Upcoming Bolter Offerings schedule starting June 29th through July 1st

Greetings everyone! Starting this coming Sunday, July 3rd, I will be sending out a weekly program and schedule. The schedule will also be here on the Frequency Bone blog. The schedule will list the videos and zoom sessions for the entire week. This blog post contains the schedule for June 29th through July 1st. *Wednesday 6/29 Warm-Up Wednesday on Zoom, 10am-11am EDT, donation of $5 required for all attendees *Thursday 6/30 - FBSMC 14 Zoom session from 6:30pm-8pm EDT,a donation of $10 for students and $20 for those working and out of school is required. A discounted rate is being offered to those who plan on being more regular which is $35 for two sessions for those out of school and $15 for two sessions for those in school. Please let me know if you want this. TOPIC: Deeper look into last week’s video “Born To Be and Do.”(Bring your horns) All attendees will get a PDF of the blog post and extras. *Friday 7/1 - Fundamentals Friday on Zoom from 11am-12pm EDT, a donation of $5 for all attendees is required. TOPIC: Tone Production (bring your horns) Those who are interested in attending these sessions whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is also a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put the name of the session (Fundamentals Friday, FBSMC 14 etc.) you will be paying for in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested. If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by the end of the evening of the day before your session begins. If you are late, please have your donation in no later than one hour before the session you signed up for begins. If you have paid for a session and have not heard from me an hour before the session starts, please email me at normtobe@gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 no later than a half hour before the session begins. Only those that have sent in the donation will get a Zoom link. I look forward to seeing you at the offering(s) you wish to be at. Forward the best! Norman Mr. Bolter

Fundamentals Friday starting 7/1/22

Hello everyone! I'm happy to invite all trombonists to come join me on this new series on Zoom called Fundamentals Friday. The first session of Fundamentals Friday will be July 1st from 11am-12pm EDT. Fundamentals Friday will cover the basic mechanics of: -Breathing -Embouchure -Articulation (all kinds) -Slurs and flexibility -Tone production -Dynamic contrasts -Consistency -Evenness -Endurance -Range building, -Slide techniques, Exercises and techniques for all areas listed, Methods of Effective Practice, *The importance of Attitude, Training versus skill and more! A donation of 7.50 is required for all attendees. If there is a real hardship with this price, get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is also a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put Fundamentals Friday in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by Thursday, June 30th by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Friday July 1st and email me at normtobe @ at gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 10:30am EDT. If you have not received an email from me by 10:30am EDT on 7/1 and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get a Zoom link. Fundamentally yours! Norman Mr. Bolter

Musical Meditations Monday a new series starting 6/27/22

There is a new offering that I’ve been wanting to put out for quite some time! It is called Musical Meditations Monday. The first Musical Meditations Monday will be Monday, June 27th from 10am to 11pm EDT. I’m inviting trombonists, all musicians and all interested people, to meditate with me using the foundations of music (rhythm, pitch and timbre) Monday mornings on Zoom. Musical Meditations Monday will offer an opportunity to explore, experience and develop a whole new relationship with the building blocks of music to enhance one’s life in many ways. We will use these musical foundations to feel more harmony within the ensemble of ourselves. Think of all the lives that live in our bodily complex! This will help unite them to work together and offer ourselves techniques to enable a more conscious ability to change our state of mind and body when needed. Rhythm, pitch and timbre can be wonderful friends and personal allies. A free-will donation of your choice is appreciated. If that is not possible, don’t let it stop you from attending!  Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able.  If you are donating, please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter.  HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation.  -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS  PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item.  PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is also a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put Musical Meditations Monday in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list.   If you are donating, have your donation in by June 26th by the end of the evening or please send in your donation Monday June 27th and email me at normtobe@gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 9:30am EDT. If you have not received an email from me by 9:30am EDT on 6/27 and have already paid or want to participate, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. ONLY THOSE HAVE GOTTEN IN TOUCH WITH ME Will GET A LINK TO THE MEDITATION. I ask everyone participating to arrive a couple of minutes early so we can start on time. I am looking forward to musically meditating with you on Mondays! To your well being, Norman  Mr. Bolter etc. 

MONTHLY MASTERCLASS SERIES CLASS 18, 6/25- "To Buzz or Not to Buzz?"

