Companion Notes for Zoom Session 4, You Become Your Practice, Part 1

No matter what we do on a regular basis, it constitutes what we practice in our daily lives. If "practice makes perfect", what is it making perfect? What we think, how we act, why we do what we do, where and when we act or do not act, all point to aspects of what we presently are or have become over time. "Hence, We Become Our Practice."

We have the ability to CHANGE and improve ourselves. It ain't always easy, that's for sure! So change is a real possibility and is a wonderful quality of being human. We have been changing since conception and developed through all the stages until birth. And notice, we haven't stopped changing!:-) As my great life mentor said:

CHANGE IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO EXIST

The above statement comes from a very elevated place concerning the greater human potential, high third overlay level. What is interesting is that the human being, like other living things on the planet, has a 1st overlay that develops automatically into the physical vehicle. A phrase we've heard in the music field and other fields when someone has a strong aptitude for something is "they're a natural." Well, that natural 1st stage was part of what they were born with and didn't have to work for. The 2nd stage, 2nd overlay, needs to be worked for to develop fully. The 3rd stage is of WHY they do what they do. WHAT drives them??? In this case, the power of their desire (the desire being the expression of the essence that moves them, 3rd overlay) drives their 2nd overlay, the human driver which of course needs the vehicle (1st overlay) to be the instrument of outward expression.

The 2nd overlay is the driver. Like learning to ride a bike, within a period of time with all the falling and trying to remember what you need to balance, all this learning gradually becomes "2nd nature." The first overlay gets the hang of it and off you go. It becomes automatic. The 2nd overlay is called "skill and choice" which means you have more freedom for choice as your skill gets more developed. The third overlay dictates why you ride the bike and what you want to pursue with it. For example, do you want to participate in competitive racing or use bicycling for exercise or a means of transportation? Whichever is your reason or reasons for riding a bike, would be your purpose. A deeper third overlay would be for personal quest

Companion Notes for Zoom session 2, You Become WHY You Practice

Since this session is using why as a point to start this week's inquiry into practicing, the question may arise; Why did I choose the title for this course to be "Five VITAL Approaches to Practicing?" It is a good question and I'll give some of my reasoning behind it.

First of all, I wasn't doing lots of reasoning before I picked the topic. It came about when I was practicing and started thinking about an issue that appeared in my playing. In the midst of this, I became very aware of the naturalness of the reasoning process, in this case, problem solving.  After finding out what the issue was, I started to wonder why it was happening. Once the why it was happening became clear, I naturally found myself asking how I can fix this and work with this. But after working with the how and finding the means and ways to work with the issue, more practicing showed me that I had worked it out in one range and dynamic, but things changed a bit when going into different registers and dynamics. It was this that led to where does it start and when does it start!

However, a person in a similar scenario might start with a different order of what, why, how, where and when. In a moment of frustration you might yell out "WHY or "WHAT am I going to do about this!" or "WHEN will this ever end?"

 

As a matter of fact, I had to find when does it start and where does it start to even get to finding the register and dynamic that worked well enough to have a place to start! And guess where this led me? To the Can Do Point!

That whole practice session was a process of getting to the Can DO Point! :-)     

Zoom Session 2, 11/18 to Five Vital Approaches to Practicing, Zoom Link included

Greetings Everyone and hope all is well!

A NOTE BEFOREHAND

Most of the people on this email list who know a bit about my teaching and what is important to me, understand the principles that are talked about are not just trombone related. They come from the sentiment of "Music as a Living Thing." Musicians of all kinds would benefit from these principles, concepts, exercises and self inquiry my videos and courses provide. Certainly all brass players could use the brass techniques because they are just not trombone related. I've had many brass players attend the sessions.

"Five Vital Approaches To Practicing" Zoom Session 2 titled "You Become Why You Practice" will be this Saturday 1/18 at 11am Eastern Time. Donation instructions and join Zoom Session link are below.

Inspiration for the Course

Since we spend so much time at certain points in our playing life practicing alone, it is important to realize we are never really practicing alone! We are always “attended” by our state of consciousness, mindset, attitudes, expectations, moods, successes, failures, timelines etc. and what these attract to ourselves whether useful or not useful. These thoughts create an internal ecology which oversees or governs our practice sessions.

Session 1 approached you becoming what you practice. Lots came from this including a new short tune. This session on 1/18 we will get into you become why you practice. Even though this phrase might sound or look odd, Session 2 gets us closer to our motives and reasons about why we choose to play and the effects it has on practicing and our music making. This session is a deeper tuning into ourselves.

