FBSMC11, Making the Most of What You Have, video 9, What Have You Done With..

What have you done with the lessons you've been given??

There is soooooo much information these days that I don't know how someone can take it all in. Hopefully people aren't taking it all in to the point they feel that they have to work on everything everybody says. Perhaps more advanced players are finding ways that work for them because of so many options that are out there just a click a way. Well, we all have the power to make our own options. We are all hybrids aren't we(?) of all that has influenced us. Certain things work for a while and then we need to go to other things at various points in our development and career. We age and that brings a different set of circumstances to deal with. Having a lots of ways and means can be excellent, especially the ones that we have come across and worked on tweaking them to what works for us because in the end we are all a 'custom' job.

 There have been times where I will suddenly remember what a teacher said to me decades ago and I realize from a much fuller standpoint now what they meant. The right information will get to us if the strength of our desire is potent enough. When the desire is potent enough, we do get some answers, not all the time are the answers what we think they will be.... Here is where the first law of the student comes in. It is called 'immediate application.' When a student practices immediate application when they are given something, they get it 'hot off the press' so to speak, with the vibratory essence and life of the exercise or advice fresh in their minds. This is a vital key to more quality practice time and subsequent improvement.

Make hay while the sun shines!!

Video 9

 https://youtu.be/8qStyB4LEfk

FBSMC11, Making the Most of What You Have, One Note

Since the material is getting very dense in these videos, I've decided in this video to focus on how much we can make of one note.

Here is where life can get very interesting! If we are only focused on our beautiful sound, are we going to be willing to experiment to find other qualities? The series of exercises in this video could challenge one's concepts. This subject, for those of you who have followed my videos, will know this is not a new topic that has been discussed! These exercises work on expanding our concepts and ideas mentally and also give us the opportunity to broaden our basic embouchure and breath control. In fact as much as we can get into mental ruts, we certainly get into physical ruts too. This makes sense from several viewpoints including the idea of sticking to one beautiful sound. How many ways can we make that one beautiful sound nuance? At that point, is it the one beautiful sound or is it enhanced or changed to the point where it moved into other shades, colors and timbres?

If there is a high quality ice cream for example, the quality is tasted and recognized whether it is chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, maple walnut and so forth. So is quality independent of the particular flavor? Is quality it's own 'flavor' regardless of what kind it might be? I think this is more to the point isn't it? There are many flavors of trombone sound out there but we can all sense quality even if we like some more than others. But, it does get tricky because our own opinions 'color' the picture. We can solve this apparent contradiction by saying as an example, "a darker more low -over- toned -covered sound fits Mahler more than Mozart." At least this kind of putting together has a purpose that  goes beyond someone's personal "I like or I don't like" as the only criteria.

How are we gong to discover if we never venture outside of our own backyard???

Video 8

https://youtu.be/8qStyB4LEfk