Imagination and Air

"The instrument will play itself when your imagination is in gear and you let your air do the talking." -Sam Pilafian

Wise words from my mentor, Sam Pilafian.  When you've got your imagination steering and your air providing the fuel, you can take a musical journey to absolutely anywhere.

Abraham Lincoln's Insights into the Music Business

"I'll study and get ready and be prepared for my opportunity when it comes." -Abraham Lincoln

Whether you are an aspiring band director or trying to earn a living as a player, real opportunities don't come around all that often.  And when one does, you must be ready to pounce.

Ask yourself this question: if your dream job were to come calling today, are you ready? The key word is today.  If the answer to that question is in any way no, ask yourself what exactly you are not ready for and plan a course of action to address it immediately.

The Chicago Symphony doesn't call you two weeks ahead of time to let you know that someone will be sick and need a sub.  Your ideal school district you've been trying break into won't necessarily call you a month in advance to let you know they need someone to fill in for the rest of the year.  You need to be ready for opportunities like that right now since they don't come around very often.

When I was 14 years old, Sam Pilafian told me that to make it in the music business you need three things: a lot of talent, a lot of hard work, and a lot of luck.  He explained luck as being in the right place at the right time.  You have to get that call in the first place to show people what you can do.  But he stressed that the hard work part of that equation tended to create a lot of that "luck" and made you prepared when the time came to show your skills.

It sounds like maybe Abraham Lincoln studied with Sam Pilafian at some point in time...

Questioning What You Are Positive Is True

"A lot of times when you have a problem with your playing and you think you know the solution try the exact opposite.  85% of the time it will work.  And that comes from personal experience." -Marty Hackleman (former horn of the Empire Brass, Canadian Brass and National Symphony Orchestra)

This is invaluable advice for the practice room.  But it is also great advice for band directors and private teachers.  As with anyone who has been doing something for three decades, I know an awful lot about music.  Frequently though, the things which I am positive are the way I perceive them are what hold me back from having a breakthrough with a student or having one myself on the horn.

What is it that you know today that you need to "forget" for a few minutes while allowing the best possible solution to emerge?

Change: Better Too Early Than Too Late

“Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.”― Seth Godin

This is true in music.  This is true in business.  This is true in life.

Change is uncomfortable.  Change is scary.  But rarely do we accomplish things beyond our wildest dreams without taking that leap into the unknown.

What aspect of your playing, teaching, career path or overall focus needs to be changed before it's too late?

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser Master Class Quotes (Part 1 of 2)

This past summer, I ran into one of my favorite human beings, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, when we were both presenting at a drum major leadership camp in West Chester, PA.  Luckily for me, the Boston Brass stuff was at a separate time than his master class for the directors so I was able to be there.  And as with every Dr. Tim class I've ever attended, I left ready to change the world. Some of these are music educator specific and some are just great tidbits to make us better human beings.  Dr. Tim's constant ability to make me think is truly remarkable.  He is one of the most gifted communicators I've ever seen in action and it is an honor to call him a friend.

There were enough quotes that I have split them into two posts.  I've put the ones that really stand out to me personally in bold:

• "It’s only when knowledge is guided by wisdom that value is created."
   
• "The world of academia is famous for pushing knowledge, not wisdom."
   
• "It is easier to work with someone with a great attitude and a little bit of talent rather than someone with lots of talent and a bad attitude.
   
• "The intention (of students) is always to be good.  The trick is to get to outcome.  That’s where wisdom comes in."
   
• "Band is not about being right."
   
• "No (band director) gets fired because they’re not a good musician.  They get fired because they can’t handle the other stuff."
   
• "Flutes are nice, they smell good and you can let them be treasurer."
   
• "Percussionists are the bottom of the food chain.  We’re one step below blenders."
   
• "Maturity is the ability to understand how your behavior affects other people."
   
• "How do we go from competition to cooperation?"
   
