet player! Historically- Al Hirt, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, among many.

▪ What’s an average day like for you? (I revise that to What’s My Practice Routine?)

⁃ With very few exceptions, due usually to a way to busy schedule some days, I play the horn every day. Generally, it is in several parts:
⁃ Warm-up time of 30-45 minutes. This usually starts with long tones done mindfully. I have discovered that using my mindfulness training as the foundation of the long tones, I can be far better at centering and locking-in the sounds. It settles me into the music and allows me to hear better. I will talk about this a little more in two weeks. That is usually the first 10 minutes then I move to some form of scales and Arban/Getchell-type exercises done slowly(!) with a sense of flow. After another 10 minutes or so I may work on a few of these with a little more speed and take them up an octave.
⁃ I may then spend time at that time or later on jazz scales and simple improvisation.
⁃ Work on pieces on the playlist for one of the groups I play in. This is usually at a time later in the day and might be anywhere from 20-40 minutes.
⁃ Rehearsing with the groups, usually 3 evenings a week. If not I will work on etudes, Arban exercises, extended jazz improvisation.
⁃ All together on any given day my playing may be from anywhere around 40 minutes minimum to upwards of 2 - 3 hours.

▪ What is your favorite part about this line of work? Your least favorite? Why?

⁃ The favorite is all about the playing. First, it’s the mindfulness/centering that starts my musical day. It focuses me for the day. When I don’t do it in the morning, I feel somewhat disconnected. Second, it’s the sound and the melodies moving through the horn. Third, it’s the opportunity to be part of groups that make music together, which is often a great deal more than the sum of the parts.
⁃ The least favorite is musicians who don’t focus. It can be very difficult to play in a group of any size if those around me aren’t focused. I don’t mean people who haven’t reached a level of ability, yet. Many of these do focus and are working at improving. But whining and not paying attention to what is happening around them is frustrating to those around them! (Not that I’m perfect at that. It is easy to get distracted and unfocused. But I am learning through my mindful playing of long tones that playing music in and of itself can bring that focus.

Let’s bring it to the goals, now. I put all these things together to realize what and who I would like to become, musically.

✓ First, looking at my last section, I probably need to work on some tolerance. Maybe I can start with myself and accept my own shortcomings in a non-judgmental way that allows me to relax about it and toward others.
✓ Second, to improve my practice routine and be a bit more consistent with the mindfulness part. That will continue the “wiring” of my brain in healthy ways to the playing of music. Slowing down and paying better attention to that simple action will help. (Again, I will talk more about this in a post in two weeks.)
✓ Third, in the next year, I want to move my jazz improvisation (and comfort level) beyond the blues or simple jazz changes. I have been moving toward some slightly more complicated changes, thanks to iReal Pro, but I have a ways to go. More consistent and intentional work needs to be done.
✓ Fourth, the flow studies need to be built upon. Slotting into the correct note without all kinds of movement and slipping is one of my current focus points. That, along with the fingering exercises that help that happen, may be the most important technical work I need to work on to move to a new level of musicianship. Altogether, all three of these will improve my “ear” and tone, part of that new level.

How about you? Take some time this week to interview yourself and see what needs you can identify- while all the time remembering what it was, and is, that draws you each day to your music!

The Tuning Slide 3.20- Beyond Mediocre (1)

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

If you need to be inspired to practice,
you should probably do something else
-Ted Nash

“You didn’t wake up today to be mediocre,” says a common meme easily found on the Internet. But many, myself included, spend way too much time avoiding the things that can help us move beyond mediocre or keep us stuck in ways that don’t move us forward. Which, in the end, keeps us mediocre.

Definition: of only moderate quality; not very good.
Synonyms: ordinary, average, middling, uninspired, undistinguished, unexceptional, unexciting, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, lackluster, forgettable;
Informal -OK, so-so, fair-to-middling, no great shakes, not up to much, bush-league

That’s why so much of the research and writing on expertise and improvement focus on “deliberate” practice, working on the things that will make us better and consciously doing things that challenge us to grow. Just playing something two hours a day every day won’t necessarily make us better. With bad habits we may just become fair at being mediocre.

Brent Vaartstra on the Learn Jazz Standards website has an article outlining the Four Ways to Stay Mediocre as a Jazz Musician.

Specifically related to jazz musicians, his thoughts are just as applicable to all musicians who want to improve. I have reversed the themes into four ways to get beyond mediocre, but the idea is still the same:

• Don’t get stuck on scales
• Get out of the practice room
• Work on rhythm and time.
• Don’t beat yourself up

Let me sum up what these mean for me.
• Don’t get stuck on scales
⁃ As Vaartstra says, scales are essential, but how are we playing them? Are they just some rote exercise that we do because we want to learn the scales and let them fall smoothly under our fingers? Good. But what about the style and sound? Can we play them smoothly, with feeling and movement? Can we play them staccato with a sense of musicality? What about the tone? Do they sound like we are just rushing through them to get on with the real stuff? Talking with one of the Shell Lake Workshop participants the other day, he said that he has been working to make part of the Routine"musical". That’s the point. Every time we play we are making music! Then when that scale comes up in a piece, we can play it musically and not just by memory.

