Companion notes to video 1 of Integrating Technique and Music Making

Oftentimes I hear brass players talking about improving their fundamentals. This usually means getting more control over evenness of sound and articulation, greater accuracy percision, improved range etc. This of course is a vital ingredient to the development of skill and dependability which also increases confidence in the player mentally. If the approach to working on the basics gets increasingly stiff and sterile, this can develop in creating a division between technique and music making. Part of my goal in this video series is to take some of the worry and anxiety out of working on the basics by integrating musical shapes and feeling into them. This was done by using the example of blowing out birthday candles as opposed to blowing bubbles since each of them requires a different use of the air. From this example, it tells you there is a technique for each one of those activities. Now, when we have an interest in something (interest anagrams to enters it), we are naturally drawn to be with that something. We actually want to work with that something, find out more about that something, play with that something. With this need of wanting to be with this something, we discover more about it. We start to enter(enters it), the very life of that something. Children do this all the time when they are playing with toys they really love. Sometimes, (I know this well!), it can get pretty frustrating when it seems to be more difficult to be with that something than other times when we can’t get the results we are going for. Some people give up at that point, others get more determined even in the midst of their frustration. It all depends on the potency of the cause that drives you. I always loved to work on the fundamentals. I found it grounding and when done with care, it made my playing feel much better. I didn’t mind working on them for hours, really trying to go after what I could feel and hear in my mind and heart and then have it make its way through the horn. Isn’t it a marvelous feeling when this happens?! This video, which was inspired by the interest of Don Lukas (thanks Don for your support!), gives very simple ways to encourage the integration process of technique and music making by using mental and emotional connections to help energize the concepts you want to materialize into a living reality through your horn. The practice room is your sanctuary and laboratory to experiment and find your living science with your instrument. What a wonderful opportunity! The next video in this series “What is Music and What is Music Making?” will shed more light on the relationship between music and technique, helping to see that they are actually part of the same family. Here is the link to to the video on YouTube: http://frequencybone.blogspot.com/2021/11/companion-notes-to-video-1-of.html