norbie2018 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 30, 2018 1:42 pm
There is a mental side.
From bulletproofmusician.com:
"Step 2: Form Your Clear Intention
A clear intention is in essence, a specific goal statement....Use assertive, declarative language, such as “I am going to perform brilliantly, with passion and clear dynamic contrast,” as opposed to “I hope to play well.""
Absolutely, positive mindset. Intention. Of course the physical side and endurance, and of course the foundation of a strong routine, and listening. Times 10 on listening. And I agree, a musical intention is key to great performance, so it is critical to great practice.
You might consider "The Inner Game of Tennis" book for ideas on the mental and focus part. One aspect of stress around performance is not letting go. Attachment to stress about whatever it is your trying to do well is harmful, the attachment more than the stress itself. Don't mistake the
goal (e.g., great tone, technique, etc.) for the
obstacle (my lips are not physically responding, I'm a little worn out from 3 rehearsals today).
If find that if I am warmed up and something is not happening, it can be good to put down the horn. It is a vehicle for music making, it is not the music maker. That's a good time to do other great practice habits such as breathing practice, stretching face and whole body, listening, listening with a score, and transcribing. I am also a proponent of a good duet session. And playing passages in unison with a colleague. Something about interacting with even one musician helps turn on my musicality.
If someone were having a problem, here could be a couple of ways to diagnose:
1) If you find some aspect like your tone is inconsistent, that is normal. And that can be ameliorated. If you imagine a sine wave, you have performance peaks and troughs. I recall a lesson where I played an excerpt markedly better than I had ever, in practice or performance. Could not replicate that 2 minutes later! But I know that I had it in me and eventually could recreate that musical intention. At the level of our trombone heroes, their sine wave is very flat. Their troughs are not so different from their peaks. We don't notice their bad days, but they sure do! Therefore, make "quality" central to your routine. Play scales and long tones musically, with great tone, articulation, release and musical direction. Some players might like to think like a body builder and plan for days where some aspect of your playing is in the front seat for your focus (MWF technique, TThSa on tone), but horn playing skills are integrated. So the alternative is being responsive to what's happening. If you're warmed up and tone is good but tonging is bad, focus part of your session on tonguing, but don't let tone suffer. That works on the tonguing trough to build consistency.
2) If you find tone to diminish over the course of a session or week, that's either endurance issues or a loss of focus. So balance practice for trying to sustain focus (and sometimes putting it down when your unfocused) and for working on endurance, like longer long tones. Could also be a symptom of something inappropriate, a pitfall like playing beyond your current strength, too much of something that is taxing like range extension activities, insufficient rest, playing the "mouthpiece game" (switching up gear) instead of working on you. If you're mindlessly playing thru passages, your expending energy but not necessarily getting the benefit. Used up endurance for no gain. Maybe try, "Do less, better." You might improve focus by trying to play 4 bars great rather than burn through a whole excerpt or passage "meh". 20 minutes of great practice is better than an hour of beating your face. If you're goal were to play for 3 hours, then your setting yourself up for mindless playing. For me, I set weekly goals or one month goals, so each session is incrementally working towards that, and incremental progress is
de rigueur. In "Inner Game" mindset, there is less attachment to small failures and large obstacles, and I can focus on "Do less, better." Right now, that is mostly electric bass playing, and "time" is in focus, which for bass playing is part mental (musical intention) and part physical (the fingers moving). And right hand walking is more in focus than left this week. Between practicing and working on playing changes (with a recording or just solo), I play a couple minutes on the metronome on the same changes with focus on playing good time, while keeping the articulation and tone quality.
Best!