Hi everybody and hope you are off to a good start this summer! The next Monthly Masterclass Series, class 18, will be Saturday, June 25th from 11am to 12:30pm EDT. The title of the masterclass is "To Buzz or Not to Buzz?" or "The Why, What, Where, When and How of Mouthpiece Playing.” Excellent first overlay view which fits in nicely to this summer's Frequency Bone Sumer Music Connection 14's theme ``The Living Overlay System." To open up this sometimes controversial practice, we will be in a process of looking at it from the why, what, where when and how of it. This way of going on will give us a good template to examine the question to buzz or not to buzz. All of this is to provide insight which might help to realize that certain conditions in our playing mouthpiece practicing might aid and other times not help our situation but make it worse. Together we will discuss some of our experiences, confusion, misunderstandings, the pros and cons and various ways and styles of approach. Should be very interesting and revealing! It is a good idea to always have your instrument on hand. Of course this is optional but it will add to your participation and experience. A donation of $10 for students and 15-$20 for all others working and out of school is required. If there is a real hardship with this price for some of you, please get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is also a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put Bolter Masterclass in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. Please have your donation in by Friday, June 24th by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Saturday June 25th and email me at normtobe at gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 10:30am EDT. If you have not received an email from me by 10:30am EDT on 6/25 and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get a Zoom link. Forward the best! Norman Mr. Bolter etc.

FBSMC 14, Companion post part 1 for video 2, Born To Be and Do

Isn’t it amazing how everything has intelligence, purpose and function?! All life is serving something with purpose and honey bees are a great easily seen example of this. All flora and fauna have intelligence, purpose and function that is “wired “ into them according to the needs of the ecology that they are part of. All life on our planet, is serving Mother Earth in some capacity. They are all in sync with the laws of Nature that govern life here on Earth. What does the human being have in common with all the other mammals, insects, fish, reptiles and birds? We protect our young, we fetch food for them, we teach them things and provide shelter for them. Also, all these living lives (including human) mate, breath air and/or water, eat and excrete. We all move with apparatus designed to function according to our habitat. It is clear some species of life have very advanced communication systems and protection systems. They have designated functions in their societies. So far from what has been written, it is hard to tell humans from all the rest of the creatures on Earth! All species are different ad look REALLY different too. It is very clear that a human is a human and not something else. Even though we call each other animal names like pig, dog, and have phrases like “quit “horsing” around” or “stop being an as” These names are mostly not meant as a complement! But there are phrases like “he is as strong as an ox,” “as cleaver as a fox,” “ that person won’t get out of their shell,” “they eat like a bird.” I’m sure you can think of many examples. :-) The human is gifted with choice. This distinction is very significant and shows that the human being has a potential to make choice to go beyond selfish behavior and be of service into life or the reverse. The human being can be the most powerful source of bringing the higher forces into the world or the complete opposite. This is not my opinion, it is a fact as seen in everyday and throughout the course of human history. Those of us who feel drawn to the arts, have an important place in the world. But is it more important than others?? Every job, depending on the qualities, character and inner alignments of the person doing that job, can put more joy, light, honor, care, peace, healing, humanity and other fine qualities into the environment or process thoughts and actions like cheating, lying, greed, dishonesty, meanness, bitterness, crime and other degenerate corrupt vibrations into the environment. Everything can have Art in it. Music certainly has a special place in life. other people who might not consider themselves to be musicians, can most certainly “sing the song” of upliftment, courage, spirit, determination, hope, peace, love and of course sadness, grief, fear, tragedy pain as well. All the things that humans go through, has been expressed in music and all the arts. Music, no matter what the genre is, expresses all the qualities mentioned and more, right?? Not all music is meant to be beautiful. But this depends on what is moving through the composer of the song, symphony, ballade, opera etc. REMEMBER: It’s not who wrote the music, it’s WHAT wrote the music. Have a good think about that.:-) Choice is part of the second overlay isn’t it? The driver of the vehicle (first overlay). What do you want in your music?? I can tell you that I expressed every emotion I had through my trombone. Not all of it pleasant to listen too!! But it was a means of letting feelings out. Toxins build up in us mentally and emotionally and lots of music expresses the composer’s own build up of personal trauma, fear, failure, depression, stress; all of which are kinds of toxic build up that need release and will find a way to release in ways that are much more harmful to oneself and others than getting those feelings out through a musical instrument or compositions. More.. Born to be and do -Bees caste system 1. queen (the only one) 2. workers (females) 3. drones (males) They are what they are- no choice to be any different Human Being Overlay 1 -Robotic Automatic System- involuntary -Human (form), vehicle Overlay 2 -Skill and Choice- voluntary -Mind-mentality, driver Overlay 3 -Integration and Art- unity and wholeness -Being (essence) destination -habits-unconscious -awareness-first step to being conscious -Growing discernment ( seeing more distinctions at increasingly more subtle levels (cause) Ask yourself: -What do you want? -How to get get what you want? regularity is a key driver that creates a signal informing your involuntary automatic system that this is something you want established. Asking oneself questions is an excellent way to further your quest. It also stimulates your awareness and gives it specificity. One of the greatest deterrents to improvement is not taking the time (thoughtful attention) that something needs for ti to develop . Working with interest and awareness is an attitude (second overlay) that will inform your first overlay (automatic robotic systems) with finer clarity and direction. TRY THIS: 1. Play and Listen 2. Ask yourself; Is this closer or further away from what I want? 3. Record yourself and ask; a) How was the pitch, rhythm, timbre, evenness, articulation, end of notes etc? Make a list and put it in front of you in that really helps! b) Where and when was it starting to move in a negative or more positive direction? c) What was the reason for it changing from better to worse or from worse to better? d) Ask yourself “Why, when, where and how did I lose my focus?”