• "Each layer of self-doubt puts another wall around your comfort zone."
   
• "Don’t get positive and happy mixed up."
   
• "10% of a band or organization are positive leaders.  80% are followers.  10% are negative leaders."
   
• "It takes 6 positive leaders to counteract 1 negative leaders."
   
• "The quickest way to get attention is to do something wrong.  It works every time."
   
• "The whole game of teaching is energy."
   
• "We don’t teach as we’re taught to teach.  We teach how we’re taught."
   
• "People don’t feel better by making them feel worse."
   
• "Nobody in your band is coming out of their comfort zone if it’s not safe."
   
• "Successful people don’t know how to not be successful.  That comes from being young and giving up giving up."

Click here for Part 2 of Dr. Tim's quotes.

The Art of Musical Deception

"That diminuendo ought to be a deception. We all know it's coming but the audience doesn't." - Sam Pilafian

This was something Sam said to the Boston Brass All-Star Big Band during our rehearsal at Strathmore earlier this month.  We hired members of The Army Blues, The Airmen of Note, The President's Own Marine Band and The Navy Band.  The band was absolutely smoking, one of the best we've ever put together in almost 10 years of doing the show.  And yet we all still needed to hear that advice.

So often I hear my students begin a crescendo just a little before they are supposed to by allowing the volume to inadvertently creep up just slightly.  This also goes for tempo changes which accidentally begin just a touch early.  While I'm not as bad about it as I used to be, I frequently hear myself doing the exact same thing when I record myself in the practice room.

It was truly impressive how much more effective the passage Sam addressed was after he had us keep that diminuendo a deception.  The difference in actaul execution was small but the difference in the effect was enormous.

And if members of the best service bands in the world need to hear that from time to time, it's safe to say that the rest of us do as well.

The Power of Showing Up

"Eighty percent of success is showing up." - Woody Allen

The close of a calendar year is always a great time to reflect on any aspects of our career where we failed to show up in the previous year.  If you planned to learn to improvise, did you start? If you hoped to start a new recruitment initiative for your band, did you get past the brainstorming phase?

Showing up is the key to improvement and innovation.  And constant improvement and innovation are the keys to the music business and all business.

Where do you need to show up in 2014?

Tolstoy on Music

"Music is the shorthand of emotion." - Leo Tolstoy

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Sam Pilafian on the Secret to the Music Business

I am here in Clemson, South Carolina with the Boston Brass All-Star Big Band and just had breakfast with my good friend and mentor, Sam Pilafian, at a Waffle House here in Clemson.  Our conversation quickly turned to the music business and as always, Sam had some really great nuggets of wisdom. One thing he kept referencing in relation to the music business was the "fluidity of battle." He summed this up with the following quote:

"There is going to be change today.  There is going to be change tomorrow.  Will you embrace it or fight it?"

What we were sure of yesterday will not be exactly the same today.  What we think we know today will change by tomorrow.  Do you embrace these facts of fight them? I think we all do a little of both, but the most successful among us embrace these facts at every turn.

(In case you missed it, check out these great quotes on chamber music from Sam Pilafian.)

Phil Smith Sums Up Playing Music

"Music is not just the black dots on the white paper - it's what happens when those black dots on the white paper go into your heart, and come out again." - Phil Smith  (Principal Trumpet, New York Philharmonic)

Thankfully this is true.  If not, he would be the only orchestral trumpet player working today.  Sam Pilafian would be the only employed brass quintet tuba player.  Renée Fleming would be the only working soprano.

Playing all of the right notes and right rhythms is very important, but conveying your opinions and your emotions through those notes and rhythms is what will get you and keep you employed.  Everyone has their own life experiences which is why there is always room for another great storyteller, no matter what the instrument, in the music business.

No one in your audience was there for your happiest moment, your saddest moment or your scariest moment.  These experiences are what we rely on when those black dots on the white paper go into and out of our hearts and into the ears of our audience.