Please bring your horns. :-) We experiment in these sessions to bring to life through our horns to practice why and what is being said.

Zoom Session Topics and Schedule

-Zoom Session 1- You Become What You Practice 1/11

Zoom Session 2- You Become Why You Practice 1/18

Zoom Session 3- You Become How You Practice 1/25

Zoom Session 4- You Become When You Practice 2/1

Zoom Session 5- You Become Where You Practice 2/8

It is ok if you have not attended the first session. Eventually it all becomes interconnected. You can also view last weeks blog notes:https://frequencybone.blogspot.com/2025/01/companion-notes-for-five-vital.html

Five Vital Approaches To Practicing requires a donation of $10 for each session. The donation instructions are below*. If this is really going to be a strain for you, please get in touch with me and we will work something out. Donations can be sent out before the session begins. Thank you in advance!

Companion Notes will be located on frequencybone.blogspot.com

**I'm hoping to have a booklet of Companion Guide Notes available for purchase, after the course is done. A notification email will be sent when they are available.

Hoping to see some of you on Zoom! You are welcome to bring your horns!

Moving forward anew!

Norman

Please feel free to share this email with others you may know.

Join Zoom Session

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84518043287?pwd=t85L2blNmnaPXfE4VamaevP7XbWv9A.1

*Here are the donation directions:

*IMPORTANT NOTE

BEFORE DONATING, MAKE SURE TO PLEASE READ THE DIRECTIONS BELOW IT SO IT IS DONE CORRECTLY. THANKS IN ADVANCE!HOW TO SIGN UP:

(Note especially #6)

1. To pay/donate, please go to:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/vierabolter

2. You will arrive at a PayPal window with the Air-ev and Frequency Band symbols and the name Carol Viera (Dr V's name)

3. Click "SEND" option

4. Enter AMOUNT: $10

5. At the bottom of the same window is the prompt: "What's this payment for?" ENTER A NOTE about which session(s) you are attending (e.g. FBSMC 16, Train Athletic Craft, Private Lesson, or more than one)

6. **IMPORTANT!** Select left box titled "PERSONAL" (because you're not "purchasing" merchandise, which is the default option; selecting that option incurs extra fees and creates an income category error for us; we do declare these personal payments on our taxes, as we would private lessons and coachings)

7.COMPLETE TRANSACTION (make sure your transaction goes through)

Companion Notes for "Five Vital Approaches to Practicing" Zoom Session 1

You Become What You Practice!

It's true! This phrase started in the health movement (probably many decades or centuries ago) with the saying "You become what you eat." Obviously this was referring to our physical health and well being or lack thereof. We do all know how we feel after eating certain foods. I might love dairy and sweets, but afterwards I pay a price. That price has a profound effect on my physical and mental well being. Some foods, for certain people, can fog up their thinking while other foods aid with clear thought processes. So that is at the physical or first overlay for those who are a bit familiar with the Overlay System that I talk about frequently.

Subsequently, the phrase "You become what you think about" speaks about our mental food, our thought and thinking processes that occur on a regular basis. This is part of the second overlay in the Overlay System. Consider our attitudes and how they govern aspects of our thinking and their effects on the quality of our actions, positive or negative in our daily life. This can be more harmful than physical food in terms of its impact on how we approach anything.

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Then, to take a glimpse into the third overlay of the Overlay System, "You become what you are truly governed by." This means your true genuineness in motives and principles. This can be looked at from the wise saying: "it is not what you do, it is the reason why you do it" that determines the motivational quality of what literally drives you.

My hope is that this post will show a sense of how to open up a territory and make it come more multi-dimensional. You become what you practice is so true because like eating or thinking, what we do with our time is what we become as people and of course artists.

Time is the most valuable commodity a person has. It is a period of time (space) that will fill our life. What is our life?? So putting this thought into our musical artistic journey, it becomes easier to feel what moves us to do what we do. Quality process is what will determine the quality of essence in our Art.

More on this next week when we look into you become WHY you practice. A good question to ask! Why do I practice???

New 5 week Course starting 1/11/25, "Five Vital Approaches To Practicing"

Greetings Everyone and Happy New Year!

Starting on January 11th, 2025, running for 5 consecutive weeks, I will be giving a course on Zoom titled "Five Vital Approaches To Practicing" all at 11am Eastern Time. Zoom links will be emailed a couple of days before each session. Donation instructions are below.

Inspiration for the Course

Since we spend so much time at certain points in our playing life practicing alone, it is important to realize we are never really practicing alone! We are always “attended” by our state of consciousness, mindset, attitudes, expectations, moods, successes, failures, timelines etc. and what these attract to ourselves whether useful or not useful. These thoughts create an internal ecology which oversees or governs our practice sessions.