Warm-Up Wednesday starting 6/22/22

Hi everyone! Warm-Up Wednesday, (previously called Let's Warm-Up!), will begin this Wednesday morning, June 22nd from 10am-11am EDT. on Zoom. The session will be very engaging and includes work into breathing, mouthpiece techniques, slurs, some range building and a variety of articulations. Here is a link to the under 5 minute introductory video: https://youtu.be/VPfccriikR0 A donation of $5 is required. If there is a real hardship with this price for some of you, please get in touch with me soon. Those who are interested in attending, whom I don’t know yet and have never participated in any of my offerings, please send me an email as soon as you are able. Please send your donations to paypal.me/vierabolter. HERE IS SOMETHING IMPORTANT to say about paying on paypal: Once in a while some people press the wrong box and a fee is taken out and we have to pay extra and we actually get less because a fee is taken out of the donation. -There are two choices once you hit paypal.me/vierabolter, 1. in the blue square on the left it says it says personal. 2. in the white square on the right it says purchase. 3.*** YOU WANT TO PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL.*** If you press the purchase box it is a BIG problem for us. You are not purchasing a material item. PLEASE ONLY PRESS THE BLUE BOX ON THE LEFT THAT SAYS PERSONAL. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation in advance! There is also a place to mark down what you are paying for. Please put Warm-Up Wednesday in that area. Also feel free to pass this email along to all those that might be interested .If you are sending this email to others whom I might not have emails for, please have them send me an email so they can get a Zoom link and get on the email list. It's best to have your donation in by Tuesday, June 21st by the end of the evening. If you are late, please send in your donation as soon as possible on Wednesday June 22nd and email me at normtobe@gmail.com or text me 617-759-1620 by 9:30am EDT. If you have not received an email from me by 9am EDT on 6/22 and have already paid, PLEASE get in touch with me asap. Only those that have sent in the donation will get a Zoom link. Looking forward to warming up alone and together!! Norman Mr. Bolter etc.

FBSMC 14, Companion post for video 1, "How Does Your Garden Grow?"

