Have A Lot Of Ideas

"The only way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas."

-Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink is not a musician. He was talking about ideas like starting a business or writing a book.

But he might as well have been talking about a musician's approach in the practice room.

The odds of you having a great idea come out of your bell if you only had one concept of how that phrase might go in the first place is very, very low.

1. Have lots of ideas of how a phrase could go.
2. Record a convincing version of each of those ideas.
3. Listen to each and decide which is best.
4. Repeat this process with every single phrase of the piece.

If you only bring one concept of how a phrase might go into your practicing, how can you possibly compete with the artistry of someone doing the above sequence over and over again?

Spoiler Alert: You can't.

And furthermore, there have never been better instrument operators graduating every single year en masse than there are today. So you have to stand out some other way.

The real question is can you afford not to do the above sequence over and over again when you practice?

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.

Weston Sprott on Being Tentative

"Many players see a low dynamic marking on a part and let that turn them into apologetic, frightened musicians. I think it is beneficial to do the exact opposite. "

-Weston Sprott, Acting Principal Trombone of the Metropolitan Opera

The above is a quote from a fantastic article by Weston Sprott that he posted on his website. It is only two paragraphs long and well worth the 30 seconds.

As the title of the article says, don't be shy!

And don't miss the awesome conversation we had with Weston on The Brass Junkies. It will get you thinking about some really important stuff.

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.

It's All About Communicating

"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."

-Leonard Bernstein

The above quote is a good reminder that we have to get away from worrying about operating our instruments, voices, or batons and instead need to focus on communicating.

That is ultimately our only goal.

Intonation is Relative

"It is okay to play out of tune. It is not okay to stay out of tune."

-Michael Davis of (Hip-Bone Music and Former Trombone Player for the Rolling Stones)

This also brings to mind one of my favorite phrases: "Intonation is a social skill."

If two people are playing together and are not in tune with each other it doesn't matter what the tuner says. One is not flat and the other sharp. "They" are out of tune.

Whether you are "right" or "wrong", when you notice you are out of tune, fix it.

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?

Breaking Down Productivity

"Productivity is never an accident. It's always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort."

-Paul Meyer

I love this quote. It beautifully breaks down productivity into three parts.

Commitment to Excellence

Being truly productive isn't about just getting things done. It's about doing an excellent job at whatever we set out to accomplish.

This means a commitment to excellence, not just to results.

Intelligent Planning

Having a bad plan is a lot better than having no plan. But an intelligent, thoughtful plan is imperative to being productive.

Focused Effort

Productivity has absolutely nothing to do with looking busy. We all know someone (ourselves?) who feels they are being productive as long as they are working hard.

If the effort is not focused, chances are we are not be very productive.

Slow Down

"There is more to life than increasing its speed."

-Mohandas Gandhi

The best advice I ever got for the practice room: Slow down.
The best advice I ever got for being a parent: Slow down.
The best advice I ever got for life in general: Slow down.

And I freely admit that those two little words sure don't come naturally to this tuba player.