What is your mental switch?

[tubatooter1940]

After playing trumpet in a rock band for over a year, I began bringing my guitar to rehersal. At first, the guys in the band used to hide my old Gibson but later I made my point that punchier rhythm is a good thing.
Never spend time kicking your own butt when there are so many around you who would be delighted to kick it for you.
A pro from around here would advise, "Shut up and play the hell outta that thing".
You may not be the best tuba honker on earth, but you are the best that showed up in that room, that night and you need to smile, relax and play with passion. Assume it's gonna be big fun.

[NDSPTuba]

I never really thought of my love for music in terms of enjoying playing for other people. It is a very personal thing for me. I love playing music for me, the feeling ( quite spiritual ) I get while playing ( participating ) in a really beautiful moment of music. Also , when I was at the top of my game, my chops would feel great when I was playing. Hard to explain, but my chops would get this feeling when I was fully warmed up that was exquisite to me. I loved that feeling and I knew that when I got that feeling I was going to be playing quite well that day.

[MartyNeilan]

I always ask beginnign students, "When should you play with a good sound." The answer, which few get right, is "Always." If you treat everything like a performance, there is no switch.

[iiipopes]

First and foremost, I play for myself. I don't mean this in either a masochistic nor a narcissitic way. What I mean is that there has to be a healthy balance between self confidence and self appreciation for what you can do, so you can enjoy your practices, rehearsals and performances with your ensemble mates, colleagues and your audience, and self critical analysis, whether individually or with the help of others, in order to focus on what needs improvement, understanding that nothing can ever be perfect, but the fun and the satisfaction is in the striving.

[hbcrandy]

After countless hours of critical practice and constantly telling yourself that what you are playing is not good enough, how do you switch to a positive performance mentality?

A negative mindset is, unfortunately, quite easily adopted when criticizing your own playing. Once adopted, it feeds on itself and becomes more ingrained.

Criticism is a good thing if it is offered and taken constructively. When working with a student privately, I first think, "What did they do well?" and point out that aspect of their playing first. Then I continue by saying, "But, here are some things we can work on to make it even better, yet." I then show them how to work on the aspect of the playing that will make them improve and help them develop a plan of action to improve that aspect of their playing.

I am sure there are things you like about your playing of the tuba or you would not be playing it in the first place. Think of those things and write them on a piece of paper. As you practice and you find more things that you are doing well, add them to your list. When you begin to have negative thoughts, pull your list out and refer to it. Think of your playing as that which is improving rather than that which is not good enough. Rather than beating up on yourself when you make mistakes, imagine yourself teaching a private lesson to someone else and think of what you would tell them to do to correct the mistake and improve. Detaching yourself from the situation will help you develop a systematic plan of attack to solve the problem in a more stress-free mindset.

Always remember that your proficiency level on the tuba is not a reflection of your worth as a person.

[Rick Denney]

Once upon a time, a question to Greg Lemond went like this: "What's it like to train when you are a world-class cyclist?"

His answer: "It doesn't hurt any less. You just go faster."

Rick "who takes the bad with the good" Denney

[Wyvern]

I think I play my best when I feel really confident about my part and have got the music ingrained in my system.

I can then just concentrate on making the music and not on technicalities.

Jonathan "who thinks confidence, combined with familiarity are the solution to mental anxieties"

[Leland]

A negative mindset is, unfortunately, quite easily adopted when criticizing your own playing. Once adopted, it feeds on itself and becomes more ingrained.

A very talented percussion writer that I marched under and later worked with passed away from a stroke earlier this week. Among us former members, the players who were in his "pit" (sideline percussion) talked about how he never told them that they couldn't do something, or even that playing with four mallets was difficult.

I'm trying to remember when he had a negative attitude when it came to instruction, and I just can't. His writing style and his ability to take nearly-green rookies and turn them into multimallet gods (and goddesses, usually!) have spoiled me, raising my expectations of what sideline percussion ensembles can do.