Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Contemplation

If you were on an island by yourself with your trombone to play, what would you do? Hint: If you did not have to worry about getting a job in an orchestra or anywhere else.. think and sense how free you could be with your playing....what would be your measuring stick for your standards??? How would you measure them??? Would you measure them and if so, why???

1 comment:

Ross Holcombe said...

I think humans have a natural tendency to want to push the limits of their bodies. It is why we climb Everest, swim the English Channel, or run marathons. If I were on a desert island, I imagine I would still like to push myself to play higher, lower, faster, slower, louder, softer on the trombone because of this human tendency to see where our limits are.

And as we have discussed before, what do those things give you, but more choice in how you are able to express yourself?

My measuring stick would be this:

What do I want to express?

Am I expressing it adequately with my current technique?

Is there a piece of technique I could develop to help me more easily express myself?

If it were truly just me alone on a desert island, I can't imagine wanting to meet a certain standard just because someone else said so. I would only want to live up to the standard of making sure that what needs to come out, actually can.