Great Advice for Fighting Boredom

"If you're bored, raise your standards."

-Joe Kirtley

I heard Joe share this quote during a master class at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts a couple of years ago and it has stuck with me ever since.  It also reminds me of a great tidbit from Marty Hackleman.

Marty does a set routine every morning.  (Note: He chooses to not call it a warm-up but rather a routine where the byproduct of that routine is warming up both his face and his mind.)  When addressing a class at George Mason a few years ago, Marty was asked about getting bored with doing the same thing every day on the horn.  His answer was typical Marty Hackleman and sheds light on why he has been as successful as he has been in his career:

(This was a few years ago so I am paraphrasing a little.)

"Every once in a while I sit down to do my routine and after a few minutes I'm really not that into it.  Whenever this happens I go downstairs, make a cup of coffee, and then go back and continue with the routine.  In the rare event that I still don't feel that into it I simply get over myself and insist that it somehow be a little better than it was yesterday.

Sometimes the only thing that's better than yesterday might be making it easier or more effortless.  But I insist that something be improved from the day before."

-Marty Hackleman

It is the ability of players and teachers like Joe and Marty to always raise their standards no matter what the circumstances that set them apart from the rest of the music world.

What standards do you need to raise today?

Why It's All On The Student

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

-Herbert Spencer

Even the world's greatest teachers can not get a student to take the regular action required to acquire a skill.  It is a teacher's job to share their knowledge and to inspire a student to apply that knowledge to their craft.  After that, it is all on the student.

No amount of information will ever replace action.

Jessye Norman on Advice to Young Musicians

"The one thing that we all must do is work and prepare....and to enjoy the preparation process because we spend much more time in rehearsal than we do on stage."

-Jessye Norman on advice to young musicians

All of the greats always talk about hard work.  Every single one of them.

As a committed promoter of music education, what advice does Jessye Norman have to give aspiring musicians?

Practicing (and Career) Advice from Albert Einstein

"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got."

-Albert Einstein

If you are looking for different results in the practice room or a different career path, ask yourself what you've always done that maybe should be tweaked or eliminated.  What do you have to lose?

Fail Better

"Fail, fail again, fail better."

-Samuel Beckett

If that's not your motto in the practice room, something is wrong.

Believing is the Key

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” - Anatole France

— Peter Olsen (@PeteOlsen) October 1, 2014

Getting a job as the director of a top high school band program or winning an audition at a major symphony orchestra requires countless hours of hard work and a carefully and diligently executed long-term plan.  There are no shortcuts.

But along with that must be an unflappable belief that you are meant for one of those jobs.  You must not only dream of great accomplishments but also believe that you are the man or woman for the job.

Great Insights Into Freelancing

A couple of years ago I was having lunch with my good friend John Abbracciamento, a trumpet player with the President's Own Marine Band, here in DC. Our conversation, as always, started with us articulating our distastes for the others favorite sports teams (he is from New York, I am from Boston.) But this one day the conversation ended up segueing into a very interesting discussion about the music business. It got good enough that I jotted down a couple of notes.

John Abbracciamento

I asked him about his career before joining the Marine Band. He started out as a freelancer in New York City. He told me he started getting a lot of phone calls very quickly, to play everything from small gigs to becoming a regular sub with the New York Philharmonic.  

To paraphrase him, he was getting more calls than he "should have" gotten. He's always been a great player. He's in the Marine Band! But he said he was getting more calls than other guys who were either as good or better than he was in town. So naturally I asked him why he thought that was.  He gave me two answers:

“I got a lot of calls for two reasons. One, I can keep my mouth shut. And two, I can almost immediately match anyone else’s playing.”

— John Abbracciamento, Trumpet Player "President's Own" Marine Band

The first point is an imperative one. As musicians, we are taught to share our (musical) opinions all the time. Sometimes it can be challenging to not let that naturally extend to things off of the horn. I was taught to ask myself three questions any time I want to open my mouth to criticize anyone or anything:

1. Does this need to be said?
2. Does this need to be said by me?
3. Does this need to be said by me right now?

Unless I answer yes to all three of those questions, I've learned to keep my mouth shut.

John's point was that he didn't criticize colleagues. He didn't criticize conductors. He didn't complain about the pay on a gig (which he had already agreed to or he wouldn't be there in the first place!) He kept his mouth shut as a sub and kept his head down.

And the second point will get you hired over and over again. As Rex Martin used to preach to us at Northwestern, our job as musicians is to make those around us sound better than they actually are. And John shared a compliment that Woody English, the fantastic former trumpet player for the Army Band, once gave to him:

“I like playing with you. You make me sound better than I am.”

— Woody English, Former Trumpet Player US Army Band "Pershing's Own"

If you can do the two things that John did during his time in New York, you will find yourself with a phone that rings an awful lot.

Own Your Mistakes

Own your mistakes. Or they'll own you. #gopractice #getbetter

— Not that kind of Dr. (@MickeyMcCale) September 18, 2014

This quote from Dr. Mickey McCale reminds me of a time I heard a student ask Joe Alessi about how to prepare for a professional audition.  Joe told that student that they needed to get "brutally honest" with themselves about what they could and could not do on the horn.

First you have to recognize your defects as a player, conductor or communicator.  Then you have to own those defects until you turn them into strengths.

The Wisdom In Other People's Mistakes

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself." — Groucho Marx

— daily zen (@dailyzen) September 21, 2014

Any time you are near a professional musician who is doing some version of what you'd like to do for a living, pick their brains.  I would strongly encourage you to ask them not just about their successes, but politely ask them about their missteps.  What assumptions did they make about themselves or the business that cost them opportunities, time, energy, or all three?

Learning from the mistakes of others is one trait that almost all successful people share - both in and out of the music business.

Great Advice for Music Students from Eric Whitacre

The following is a quote from Eric Whitacre's Facebook Page that offers great advice for music students entering a new school year:

"Music students: as the semester grinds on you may feel intensely burnt-out.  You may even consider dropping out of music altogether.  If that happens, go back and listen to your favorite recordings, make music with your friends, do anything you can to remind yourself why you loved music before you started studying it.  An education in music can be a very good thing, but it can also squeeze the life out of any love you ever had for it.  Don't let it."

Now that is some great advice.