What is your mental switch?

[adam0408]

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my future as a performer. This has lead me to question why it is that I like playing for people, and I am not really sure of the answer. This lead me, in turn, to question some of the inner workings of my playing. I feel that it is often the case that I set myself up for failure by bringing negative and critical thoughts to a performance, regardless of how much I prepare.

My question for the Tubenet is this: 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?

[tubeast]

To me as a non-soloing amateur this is quite simple:
If someone doesn´t like the way I play, they are free to leave anytime. If the crowd accepts the fact that I´m an amateur, they´ll have to live with the consequences.

[Roger Lewis]

just another "honk".

Peace
Roger

[bearphonium]

It is music made by humans, not machines. Expect it to be different, every time. Recall that the Navaho weavers, some of the best artists in the world, weave their fabric with an intentional mistake somewhere--nothing made by humans is ever perfect, as it should be.

Ally"who plays, and some days the tuba wins, and some days I win"House

[KevinMadden]

For me (as one of those 'kolleje stooodents') I find that the best thing to do is keep your critical practicing in perspective. Once you start nit-picking on yourself be sure to remind yourself that you are nit-picking. Recently, during some intense recital prep of my own, I've had some rough lessons, the kind where you teacher pretty much says "no, do it again" for like an hour. However, after all these lessons, He has also ended with, "don't get down, its really quite good, your doing these things really excellent, and the audience will certainly love it as it is now, what we're doing is making it Great, making it as good as it can possibly be, making changes that only you or I will even hear" I've then left the lesson feeling good about my performance. I've also been visualizing how my successful recital is going to go for about a month now, Visualizing me on the stage, playing well, and the audience being happy and impressed... these positive thoughts will make the prep go smoothy and insure a calm, musical performance.

Its all Mental, and if you're giving a recital and people are going to it, you must already be pretty good at your instrument, so have fun.

[brianf]

Once during a masterclass with Mr Jacobs, a flute player came in and wanted to play something that she considered a weakness. Here is a video of this at:

http://www.windsongpress.com/video/dont ... nesses.wmv

[MaryAnn]

This is a wonderful short video, and it reminds us of the mindset we need to have as players/performers. Back when I was in music school as a performance major, my teacher used to say to me "You must love the violin." It took me decades to finally apply that, and I'm still working on it. I don't know if I will ever enjoy playing for people, but it has become less traumatic as time goes on. The lessening of trauma has come with my own growing acceptance of whatever level I happen to be at, without continually rejecting what I have achieved due to continually moving the goal farther out.

Interestingly enough, when I developed dystonia and my horn playing basically went to hell, I had to stop driving myself to continually improve and just be happy I could play at all; that had the benefit of forcing me to a point of self-acceptance that I otherwise never would have arrived at.

MA

[tubasinfonian]

You know, as I'm working on a masters in Music Education now, I'm constantly reminded by kids (of any age and grade level) of just how forgiving people are. People are often just amazed at the things that they themselves cannot do, and quite frankly, there aren't too many people out there that can play the tuba! Adults are aware of this I do believe, and kids are often just sucked right in with it all.

So just remember, you're doing something that most people cannot and will not ever do. Take pride in that, regardless of how perfect or imperfect it is.

[happyroman]

The answer is quite simple. Never use negative thoughts when examining your playing. First, focus only on what you want to achieve, that is, what you want the music to sound like, and then, strive to imitate that. Arnold Jacobs had his students vividly imagine how a piece would sound if played by the greatest player in the world, and then try to imitate what they heard in their heads.

In this way, you are maintaining a positive model, rather than a negative one. To put it simply, focus on what you want, not what you don't want. Humans are goal seeking organisms, and respond best when trying to achieve or move toward a specific target. The key is that you must be very specific regarding the target.

Keep in mind what your intention is when practicing, and then compare how closely you come to that intention. The key is not to use the judgements of good and bad. A great analogy was expressed in Tim Gallway's "Inner Game of Tennis." He said that learning is inhibited by judgements, which prevent one from knowing what is actually happening.

The example he uses is a tennis player hitting the ball out during a match. He sees this as a "bad" occurrance and his opponent sees it as a "good" occurrance, both of which are judgements. The referee, who ironically is called the judge, simply sees the ball as out. Focusing on the negatives will tend to enforce them, and will make it more likely that these negative aspects in your playing will come out under the pressure of performance.

Also, remember that performing music is a complex skill to be learned, like any other human endeavor. You must keep in mind that it takes time to learn how to play an instrument. Whatever one person has learned to do, you can also learn, and probably as well, if you keep at it with the correct approach.

Keep in mind the analogy of a young child learning to walk. When the child stumbles and falls during the early stages of the learning process, he doesn't chastize himself for being clumsy. His natural instincts take over and he gets up and tries again, eventually learning to walk quite naturally by trial and error. If he focused on how poorly he was doing, constantly tripping and falling, instead of focusing on where he wanted to go, he'd never be able to take a step.

[brianf]

When I do a Jacobs lecture, there are a few video clips that hit people right between the eyes - this is one of those! I will hear comments such as "That could be me in that chair!" My comment is that at one time or another, it is all of us in that chair!