Hopefully you enjoyed and received some valuable information and insights from Video 1 “How Does Your Garden Grow?” This blog post will highlight certain points that were brought up in about the first half of video 1 by making things clearer with examples and approaching them through different angles. It is quite comprehensive so take your time to be in a process with it. It is not about being in a typical school setting as this opening section talks about. At 1 minute into the video, the current educational system is mentioned. Let’s use the words spoken on the video to easily look at the basic form of school learning: 1. study 2. gather information 3. take test It would have been more accurate to change the order to: 1. receive information 2. study 3. take test For a musician it could be understood as: 1.take lessons (receive information) 2.practice (study) 3.take an audition, play a concert, taking a lesson (test) FBSMC is about organic learning. Thus the ongoing phrase, music s a living thing. FBSMC education is building a relationship with nature, life and your art as a living integrated part of life. Thus the Living Overlay System: 1.Robotic Automatic System (body-complex) 2.Skill and Choice (ability and discerning mind) 3.Integration and Art (purpose and connection to essence) At a more beginning level it would be: 1.Vehicle 2.Driver 3.Destination At 5:30-5:49 in the video, there is a question asked: “Why would Nature grow a vine like bittersweet?” To be clear, not all bittersweet is an invasive species. Some were brought here from Asia and others are native to central and eastern North America. Everything in Nature has its place. We might not want certain things in our garden even if it’s native to our land because it will get in the way of the kind of garden we want to grow. It is important to remember that Nature doesn't do anything arbitrarily. There is a reason and purpose behind each living thing whether we can see it or not. Nature’s laws are intelligent and always work towards balancing life. Also in the video, it says that Honeysuckle is not an “invasive” species. The kind in our yard might be a Japanese Honeysuckle which IS an invasive species but there is also a native Honeysuckle that thrives east of the Mississippi river. The flowers on our Honeysuckle plants are yellow, but there are other Honeysuckles that have white and sometimes pink flowers. (The fragrance is amazing! So tender and sweet). Not all things that are taken out of a garden or yard are “invasive” meaning from outside the local geography. However, they are removed because other things want or need to be planted in that space. Like people, not all local plants get along with each other! :-) The Moving Center The moving center, which was not mentioned in the video, is located in the stomach and it is an enforcer of habits. It has an incredilbly strong influence on our lives and it is up to us, our will and deliberate conscious intentions, to have control over it as much as possible by understanidng it and building a relationship with it. Humans are influenced in enumerable ways; family, friends, schooling, the work place, genetics, neighborhood, country, and even our time of birth and so much more. *These influences can unconsciously mold our thinking, habitual actions, moods, likes and dislikes, attitudes, values and on and on. All of which can condition the moving center which is a member of our first overlay, the automatic robotic systems. Our moving center is itself a robotic automatic system which creates and enforces habits which are formed through constant repetition of actions whether they be mental, emotional or physical. For example, we can have a repetitive thought pattern that if repeated on a regular basis will turn into a habit via our moving center but at the mental level. The same process happens when and wherever repetition is taking place i.e. the way we walk, eat, brush our teeth, play our instruments and so forth. Now, there is a reason we have a moving center and thank heavens that we do! However it is up to us to manage what we want to grow in our habit life garden, for certain habits like over-eating when we are under stress, will drain our energy and cause ill health. This is what is meant by the phrase 'life style change." Change in order to be healthier mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Also the phrase, "take control of your life" is about you driving the ship of yourself instead of unconsciously being led by acquired habits without any awareness and thought. Depending on how long you have been doing something, it can take a long time to "rewrite" those habits and move beyond them. SO! Just like bittersweet can strangle our plants, certain habit "plants" can strangle our intentions and slow its progress. But other habits can move our art in a forward direction by forming good attitudes and playing foundations IF, we are aware of them by ongoing critical thinking, meaning in this instance, having “observant-awareness” which can increase our command over the moving center directing our habits in a more productive and deliberate direction. At 8:55-9:04 in the video, maintenance practice is mentioned. Yards and gardens take a TON of constant maintenance and this is directly related to Mother Nature. The Earth itself is dependent on the laws of Mother Nature to keep things in order and good maintenance. Everything has a purpose doesn't it? Ask yourself this question; "Does everything I do in my playing have purpose?" This is a great question because it will highlight the areas of your practice that do not have purposeful intention behind them. If it is not purposeful intention, most likely it will turn into a an unconscious habit that may or may not be useful.** We ongoingly create "habit plants" as referred to in the section starting at 7:19-7:50 in the video. This process of creating habits falls under the saying "you become what you think about." Which for a musician can be said as "you become what you practice." Some of the most important words ever said in understanding human and artistic development. At 11:56 in the video, the influence of environment is brought up and how it affects us unconsciously. It's very much like a bird flying by distributing its droppings that land in our garden. When we look at our garden and notice something we didn’t plant, we can pretty easily figure out the different ways in which it was planted. Being in an environment surrounded by lots of people, it can be more difficult to know what get's into at first. When we are using observant awareness, we can notice things that we haven’t come to deliberately that are expressing themselves through our thoughts and actions. Parents are certainly in for a shock when they see their children come home from school and wonder what is coming out of their mouths! They think, “They didn’t get that from me! You weren’t raised that way!” That doesn’t mean all the outside the famly influences were bad but it is noticable to the parent that it is "foreign." If a person is more serious about their life and art, they start to question what is in them and take out the “droppings” they do not want growing in their garden to make room for other thoughts to sprout and grow. As a great life mentor of mine said, “It does depend on what you know; how my friend does your garden grow?” *The Robotic Automatic System which is our whole human body-complex has (among the many other systems housed in our body-complex) a voluntary system and an involuntary system. Thank heavens we don’t have to remember to beat our hearts or consciously think and control all the parts of our digestive processes! It is automatically done for us. Try to understand that because we are gifted with choice, the ability to have awareness and discernment by deliberate voluntary thinking, our created habits (whether conscious, semi conscious or unconscious) informs our involuntary systems. Notice when we are preoccupied with more stressful, negative or coarser thoughts, it affects our health. This says that all the systems in the involuntary automatic system i.e.nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive and excretory systems to name a few, are affected and react all in their own way. Hence you literally become what you think about and practice. Thus the importance of having an actual healthy attitude informing our involuntary systems. Ponder: will - w = ill. **pedagogical note: This is where playing can move into sounding robotic as opposed to being alive! The teacher can have a very important role in balancing healthy mechanics and fundamentals based on the actual needs of the student. Following a rule book or "orthadoxy" of a certain "school" of playing and/or teaching does not work for all students. Everyone of us are custom made! Depending on the approach of teaching, one can relate to the student by being robotic and blind to the actual needs of the student, or be an uplifting and engaging process of discovery!