The Brass Junkies Episode 183: Listener's Choice

Lance and I took questions from our listeners in another installment of Listener’s Choice.

My favorite part of the questions was when we talked about ways to stay focused in the practice room.

And I included a bonus rant about the Super Bowl halftime show. (Actually, about a music educator calling the performers “non-musicians” which absolutely set me the hell off!)

You can watch the episode on YouTube below or head over to Pedal Note Media for all of the links to where to find it.

Enjoy!

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On This Episode of The Brass Junkies:

• Melissa in Saginaw

  • What is a funny story your family tells about you that you’d like to share?

• Jimmy in Albuquerque

  • What is some advice you have about being more focused in the practice room?

• Bill in Carlsbad

  • What occupation (other than your own) would you try if you had to start tomorrow and it couldn’t be related to music at all?

• NFTs

• Super Bowl Halftime

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A lot of time in the practice room ain't necessarily cutting it

“No points for busy.

Points for successful prioritization. Points for efficiency and productivity. Points for doing work that matters.

No points for busy.”

—Seth Godin from his blog post “Busy is not the point”

Just because you practiced three hours yesterday doesn’t mean you got a lot done on the horn. The same goes for score study or marketing yourself.

I am always challenging my students to practice practicing. I think back to college and can’t believe how much more efficient I am now in the practice room. I can get done in 15 minutes what might have taken me 45 minutes back in the 90’s.

Here are just a handful of the hundred things that are more important than just the total time you spend in the practice room:

• Frequency of practice sessions

• Prioritization of what needs practicing the most

• Goal setting

• Getting into the feedback loop by recording yourself

• Your focus level during the session

The list goes on and on..

But while total time spent is not even close to the most important practicing metric, you’ve still got to put in the time. As a wise person once said, silence can not improve.

Are You Willing or Are You Doing?

"Go for your best sound right at the beginning of every note."

—David Zerkel

Making your best sound right at the beginning of the note is dependent on the immediacy of the air. Students must understand that it's not just the quantity but also the quality of the air that needs to be immediate.

The air of a held note that's not changing dynamics needs to be the exact same at the very beginning of the note as it is a beat later. This is pretty easy to achieve in the middle register at a middle dynamic for a decent player.

The challenge comes from being able to do that in all registers at any dynamic level.

And why are the world's best players able to do that with ease?

Through lots and lots of highly focused repetition.

Joe Alessi wasn't born with the ability to play freakishly soft in any register. He simply worked his ass off. It's really not rocket science.

It is also worth noting that it takes significantly more time and effort to obtain skills than it does to maintain skills. I guarantee you Joe has spent less time in the last calendar year practicing his extreme soft playing that he did when he was first acquiring the skill.

To be clear, I bet he spent an awful lot of time maintaining it in the past year. But the amount of time he spent getting that ability in the first place might make your head spin right off.

It is my experience that all musicians believe they are willing to do that kind of work to be able to play that well. But it's also been experience that the number who "are willing" to do that work is way higher than the number who actually do it.

Don't Wait Until 1:00 pm

After waking, the longer you wait to start practicing, the more likely you are to not practice

Inactivity builds its own momentum #startnow

— Will Baker (@willbakermusic) August 31, 2017

This reminds me of one of my favorite Joe Alessi quotes:

"You’re not winning an audition if your first notes of the day are at 1 pm.”

—Joe Alessi

Same goes for composing. Or doing score study. Or anything else.

Get those feet moving!

Silence Can Not Improve

“Start with bad sounds and make them into good ones. Silence can not improve.”

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) January 25, 2016

The last four words of this quote pretty much sums it all up, doesn't it?

Arnold Jacobs on Developing the High Register

“Take music you know and put it in the high register. It will take a little time, but it will develop with more practice.”

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) April 20, 2016

This is a really great way for a student to begin developing their high register on any instrument. Starting with something familiar takes a few layers of complexity out of the equation.

And playing music rather than exercises will keep the brain focused on the phrasing which keeps the wind or the bow moving.

The Key is Consistency

Much more important than total time spent is the consistency with which you practice.

If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.

- Jascha Heifetz

Consistency in terms of both how often you practice and how focused you are in the practice room.

The first step to consistency is practicing every single day. The best way to get playing in the extreme high register is to play in the extreme high register. Pretty simple stuff.

The second step is how consistently you bring a laser-like focus to your practicing.

I had the privilege of watching David Fedderley work with the top three finishers in the Young Artist competition at a conference back in March. The top two players were really good. Very impressive for 19 and 20 year olds.

The person who finished third in the competition played last of the three and was by far the best musical storyteller of the bunch but her tuba playing was well behind them. David asked her, knowing the answer, "So with that musical storytelling, you won the competition, right?" She simply smiled.

He then explained that the other two were much better tuba operators than she was at this point but that she had musical ideas that were just dying to get out of her horn.

He then pointed at me, then Charles Villarubia, Justin Benavidez, and Demondrae Thurman. He asked her what all of us have in common. She smiled and said "They are professionals."

He said "Yes. They get paid to play their horns for people. Do you know what else they have in common? I know each of them and know that they each bring a laser-like focus with them every single time they practice."

You could see the lightbulb go off in the student on the spot.

So while the amount you practice is certainly important, the consistency in how often your butt is in that chair coupled with the focus you bring to those sessions is much more important.

More Advice from John Wooden on Thorough Practicing

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

-John Wooden

I can't get enough of John Wooden quotes.  He was a wise man and gifted communicator.  His quotes are so insightful into learning music that you'd swear that he was a master music teacher.

But alas, he just taught basketball.

Do It Right The First Time

“Short cuts make long delays.”

-J.R.R. Tolkien

In the practice room, you will save an awful lot of time by practicing something slowly and correctly the first time.  Whenever we learn a passage with a wrong note or wrong rhythm, it takes a lot longer to unlearn the mistake than it ever would have taken to learn it right in the first place.

The ability to have the in the moment intelligence to know that practicing something slowly and correctly is always the correct path rather than seeking instant gratification is what separates great practicers from everyone else.

Short cuts never pay off in the practice room.

Scales are Binary

Scales are binary. You either know them or you don't. They are also incredibly easy to play as long as you have put the work in. When it comes to performing a jury or auditioning for college, if you have to think about the scale before you play it, you did not put in enough time beforehand.

You either know them or you don't.