Some advice from Pedro Martinez

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timayer
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Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by timayer »

At about 3:00 into this video, Mr. Martinez talks about executing your idea when you're pitching. I.e., inside pitches should be inside, and outside pitches should be outside. If you mean to pitch inside but throw outside, you're in trouble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIssqBfNp3g" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

As is my general theory (hope?), I think baseball and music have more parallels than not. I was recently listening to a recording of myself from a couple years ago (with a purpose, not just to listen to myself; I promise). My basic takeaway was that it was a good performance but had some hiccups. However, the hiccups were consistent with "my idea." Notes I intended to accent got away from me; some of my dynamics didn't blend right with the piano (both loud and soft - again, I promise). The short Pedro Martinez video popped into my head. I wasn't at all disappointed in what I heard - I very clearly did what I intended while playing the piece. Any fixes I would make were I to perform it again were refinement rather than basic rethinking.

This isn't really a "now take this lesson and put it into your daily practice" post. But it is a useful way to think about self-criticism I think. A note that doesn't sound how you want isn't just "a mistake." It's either a mistake consistent with what you intended, or it's a mistake inconsistent with what you intended, and they can be processed different ways. One may require working on fundamentals, and the other may simply require some experimentation within the specific piece.

I've said for a while now that mastery of anything is learning to work within smaller and smaller margins of error. And the discussion in the video is another way of saying that. If you can throw inside when you want and outside when you want, the margin of error becomes "how" inside and "how" outside, and how consistently you do each.

Per usual, I may be overthinking, but if I can't overthink about tuba playing in a post here, where can I?
Bill Troiano
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Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by Bill Troiano »

Bernie Williams has a lot to say in this book. Really good stuff.


Rhythms of the Game: The Link Between Musical and Athletic Performance
By: Bernie Williams
Dave Gluck
Bob Thompson
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Released: 2011-06-01
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bort
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Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by bort »

Shock... the New Yorker suggests a book by a Yankee, in place of the book by a Red Sox guy. :P
Bill Troiano
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Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by Bill Troiano »

Wuddaya expect? Fuggedaboddit !!
humBell
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Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by humBell »

bort wrote:Shock... the New Yorker suggests a book by a Yankee, in place of the book by a Red Sox guy. :P
He accented what he wanted to accent, even if it didn't blend quite right, or it got away dynamically.

Bravo! Encore!
Thanks for playing!
Mark

Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by Mark »

Rich Matteson made a great baseball analogy that went something like:
In baseball, if you're hitting .300, you are doing pretty good. In music if you only get three out of every ten notes, you are in big trouble.
ckalaher1
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Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by ckalaher1 »

Pedro=Best. Changeup. EVER.

"The Art of Pitching" by Tom Seaver is a pretty good read for musicians, particularly his annotated dissection of (if I recall correctly) his no-hitter vs STL when he was in Cincinnati. Not that I would want to further depress fans of the New York Mets with memories of the "Midnight Massacre" or anything.......
timayer
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Re: Some advice from Pedro Martinez

Post by timayer »

ckalaher1 wrote: Not that I would want to further depress fans of the New York Mets with memories of the "Midnight Massacre" or anything.......
Thankfully I wasn't yet around for the Midnight Massacre. But there has been so much since then. It'll have to get back in line.
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