I love that concept. Very much like The Inner Game of Music. Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone
----- Reply message ----- From: "Steven Mumford" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Subject: [Hornlist] Accuracy Date: Fri, Aug 26, 2011 3:45 pm There's a very interesting and very HR book called "Zen and the Martial Arts". There's a quote in there, something like: The strongest blow comes from a position of complete relaxation. I think that applies to us.. If you think about it, when you get your chops all puckered up, tested against the mouthpiece over and over, focus totally on counting those rests get all ready for that entrance... well of course you're going to splatter it all over the back wall! If you just take a nice easy breath, put the horn up and Play without too much preparation, much easier. If you tense your muscles before striking the blow, you have no force. I found from the "go back to the beginning" exercise that playing as If I was confident (whether true or not) increased accuracy. Over-carefulness and over-preparation usually led to a splat. This all presupposes being able to hear the notes and being reasonably in shape of course. One of my favorite exercises is the "miss that note" one. You pick a high note, put the horn up without preparation and try to miss that note. The hilarious thing is, it's almost impossible to miss it this way.. When you try to "hit" the note, that's when you miss it. It really helps to strike from that position of repose. After many many years of obsessive rest counting, I found one day that sitting back and really listening to the orchestra during the rests very much helped in not missing the first note after the rest. I mean really listening intently and fully enjoying the music before you come in instead of concentrating on what you're going to play. Then you just join in.. It feels so natural and it takes your mind off of obsessing about your impending entrance. Again, doing away with unnecessary over-preparation. That's where concentration becomes an interesting word. For instance, you're reading what's on the computer. You may be concentrating on the screen. Are you also aware of what's in your peripheral vision? That becomes a different kind of awareness, and that's the word I think I would choose for fostering better accuracy. Not pinpoint focus, but awareness of everything. Now that's concentration! - Steve Mumford - Steve Mumford _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/nlaws2001%40comcast.net _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