Oftentimes, we don’t have a clear plan to help. And there are many plans that do help! I’ve been thinking about this particular plan that will be featured in this 5 part course. "Five Vital Approaches To Practicing" is intended to give more options and insightfulness to the player’s practice sessions hence being more aware to help in getting off the hamster wheel of repetition that often can turn into a rut.

Zoom Session Topics and Schedule

Zoom Session 1- You Become What You Practice 1/11

Zoom Session 2- You Become Why You Practice 1/18

Zoom Session 3- You Become How You Practice 1/25

Zoom Session 4- You Become When You Practice 2/1

Zoom Session 5- You Become Where You Practice 2/8

If possible, I encourage those interested to attend all 5 sessions to see the connection and interaction of these 5 approaches with each other.

Five Vital Approaches To Practicing requires a donation of $10 for each session. The donation instructions are below*. If this is really going to be a strain for you, please get in touch with me and we will work something out. Donations can be sent out before the session begins. Thank you in advance!

Companion Notes will be located on frequencybone.blogspot.com. Extra notes and exercises will require a separate donation. A notification email will be sent when they are available.

Hoping to see some of you on Zoom! You are welcome to bring your horns!

Moving forward anew!

Norman

Please feel free to share this email with others you may know.

Join Zoom Session

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85647597667?pwd=HGpsp9Q3aeb44ZIYdatLVXA6qGs4ZR.1

*Here are the donation directions:

*IMPORTANT NOTE

BEFORE DONATING, MAKE SURE TO PLEASE READ THE DIRECTIONS BELOW IT SO IT IS DONE CORRECTLY. THANKS IN ADVANCE!HOW TO SIGN UP:

(Note especially #6)

1. To pay/donate, please go to:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/vierabolter

2. You will arrive at a PayPal window with the Air-ev and Frequency Band symbols and the name Carol Viera (Dr V's name)

3. Click "SEND" option

4. Enter AMOUNT: $10

5. At the bottom of the same window is the prompt: "What's this payment for?" ENTER A NOTE about which session(s) you are attending (e.g. FBSMC 16, Train Athletic Craft, Private Lesson, or more than one)

6. **IMPORTANT!** Select left box titled "PERSONAL" (because you're not "purchasing" merchandise, which is the default option; selecting that option incurs extra fees and creates an income category error for us; we do declare these personal payments on our taxes, as we would private lessons and coachings)

7.COMPLETE TRANSACTION (make sure your transaction goes through)

More About My Time With Bill Moyer..

This is a companion post to the video that was uploaded to YouTube called: "Not Again Norman" Remembering William "Bill" Moyer.

One of the things I said on the video was "he played me a recording of the Mozart Requiem" in regards to meplaying for Bill set up by my Uncle Sherman Walt. I want to be clear that Sherman played me that recording when we went to Boston on that same trip. On the video it almost sounds like Bill played me the recording.

There are some other stories that were not mentioned in the video that were really pretty funny. On one of the Japanese trips, I think it was the 1986 BSO Japan tour, one night I asked Bill about his day. He told me that he went to a unique Japanese restaurant where they specialize in turtles as a delicacy. Right away it did not sound very appetizing to me.. But Bill went on to say everything they had on the menu had to do with turtles. So I interjected and said "so they started you off with turtle soup I take?" He responded "Well Norman, that wasn't the first thing. We started off with a cocktail. It was a Bloody Mary." (Oh, oh I thought). Bill continued "and yes, it was a turtle blood Mary. I winced! And he said "I felt a bit guilty because I liked it." At that point I totally lost my own need for food. Especially since I was a strict vegetarian! But hearing him say it with "classic" Bill Moyer pitch and phrasing, I started laughing my head off and so did he!

Before I was in the orchestra and living in a first floor apartment on Strathmore Road in Brighton, Bill and I were on the phone talking about some extra work. I mentioned I was taking an audition and he said he was in the basic area and he would come over to my apartment and listen to me if that would help. I couldn't believe he was offering that,so after a split second I said "great!"

In about 15 minutes the doorbell rang. I had just enough time to make things look a little better, and welcomed Bill inside. I took him to the end of my long basement apartment's hallway into my practice room. It was a pretty big room where there was a music stand, music, my trombone and blank walls except for one. This wall had penciled on it in very big letters, WIND AND SONG. This was a quote from Arnold Jacods, world known tubist and brass teacher from the Chicago Symphony.

