The Best Quote I've Ever Heard About Goal Setting

"A good goal is one that changes your actions in the moment. Like, right now. Goals are not about the future. They are about the present moment. Changing your present actions."

—Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers is one of my favorite thinkers/authors/speakers/entrepreneurs in the world. He regularly makes me think about things in a different way or inspires me to try something new.

This is the best quote I've ever heard about goal setting. I've never heard the quality of the goal attached to whether it inspires you take to immediate action which makes all the sense in the world.

Two summers ago I decided to learn all of my major scales in thirds with the descending scales featuring ascending thirds. I learned ascending thirds on the way up and descending thirds on the way down many years ago. I have played that pattern at most once a year for the last decade and could do it perfectly right now. It is fully engrained. But playing ascending thirds on the way down was like reading a foreign language at first! Surprisingly so actually.

So I made a very specific goal for myself which was something like this:

I will play all the major scales in thirds around the circle of fourths in 8th notes at quarter note equals 100 with ascending thirds on the way up and ascending thirds on the way down from memory by August 20th without making a single mistake.

This goal made me immediately spring into action. It was made around July 1st and I had a very busy summer planned. I wasn't going to have a ton of time to practice because of gigs, family obligations and vacation. Putting a hard date on it that was neither overly aggressive nor so far in the future that there was no sense of urgency was the key.

It ended up forcing me to spend a lot of time on basics and certainly led to me having a few practice sessions that surely would not have happened otherwise. Using Derek's litmus test, this was a good goal since it made me take immediate action.

My students are going to get sick of me saying this quote very quickly because it is about to permeate my teaching.

So if you have a goal that isn't changing your present actions, the question to ask yourself is how can I improve this goal so that it does?

Why We Prepare

"Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. That’s why we train so hard."

—Chad Winkler in Episode 30 of The Brass Junkies

This is probably the most succinct quote about preparation I've ever heard. When Chad mentioned this in our interview with him at Duquesne University we made him repeat it.

I personally love hearing stories of the people like Chad who were able to win a job with the likes of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (which is his hometown orchestra on top of it all...talk about pressure!). When you hear him in his interview talk about the path he took to get to that point and all of the preparation that went into it, it takes a little of the mystique out of wondering "How could I ever win a job like that?"

Not that it is simply as easy as preparing a lot and then winning. But you hear over and over again from people like Chad how intentional and thorough their training was leading up to an audition like that.

I hate saying nice things about trumpet players, but when you hear how much effort went into his preparation for the audition for his dream job you have to say he deserved to win it.

But please don't tell him I said that. :)

Warren Deck Master Class Quotes (Part 2 of 2)

Here is part two of my quotes from a master class by former Principal Tuba of the New York Philharmonic, Warren Deck. These quotes are from his class at the 2015 Northeast Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference at Ithaca College.

It was a phenomenal class. The quotes below about the window especially blew my mind. Really opened my eyes to exactly what I am trying to play and teach.

You can find part one here.

• I like to play a game with myself when I listen to music. It's called 'how much can I hear? How much can I notice? That's why I like to listen in community. I like to listen with 3 or 4 people. 
• The higher the quality of your musical mind, the higher the quality of what's going to come out of your instrument. 
• Keep the instrument full of air. 
• I'm going to urge you to listen to records and try to dig one level deeper. What can you hear? Every day try to hear something you haven't heard before. 
• Listen to the great players. Listen to how they make the magic. 
• The air only knows one thing: the shape of my phrase. 
• I want to hear the music as if I never have to breath ever. 
• I'm going to throw in an extra breath to see whether I can do it without changing the shape of the phrase. 
• The way air misses notes is dynamically. Air can miss notes. But oftentimes we missed it with our embouchure. 
• The bow doesn't need to know about changing the pitch. 
• Teach your embouchure to sing that tune accurately. 
• Separate the art from the craft. Our art is how well we can conceive of it. Our craft is how well we can play it. 
• The art is a scene and the craft is the window. If we show someone our scene, how much dirt is on the window? 
• The reason we clean the window is because we have an exact idea of how we want to sound. 
• Ronnie Romm said that flying a plane was the most musical thing he ever did. 
• I'm driving a car and my listener is my passenger. What kind of ride am I giving them?

Being a Team Player

"It's better to sound right than to be right."

—Rex Martin

This is one of the best soundbites that Rex Martin threw my way during my studies with him. It gets right to the point.

In a performance, there is no such thing as one person being in tune and the other being out of tune.

Rather, they are out of tune.