• Get out of the practice room
⁃ There are two aspects going on here. One is to get out and listen to live music when you can. It can (and should) be just about any kind of music. It is the opportunity to hear how other people make music and inspire us to improve out own. The other aspect is to get out and play with others. In jazz that can be going to an open jam. It can also be any bands or groups you can play with. Find ways to play with others! Even the best soloist must know how to play in balance and blend with others.

• Work on rhythm and time.
⁃ We often overlook this aspect of deliberate practice. Being able to read more complex rhythm takes time. For my money the two best methods for that are the Arban exercises, especially the syncopation and dotted eighth-sixteenth sections, and Getchell’s Second Book of Practical Studies for Cornet and Trumpet. More about why this is important when we talk about sight-reading. To sum it up now though, it is the rhythm that can often through us off. Rhythm is the dialect and emphasis of the music. When we can get those in our practice, we will be able to play more music.

• Don’t beat yourself up
⁃ It seems we often get back to these underlying concerns that we have often called Self One and Self Two from the Inner Game disciplines. As we work on our pieces, our less accomplished techniques, the more difficult exercises, it is easy to be unkind to ourselves- or worse, give up. Stay steady, let Self Two do what Self Two can do and tell Self One to relax and enjoy the music.

With that in mind here are the two of four ways I have discovered that these movements beyond mediocre can be of great value. I have found some of this on The Musician’s Way website (https://www.musiciansway.com/practice/) and reflect on them from my own experience in practice and performance.

Warm-up and basics.

Like sensuous opening ceremonies, warm-ups prepare the body, mind, and spirit for making music.
– The Musician’s Way, p. 37

I still haven’t found warm-ups and basics to be “sensuous”, but they are the obvious place to start in the movement beyond mediocre. As I mentioned above this can be a place to develop musicality and tone. To play that “simple” Arban routine with beauty and tone is always the goal. Some of the exercises are even performance etudes. They are how we learn to do it. A good warm-up routine, appropriate to your needs and growth is worth it’s weight in gold- and time. So are things like mindfulness and exercises like T’ai Chi and Qigong in getting the body into a healthy spot.

Listening and learning

“For you to perform with native inflection, you have to listen and listen until you break through to the soul of a style.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 98

The more you listen, the more you learn. On one website I read the more than obvious statement that we actually learn to speak- by listening. No one tells us how to talk. It is natural. We are designed that way. The same is true for music. But there are different types of music- just as there are different languages. They all share the same notes, though not always played the same way or in the same order. Some have different rhythms and different time frames. Some are “straight” and some “swing”. How do we know how to play it if we haven’t heard it.

I was reminded of this last weekend. One of the big bands I play with had a gig at a local dance venue. It was an amazing evening for me. I found myself moving along in time (mostly) and able to go with the rhythm. I realized that I am now truly beginning to understand and “speak” the language of jazz big band. I can more regularly look at a passage and know what it probably sounds like because it is in a pattern that is commonly used in the music. I realized I was no longer reading it “note for note” but playing it out of what was called above the “soul of the style.” It is just like when I have learned a new language and found myself thinking in the language. I was no longer translating from an English thought to a German or Spanish thought. On Friday evening I was not translating a written note from one style to another- it was more often just coming out that way.

This is actually more important than it may seem at first glance. All music is language. Music is perhaps a “generic” term for different languages. Like learning any new language we do not start with the most complex words and sentences. Trying to read War and Peace before a first-reader would be most difficult. As I was watching the John Coltrane documentary the other evening I was reminded of this truism. There is much in Coltrane’s later music that I do not understand. It was a different language than any most I have known in music. It was clearly powerful and transformative. I could feel it- but I don’t yet understand it. I want to- and have been working on that for years. I know more about it today. Someday it may all fall into place.

For that to happen I have to keep listening. The many styles and languages of music will enrich my overall understanding of the depths of music and increase my vocabulary. I will be a better musician- and a better person for it.

Which, next week, will bring me to two other aspects of practice that will help us all move beyond mediocre- sight-reading and memorization.

The Tuning Slide: 3.6- Bits and Pieces

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

With this year’s Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop in full swing this week, I put together a couple different bits and pieces that have been rumbling around in my life and music over the past few months.

The first bit is from a conversation I had with another trumpet player during a band rehearsal. One week I mentioned my basic routine of practicing between 90 minutes and two hours a day. The next week they came up to me at a break and said they had thought about me during the week and had thought about my routine. Then they asked, “But how do you play two to three sessions of that length? What do you find to play?” I realized that this is a question I might have asked a few years ago. But I have been fortunate since the summer of 2015 to have been introduced to some amazing trumpet instructors who have helped me make playing trumpet a full-time job (without pay, of course.) They have shown me the value of deliberate practice and how the investment in playing the basics every day makes a difference.

