What are you concentrating on during your playing?

[ufoneum]

I firmly believe that almost 90% of what we do on the horn is mental. Direct visualization (see the ball go into the hoop) does not apply to music in the same way it does in sports. But, I find that a mental approach is just the same.

Louis Armstrong said that he always, "plays for somebody" in his practice sessions. If you have a mental focus to do well for another, you can help yourself out as well.

Mental focus is great - and visualization is a great way to make it come alive!

- Pat Stuckemeyer

I always visualize a huge, swollen orange head when I play. Then I can play everything on first valve and twice as fast.
(don't worry folks, its an inside joke)

You too?

[Mark]

I visualize the piggy's house made of stone and I blow it down.

Well, not really...

[Leland]

Sound, tempo (or more accurately, the pulse of the ensemble at that moment).

After about the fiftieth time through "Texas Our Texas" or the five-hundredth time though "Uncommon Valor", it gets a lot easier to think about what I'll be doing that weekend.

[Teubonium]

What are you concentrating on during your playing?

At one concert it was a young mother in the front row breast-feeding her baby

[TubaRay]

Yes WSB! I agree- here's mine.

1) The conductor as applicable
2) The sound always

Glen Wells

Very diplomatically stated.

[oldbandnerd]

I concentrate on staying in time and playing the right notes in the right ryhtm. Basically I am trying not to suck .

[Rick Denney]

The blood running down my chin.

Rick "who actually listens to the musical product of the ensemble, looks at the notes, but who thinks about the next sound to be made" Denney

[Haugan]

Focus on what you WANT to hear coming out the bell. Formulate the elements you want: pitch, sound color & quality, volume, and "let"/make it happen. You won't need to concentrate on what's coming OUT the bell, you'll hear it regardless - in fact you won't be able to avoid it. You have to know where you're going to get there, so focus on the results you desire. Arnold Jacobs came upon one of the cornerstones of his teaching in a conversation with Adolph Herseth, Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony for 53 years. Arnold: Bud, what do you think of when you play? Herseth: I think of how it goes. Arnold: Yes, but what do you THINK of? Herseth: I think of how it GOES. Arnold: But WHAT are you THINKING of?? Herseth: I think of HOW IT GOES! Arnold: Ohhhhhhh!

[hurricane_harry]

not playing during the rests

[windshieldbug]

At one concert it was a young mother in the front row breast-feeding her baby

Basically I am trying not to suck

[Tubaryan12]

At one concert it was a young mother in the front row breast-feeding her baby

Basically I am trying not to suck

I am so glad I wasn't eating or drinking anything when I read that

[tubafatness]

Usually, when playing a nice lyrical solo or passage, I think of someone to play to, like a certain nice girl I know. Also, I think of those four special letters; W.W.P.D.?, (What Would Pokorny Do?)

[tubatooter1940]

I like what tubafatness said. Get your mind off yourself and try to concentrate on somebody else-hopefully a hot person of the opposite sex at the back of the room so you will have a focal point to project your sound to.

[MartyNeilan]

At one concert it was a young mother in the front row breast-feeding her baby

A couple of years ago I played a series of concerts in Guatelama, and it was very common for mothers to breastfeed in public, including in the front row of a performance. There really shouldn't be a stigma about it --- if someone gave a baby a "sippy cup" noone would think twice about it.

[Haugan]

Well put, Bloke. I never saw much substancial resemblance beyond the title, myself.