If someone isn't balancing a chord right and you can do something about it by playing louder or softer (regardless of what dynamic is on the page), you are the obligated to adjust. Same goes for pitch and everything else.

This doesn't mean everyone should go around constantly adjusting to everything. That would quickly resemble one giant dog chasing its tail and never quite catching it.

But the definition of being a team player in a music is always being ready to do what sounds right rather than what is right.

It doesn't matter how many degrees you have, what gig you've got, or how many countries you've performed in. This goes for everybody.

Thanks, Mr. Martin, for making that crystal clear to me so many years ago.

Strong and Wrong

We used to have a saying in Boston Brass that we would use all of the time when coaching groups: "Strong and wrong!"

The meaning of that is of course to always play like you mean it, even the mistakes. If you are worried about making a mistake and back off a little, even if you play the note or passage correctly, it is going to sound wrong anyways.

And who really cares if you make a mistake anyways?

(Well, other than your ego...)

Walt Disney's Insights Into Practicing Effectively

I do not like to repeat successes; I like to go on to other things. - Walt Disney

— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) September 2, 2015

Who knew that Walt Disney was a practicing guru?

I frequently see students start to practice a solo or etude at the beginning of piece. That's where they tend to start the first time they play it.

And the eight time they play it. And the 18th time they play it. And the 80th time they play it...

Guess what starts sounding really good? The opening of the piece!

Whenever I have a student who is not quite prepared to play an etude in a lesson it almost invariably becomes obvious when they get to halfway through the piece. Whether that's the B section, or a difficult variation on the main melody, or a key change.

If I ask them where they kept starting when they practice, they always say the beginning of the piece.

Don't "repeat successes" by going over the music you can already play. Target specific sections that need improvement and start with those sections the next time you sit down to practice.

You will be blown away by the results in a very short period of time.

Use Their Words

"It sounds mushy. I want French fries and you're giving me mashed potatoes."

—Tiffany Hitz (Band Director at Carson Middle School in Fairfax County, Virginia)

I heard my wife tell her jazz band this a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was great.

It reminded me of the importance of using the same words (and imagery) that your audience use. This goes for being a band director or a marketer.

Every single kid in that band immediately knew what she meant by french fries. In fact, it was probably the least number of words she possibly could have used to get that point across that clearly.

Words of Wisdom from Bud Herseth

"It is not a matter of being better than anyone else. How can you love trying to be better than anyone else? Play for your own satisfaction, and for other's enjoyment."

—Bud Herseth (Former Principal Trumpet - Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Mr. Herseth was an incredible player and teacher and his above words are incredibly wise.

There is a byproduct of playing for your own satisfaction: You tend to enjoy the process of getting better a whole lot more and therefor do the work. Bottom line: You get better.

Practice something until you love it and then share it with the world. At that point you'll be dying to share it with us and that will shine through in your performance.

Quitting Can Be Good (But It's All About The Timing)

"Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can't deal with the stress of the moment."

—Seth Godin from "The Dip"

Spot on as always from Seth Godin! You should never make a decision to quit something in the heat of battle.

Don't decide to cut something from your recital program while you are in the middle of a frustrating practice session.

Don't decide that your band needs to play an easier march for assessment while you are in the middle of a bad rehearsal.

Don't decide to change career paths while you are in the middle of a terrible gig.

Any of the above conclusions may very well be the best thing moving forward. But there is never a drawback to being sure you are not succumbing to the stress of the moment.

The only way to accurately assess the long-term potential of something is to do so without any emotions involved. So avoid doing so in the stress of the moment.

Accepting Your Limitations is the First Step Towards Improvement

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

-Carl Rogers

This quote applies to all aspects of life and all aspects of being a musician.

My favorite definition of acceptance comes from Tara Brach. She says that acceptance requires two things: clear vision and compassion.

So first, you have to clearly recognize what you can and can not do as a musician. Second, you must not pass judgement on yourself for any shortcomings.

Identify your shortcomings and then make a plan towards improving them. Judging yourself for those shortcomings is simply ego and will not help you to reach any of your goals.

If you are a band director and struggle with speaking too much from the podium, simply recognize that fact without judging yourself and then see if you see any improvement after trying a few things.

If you are a string quartet who is having trouble getting gigs, simply recognize that it is an issue and then try some different things and see what works.

If you have a website that is not getting very much traffic, noticing that problem is the first step. Then simply try a few things and see what gets you the traffic you seek.

As Mr. Rogers said in the quote above, the curious paradox comes from having to accept (and notice!) things exactly how they are in order to know what to change.