So here is what I described to my friend.

My first session of the day, usually up to an hour, is just the basics.

• 10-15 minutes of long tones, including now some specific exercises on my upper register which moves into the second section.
• 10-15 minutes of scale exercises of various types. Sometimes it’s just playing each major scale around the Circle of Fourths
• 15-20 minutes of very basic exercises from Arban’s
• 15-20 minutes of Clarke exercises and etudes, usually from # 3,4, or 5.

My second session also up to an hour is when I work on

• Band, quintet and other performance pieces
• Jazz improvisation
• Charlier, Vannetelbosch, and Arban’s etudes and studies
• Concone etudes can be a great way to come down and relax at the end

That’s it. If I only have time for one session, it is always a variation on the first one. As Matt Stock, one of the Shell Lake Trumpet Workshop faculty said one day in a post, record yourself playing one of the basic Arban’s exercises and you will see how much more work you can still do. By having a deliberate routine- and then adjusting, revising, and developing it will give you the chance to see your growth and improvement as well as what you need to be working on. It also reminds you that every piece of great music and every great performance is based on these basics.

My second “Bit” is another question I ran across somewhere recently. It deals with the famous admonition for practicing that we should rest as much as we play.

Why rest while you are practicing?

Let me start off by saying that I don’t always follow that advice. When I know I have 60 minutes to play, to take 30 minutes to sit around seems like a waste. I admit that it is better when I do; but I get impatient with sitting between each exercise. Boredom sets in and squirrels keep distracting me. That is one of the reasons why it is often suggested that we practice with another person so we have to rest while they play what we just played, or vice versa. But I do try to take 15 minutes out of every hour to rest. I have found two reasons for that- physical and psychological.

First the physical is just like when I am at the gym working out. It works far better if, for example I wait between repetitions on any given exercise. It has to do with how muscles and our body work. The short rest period relaxes them and begins the rebound and rebuilding process. It helps build muscle mass and muscle flexibility. If you keep it tight for an hour you are definitely more likely to do some damage that could prevent you from doing what you want to do.

As to the psychological, if you are learning something new or stretching your boundaries, there will be some tension and stress beyond the muscles ad physical.Your brain gets tired, too. Relax. Take a moment to get up and walk around. Go get a drink of water. Stretch some muscles.

One thing I am thinking about is taking a few minutes during the hour to do some stretching or even some Tai Chi/Qigong movements. It doesn’t need to be anything intense, just loosen the arms and shoulders, get the butt off the chair and let some blood flow. This is one of the ideas I want to explore some in the next year here on The Tuning Slide. I have a hunch it will have some positive impact.

The next two bits and pieces are in my notebook from this past April’s Eau Claire Jazz Fest. First is from one of the clinics. It was about improvisation, but is easily applied to practicing and performing in general. One of the best ways, we were told, was to cut out the perfectionism. Yes, we will make mistakes. Accept it. It’s the way life is. The advantage of that statement is that is can frees us from being uptight. Much of our fear and stress comes from not wanting to make mistakes and holding back from what we can truly accomplish. It slows us down. It keeps us away from our potential success. In essence it is permission to be human.

But, the leader said, that does not give us the okay to be sloppy. To know we will make mistakes is not the same as not trying to get better.

The last of my “bits” for this week is from Greg Keel, director of Shell Lake Arts Center’s jazz camps and an accomplished instructor and performer. He was one of the adjudicators in the room I was acting as host for. One of his clinician-type questions he asked every band was simple, What do you listen to?
Why do you listen?
Many reasons of course, and many are good.

• Relaxation
• Inspiration
• Motivation
• Being rooted in tradition

It will clearly have an impact on your own playing. Take the time often to listen. Listen to what you want to sound like. Listen to stuff that challenges you. (I am working on some modern-style jazz, trying to get into its style and feel. Listen, listen, listen!) Listen to all genres and figure out what makes it good. Your life will thank you.

Summing it up:

• Be deliberate in working toward what you want to accomplish. Plan ahead and make goals
• Be balanced in what you do- rest and relax.
• Accept your humanity and imperfections
• Listen to what’s around you- your own traditions and your own ideas. They meld together.

Notice that all of these aren’t just about trumpet. If you want to be a success in your life as much as in your music

• Plan ahead and have goals.
• Keep your daily balance
• Know it won’t always go the way you want it to and adjust
• Pay attention.

Much more on all of these in the coming year. I am finishing this post at this year’s trumpet workshop. As the week has been going on the spark is being reignited. So much more in growing in trumpet playing, music- and, of course, life!

Tuning Slide: The World in a Note

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

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

a whole note becomes the whole world.

- Trumpet Camp 2015

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

"There was a whole civilization living inside it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How simple.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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