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.

Grant Yourself Permission

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

-John Wooden

Make mistakes in the practice room, with your writing, with your teaching, with your entire career.

Grant yourself permission to make mistakes in every aspect of your life.

If you can't or won't, I just granted you permission. So make some mistakes.

Have Your Dreams Been Educated Out of You?

"All kids dream big. They want to be super famous, super meaningful, super powerful superheroes...But as we mature, these grand fantasies are typically educated out of us."

-David Cutler, Author of The Savvy Musician

The above quote is from a really great blog post by my good friend David Cutler over at savvymusician.com. It is must read.

He points out that people's dreams either grow or shrink over time and that it's usually the latter. It is his contention that this is not good.

As David points out in his excellent post, you should never let the system educate your dreams out of you. Every single person in this business who you look up to started by dreaming big and never changed that fact.

Four Words to Make Your Next Practice Session More Focused

"Make the simple beautiful."

-Marty Hackleman, former horn player for the Canadian Brass, Empire Brass, and National Symphony Orchestra

The next time you are bored in your warm up, think of this four word quote from Marty Hackleman and I guarantee you it will get better.

While technical wizardry on any instrument can be quite engaging it is actually the simple or "easy" music that the best musicians in the world can make sound way better than the rest of us can.

Making the simple beautiful should be a goal that is at the forefront of your mind every time you pick up your instrument or baton.

Are You Procrastinating?

“If you had started doing anything two weeks ago, by today you would have been two weeks better at it.” ― John Mayer

Stop procrastinating. Face whatever it is that you fear about your playing or career and make a plan to attack it. Take the first step today or you know where you’ll be two weeks from now.

Figure It Out

"I think if you figure it out for yourself you'll have taught yourself something better than I could teach you."

-Seth Godin

"Figure it out" is just another way of saying "fail until you get it right."

If you are still a student, take the initiative to figure things out on your own rather than checking the syllabus to see if something is required.

If you are out of school, get curious. Find something you can't do and figure it out.

Want to build a website and don't know how? Figure it out.
Interested in making a podcast and don't know how to start? Figure it out.
Don't know how to get something funded on Kickstarter? Figure it out.

That's all that anybody who knows how to do it ever did.

Picasso On the Key to All Success

"Action is the foundational key to all success." - Pablo Picasso

— Ariel Hyatt (@cyberpr) March 6, 2015

I was taught that it is really difficult to think your way into better actions, but it is easy to act your way into better thinking or results.

Action is the keystone to success.

What are you thinking about doing rather than simply doing it?

Are You Making Mistakes or Sleeping?

"Only those who are asleep make no mistakes."

- Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, worlds largest furniture brand

Make mistakes in the practice room.

Make mistakes on the podium.

Make mistakes on your career path.

Or sleep a lot.

Why It's All On The Student

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action."

-Herbert Spencer

I was always taught that if you want to evaluate your belief systems examine your actions and not your thoughts.

If you are an aspiring orchestral musician and you don't play your first notes of the day until 11:00 then you believe that you don't need to start playing early in the morning in order to win a job.

If you are a music education major who doesn't record yourself conducting except when you are required to for a class then you believe you can become a good enough conductor to get and keep a top job without doing so.

If you are a musician who is not great at sight reading and you don't practice it each and every day then you believe that you will eventually get a break in the business that will not involve needing to be great at sight reading.

Believe your actions over your words.

Insights on Playing from Mallory Thompson

"I think that….wherever you are in your career, it’s all the same…you’re working on the same things…making good attacks, making good releases, playing musically, showing a wide dynamic range, and not taking anything musical for granted."

-Dr. Mallory Thompson (Director of Bands at Northwestern University)

Dr. Thompson is probably the best conductor I've ever played for in my career. I had the privilege of being in her first band at Northwestern on the heels of being in John Paynter's last band there.

The beauty of her as an educator is that she demands the exact same things of everyone in front of her, like the list above.

Pleasing a set of ears like Mallory Thompson's is not complicated. It's just a lot of work long before you sit down in front of her.