I’ve watched a LOT of baseball this summer. My favorite teams, the Chicago White Sox and the Cubs, keep getting stuck on the downside of a five or six-point spread. It amazes me to see them keep up the fight from that far down, and even win the game. Last year’s World Series champs do it over and over. Those Cubs broke hearts for decades, but not anymore. Seeing them overcome great odds makes me believe I can, too. How about you?
The start of a new schoolyear usually catches most of us off guard. Five points down, feeling beaten up, out of shape, and out of sorts. If rehearsals have hit you in the face, like right on the chops, here are some tips to get back into shape quicker so you can be sounding your normal great self again. When I began teaching at Carson Newman, it was still a college. In the time I've sojourned with the students, staff and faculty of this unique school, I have grown with it, and am grateful to have benefited in so many ways from the truly fine people who make up the Carson Newman community. I'm grateful for each and every experience, for each moment of glory, and each moment of pain and travail. Sometimes the same names are attached to both glory and travail. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Thank you, students, staff, and faculty for allowing me to learn from you all. I've learned much more than I was able to teach. Dear students, you've taught me well. This month's blog post is dedicated to all of you who work so hard and faithfully to lead, learn and then pass on that learning to others. You're the absolute greatest.
If you're like me, you get tired of following the rules. Especially if there doesn't seem to be a point to them. Who made these rules anyway? Play without pressure, center the mouthpiece, don't purse your lips, practice till the cows come home, every day.
When my job was mainly to follow the rules, and not to make them, I got really tired of it. I wanted to rewrite all these do's and don'ts just to feel free again. After years of stubborn resistance and landing in ditches, I finally came round to an appreciation of THE RULES. I was going to say a whole new perspective, but then realized that was stretching the truth. In fact, even though I now teach many of the same rules I chafed against the most, I still struggle with the decision to start a new day of reminding my body how it plays the trumpet. How does it happen that a rule breaker becomes a rule "enforcer"? " Unexpected acts of compassion are common among our group. It's one of the ways we define ourselves." Captain Janeway, "Day of Honor" . In order to define where we are now, and make progress in our playing, we first need to know where we are. We need a quick inventory of strengths and weaknesses. Some honest reflection will yield a list that can be used to inform the goal setting process. Goal setting is how we can define (or redefine) ourselves and our playing. What we think about our own playing matters most so take a moment, and brainstorm three or four strengths that come immediately to mind. Great high register, for example, and/or maybe good at sight-reading or nice tone quality/sound. Include in the list what you enjoy doing, such as ensemble over solo or vice versa, band/popular playing over orchestral, or perhaps jazz ensemble over other types of music. It's a good bet that what you enjoy most, you're also better at doing.
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GlendaI'm a trumpet player and music teacher aiming in this blog to help other Trumpeters, Music Enthusiasts, Music Educators, and aspiring professionals reach their highest potential in life through the study and cultivation of musical skills. Music Education
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