The Arnold Jacobs Straw Exercise

"Suck air through a straw, then two straws, then three, then four. Be sensitive to the movement of air as the opening varies."

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) August 31, 2017

This is a great exercise for two reasons:

1. Students feel the sensation of air movement which is a much better thing to focus on than any body movements or where the air is headed
2. This lets the student experience firsthand the difference in efficiency when they inhale with a good oral shape

Combine this with the "EE to Oh" exercise out of the brass gym and you can fix a whole lot of breathing issues without ever addressing them. And in teaching, using fewer words means less chance for confusion and getting to the actual doing of the activity being addressed faster.

Don't Wait Until 1:00 pm

After waking, the longer you wait to start practicing, the more likely you are to not practice

Inactivity builds its own momentum #startnow

— Will Baker (@willbakermusic) August 31, 2017

This reminds me of one of my favorite Joe Alessi quotes:

"You’re not winning an audition if your first notes of the day are at 1 pm.”

—Joe Alessi

Same goes for composing. Or doing score study. Or anything else.

Get those feet moving!

Possibly My Favorite Arnold Jacobs Quote

Scream this one from the rooftops.

"Breathe to expand, don't artificially expand to breathe."

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) August 10, 2017

Arnold Jacobs on Playing Drills

"40% of (practice) time is spent on drills. Even during this time, make music with a high standard."

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) May 17, 2017

I find "being musical" is a very difficult thing to just turn on and off like a light switch. And I have yet to meet a single student in 25 years of teaching who was very good at that either.

So even "just" the drills and basics need to be done as musically as possible 100% of the time.

I sometimes like to visualize one of two things to help me with this:

1. I am broadcasting the drills to Facebook Live and soliciting honest feedback
2. I am recording the drills for a recording to accompany a method book

Do you think Sam Pilafian and Pat Sheridan had to be reminded to focus when they were recording the accompaniment to The Brass Gym? First of all, they are always concentrating to a high level. But even still, the threat of shipping to the world a recording of you playing your own exercises poorly is a good way to get you to focus.

How do you focus when you are "just" playing drills and other basics? It's what separates the truly great players from the good ones.

Arnold Jacobs Sums Up Practicing in One Sentence

"Practicing is 85% making statements and 15% asking questions."

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) February 7, 2017

Love it!

Finding the Sweet Spot When Practicing

"Lack of focus when practicing comes from one of two things: boredom or frustration."

—Lance LaDuke

If you are bored, raise your standards. That side of the equation is very straightforward (although not always easy!)

If you are frustrated, break the passage down to its individual parts (fingers, ear, rhythms, range, dynamics, etc) and figure out exactly what requires attention.

If a passage is in the upper register, it may appear that range is the reason you are missing a lot of notes. But if your fingers are close but not exactly correct, you will continue to miss those notes until you clean up the fingers.

So continuing to hang out in your extreme high register with sloppy fingers will not only not fix the problem, it will tire you and only reinforce the bad fingers leading to even more work later on.

There is a sweet spot that lies between boredom and frustration. The best players in the world are also the best practicers. They have found a way to hang out in between the boredom and frustration and get more done in less time than those who don't.

More done in the practice room in less time? Sign me up!

Don't Fight Old Habits

"There is no need to fight old habits. Start new ones.  it is the resisting of an old habit that puts you in that trench. Starting a new pattern is easy when done with childlike disregard for imagined difficulties."

—Timothy Gallwey from The Inner Game of Tennis

This quote is so good that it's presented without comment. :)

The Tricky Part of Awareness

"Awareness of what is without judgement is relaxing and is the best precondition for change."

—Timothy Gallwey from The Inner Game of Tennis

The without judgement part is the real key to the above quote. Any time I catch myself using the word should I know I am going down a dangerous (or at the very least not helpful) path.

I should be more prepared for this recital.

I should have this piece memorized by now.

I should already have a gig.

I should have my lesson plans done for tomorrow.

The problem with judgement is that it focuses on something that can't be controlled or changed, the past. And focusing on something that can't be changed is not a good precursor for change.

And yet awareness is incredibly vital. Without knowing what your blind spot is as a conductor, a bassoon player or an entrepreneur, you have very little chance of improving it.

So be brutally honest with yourself about what you can and can't do and yet be kind to yourself and accept what has already happened (or not happened!) as exactly what it is, done.

Perhaps my favorite quote of all time sums this up perfectly:

"You have to abandon all hope for a better past."

Amen.

I drove through a beautiful snow-kissed Glenwood Canyon yesterday on my way to Grand Junction to be the featured guest artist at The Best of the West Festival at Colorado Mesa University!

Silence Can Not Improve

“Start with bad sounds and make them into good ones. Silence can not improve.”

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) January 25, 2016

The last four words of this quote pretty much sums it all up, doesn't it?

Arnold Jacobs on Developing the High Register

“Take music you know and put it in the high register. It will take a little time, but it will develop with more practice.”

— Andrew Hitz (@JacobsQuotes) April 20, 2016

This is a really great way for a student to begin developing their high register on any instrument. Starting with something familiar takes a few layers of complexity out of the equation.

And playing music rather than exercises will keep the brain focused on the phrasing which keeps the wind or the bow moving.