Posted by MIcky Wrobleski on February 07, 2002 at 14:25:24:
In Reply to: brain babble while blowing posted by tuba on February 06, 2002 at 21:42:55:
Every person is different. We all approach situations in our own way. there is no one prescription that will work for everyone. That said, here's a thought or two on the subject...
I think that becomeing numbed to an external source while practicing our craft is detrimental to it. In other words, what we do, as musicians is HIGHLY reactionary. We are constantly responding, through our instruments, to our surroundings. We are listening to the qualities of the chords, we are making the necessarry adjustments to the thirds, fifths, sevenths, etc. that we play. We are using that external stimulus to adjust our dynamic levels, to dictate what type of sound would best suit the given piece, to see how much you are slowing down or speeding up. The point is, if we, read a newpaper, or listen to the radio, or watch television while we practice, we are only shooting ourselves in the foot. It may not affect you now, this week or next month, but it WILL come back to haunt you. By learning the habit of concentrating on a non-musaical source while in the middle of a musical activity, how are you going to train yourself to not forget about ignoring your playing and hearing "The Simpsons"? Picture this: You're in the finals of the auditions for the Topanga Philharmonic, and you're playing with the trombone section. One of the excerpt you play with them is the choral from Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. If you're hearing the trombones playing and you're not raising this or lowering that, you're not being a team player, why are they going to want you? They're not. Pretty simple.
What to do???
Well, maybe practice in smaller chunks. Don't play for 4 hours straight, unless you can maintain that level of focus for that long. If you feel your mind wandering, stop practising. Go fix the fawcet, go play with the puppy, wash the dishes, whatever. This idea that scales are boring or Kopprachs put me to sleep or Clarke studies don't keep me interested is hog wash. There is ALWAYS something we can be listening to/for in EVERY study we play. We need to learn to listen. The last thing we should want to become as musicians are robots. We must always be aware of what is coming out of our bells. Think how long Tommy Johnson and Jim Self would have made it if they din't listn and respond. I'm sure that they would agree that listening (to intonation, to rhythm, to style, etc.) is an INVALUABLE skill necessary to their survival, to the survival of all of us who call ourselves "musicians".
One thing I do every time before i touch the horn is what is called a "tong-shun" breathing excersise. I've studied the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do for 22 years, and hve found that this is an excellent means of focusing myself on the task at hand. If there is sufficcient interest, I would be happy to post the technique here on the list. It is rather simple and only takes a couple of minutes to do. But, I shall reserve that for another time.
I don't know if this has been any help to anyone or if it was just more fodder that people wish they never read...
Sincerely,
Micky Wrobleski