There is another clip of a student who is thinking about the mechanics, not concentrating on the music. Mr Jacobs turned him around and there was instant improvement. There is the same reaction - it could be me. I follow this up with a video of Phil Farkas talking about being in a rut. Mr Jacobs told him that he was analzing to much and to just play the thing. Let's face it, there is no finer brass player than Phil Farkas, he was in that chair - he took the advice and it worked.

[windshieldbug]

My question for the Tubenet is this: 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?

These should NOT BE one or the other; something to switch to/from.

You SHOULD BE secure in your abilities; to perform and to express the art of the composition to the audience, and to work AT A COLLABORATIVE LEVEL with anyone you are performing with.

Practice is only honing these abilities; a chance to improve. Individual practice on the physical level is so that you can hold up your end of the performance. Individual practice also give you a chance to practice expression. Ensemble gives you both of those plus combined with working together with others at a basic and artistic level.

Practice is not focusing on shortcomings. Practice is an opportunity to make yourself even better at the things you identify that you want to feel better about.

Mr. Jacobs is totally on point when he suggests reserving time for expression of what you are best at. What can eventually happen is that the small things that you hear are unnoticeable both to fellow performers and the audience, both of whom will be listening intently.

Things are rarely ever what one would consider perfect; if I think my performance was good down to the millisecond of an attack but the tuning with the second trombone is only even-tempered and not just, that I consider a problem, and an opportunity to improve; but I hardly think that the performance was a failure, or that anyone but possibly the Bass trombone noticed.

If you intend an artistic career, and do not see criticism/fault finding as anything but an opportunity for future improvement, consider another endeavor! It goes with the territory, and sometimes has NOTHING to do with yourself at all (a careless viola, for example... ). Improvement should not be negatively focused!

[TubaRay]

The answer is quite simple. Never use negative thoughts when examining your playing. First, focus only on what you want to achieve, that is, what you want the music to sound like, and then, strive to imitate that. Arnold Jacobs had his students vividly imagine how a piece would sound if played by the greatest player in the world, and then try to imitate what they heard in their heads.

In this way, you are maintaining a positive model, rather than a negative one. To put it simply, focus on what you want, not what you don't want. Humans are goal seeking organisms, and respond best when trying to achieve or move toward a specific target. The key is that you must be very specific regarding the target.

Keep in mind what your intention is when practicing, and then compare how closely you come to that intention. The key is not to use the judgements of good and bad. A great analogy was expressed in Tim Gallway's "Inner Game of Tennis." He said that learning is inhibited by judgements, which prevent one from knowing what is actually happening.

The example he uses is a tennis player hitting the ball out during a match. He sees this as a "bad" occurrance and his opponent sees it as a "good" occurrance, both of which are judgements. The referee, who ironically is called the judge, simply sees the ball as out. Focusing on the negatives will tend to enforce them, and will make it more likely that these negative aspects in your playing will come out under the pressure of performance.

Also, remember that performing music is a complex skill to be learned, like any other human endeavor. You must keep in mind that it takes time to learn how to play an instrument. Whatever one person has learned to do, you can also learn, and probably as well, if you keep at it with the correct approach.

Keep in mind the analogy of a young child learning to walk. When the child stumbles and falls during the early stages of the learning process, he doesn't chastize himself for being clumsy. His natural instincts take over and he gets up and tries again, eventually learning to walk quite naturally by trial and error. If he focused on how poorly he was doing, constantly tripping and falling, instead of focusing on where he wanted to go, he'd never be able to take a step.

What a great post! I believe all of us could benefit from reading it. Wow!

[pulseczar]

I play for my colleagues. I may not like, or disagree with the conductor, but I sure as hell won't let my fellow bandmates down. We've all worked hard achieving a goal of creating a cohesive piece of art under one person's vision.

The audience is secondary. If they don't like it, blame the arm waver.

pulse slave of the conductor czar

[Wyvern]

So just remember, you're doing something that most people cannot and will not ever do. Take pride in that, regardless of how perfect or imperfect it is.

I think that is a great philosophy for all amateur players!

[Leland]

Play louder.

or

Stop caring, and just play the thing. You know how it's supposed to go.

Both approaches have worked for me, especially the "stop caring" part. When I'm worried about my results, I sound awful. When I just play, it sounds fine.

Play well.™©®

Besides that, I will have a hard time describing any kind of mental switch that I use, and I'll say that it's because performing is something I do so often that the mental state has become habitual. I can be joking around backstage one second, then going out to rip another show the next.

However, I can say that a particular performance knocked me into a higher mental plane, so to speak. Up to just the day before, my conscious space only seemed to extend a few feet in any direction... but I didn't notice. I played my horn, and pretty much tried to stick with the ensemble.

But, in an instant, my mentality changed. It felt like I was showing off what I could do as opposed to avoiding what I might mess up. I felt like I could physically reach out and touch the people in the back row, and my sound filled the airspace between us.

That was it; I was stuck, infected with an incurable disease. Not even curable by more cowbell.

[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.