Not before long, I was playing 1st trombone orchestral excerpts for him and the last excerpt he wanted to hear was from Robert Schumann's 3rd Symphony "The Renish." The 4th movement has a very high part for the first trombone and is a very well known trombone excerpt. I played it a couple of times because for some reason I cracked the high Eb. After I played better, Bill said in a very complimentary positive full tone, "Ah Norman, you have such a beautiful tone on the high Eb" and then under his breath I heard "when you get them." Subtle Bill!

In 1994, Bill and Betsy, his lovely wife, were renting their Japanese style home on their quiet, really nice property off Interlaken Road in Stockbridge MA. Very intimate location close to the back gate of Tanglewood (Lion's gate). The house to the right, which was hidden by the lush trees, was where Gunther Schuller lived.

My wife Carol and I loved the area and the traditional Japanese house so we rented it for two summers. I was really getting into composing that summer at that time and I'm sure Gunther's nearby presence was influencing me! While we were first looking at the property, Bill was showing us the yard. He had a place where he said he kept a pony. I said "Wow Bill! I didn't know you were interested in horses." Bill responded by saying that his children really wanted a pony so he "gave in" and made the space for one. There certainly was enough room on the land I thought. I commentated by saying that was an amazing thing you did and it must have been quite costly and took a ton of work. Bill responded by saying after one of his long sighs, "Oh, we did everything we could for our children" with a wistfulness and gentle smile on his face. I certainly got the feeling of his commitment to family, pony and all!

Here are a few photographs of Bill. Doug Yeo who took the first two of these photos, kindly gave me permission to use them in this blog post. They all capture aspects of Bill. The first one was on a tour, probably the 1986 Japanese tour in his very organized mode writing on top of orchestra trunks.

This picture, also from the 1986 Japan tour, carries a lot of the essence of my relationship with Bill:

This last picture was taken at a gathering of retired BSO members set up by percussionist Tom Gauger, in about 2010 or so. It captures three generations of BSO 2nd trombone players; Bill, Ron Barron and myself. This last picture is one that all those who knew Bill would certainly recognize this facial expression of his right away! I loved my time with Bill. And, feel very fortunate to have had this warm and endearing relationship with him. I take comfort knowing he is in the best of hands and always will be.

FBSMC16, Zoom Session 10, Thursday 8/8/24, 11am Eastern, "What Leads You?"

Frequency Bone Summer Music Connection 16 FBSMC 16) Making Your Practicing a Time of Connection and Discovery! Zoom Session 10, will be tomorrow, Thursday August 8th at 11am EDT on Zoom. Zoom Invitation is included below under Join Zoom Session.

BRING YOUR HORNS! The Zoom Session 10 is called "What Leads You?" We will be experimenting together to find the difference when we are connected to the spirit or essence of the music and how that will lead our music making. This will open up greater insights into the 2nd and 3rd overlays of the Overlay System.

FBSMC 16 Video 6 is now uploaded to YouTube! It is called "Details." This video happened after I anagrammed the word details. It was amazing where that led me! It is a shorter video with me playing for about 4.5 minutes in the beginning and then talking about what my process was and what it revealed to me about the Overlay System.

Video 6 Link: https://youtu.be/RKhlvxZ7EPo

***Companion Notes- I will send out an email when they are ready and of course anyone can purchase them. They are not just for those who attended the Zoom Sessions. Price to be determined.

Join Zoom Session

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89070291819?pwd=hnjzTAaXVnOMea5pUl6uEYIFFxzddb.1

Forward the best and leave the rest!

Norman

Please feel free to share this email with others you may know.

*Here are the donation directions:

*IMPORTANT NOTE

BEFORE DONATING, MAKE SURE TO PLEASE READ THE DIRECTIONS BELOW IT SO IT IS DONE CORRECTLY. THANKS IN ADVANCE!HOW TO SIGN UP:

(Note especially #6)

1. To pay/donate, please go to:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/vierabolter

2. You will arrive at a PayPal window with the Air-ev and Frequency Band symbols and the name Carol Viera (Dr V's name)

3. Click "SEND" option

4. Enter AMOUNT: $10

5. At the bottom of the same window is the prompt: "What's this payment for?" ENTER A NOTE about which session(s) you are attending (e.g. FBSMC 16, Train Athletic Craft, Private Lesson, or more than one)

6. **IMPORTANT!** Select left box titled "PERSONAL" (because you're not "purchasing" merchandise, which is the default option; selecting that option incurs extra fees and creates an income category error for us; we do declare these personal payments on our taxes, as we would private lessons and coachings)

7.COMPLETE TRANSACTION (make sure your transaction goes through)