Successful Trumpet Practice: Trust the Process and Learn From Errors

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so there’s a fantastic post by my dear friend ken kenmatic on the on the forum windworks forum mysterymastery.com come and check it out get involved talking really good serious stuff here are some learning concepts that have been valuable to me first trust and believe in the process what happens here if i do this oh no we don’t do that trust and believe in the process having trust in and belief in the process is important to learning and development you’ve got to understand what we’re working on

and there’s a process involved and everyone wants to overdo it so there is a process of efficiency based on an understanding of the mechanics and the acoustics and the physics of playing the horn it will feel different it will feel like you’re not doing anything but the process will be right i’ve got what’s called no note sit there and do the right process and go and people will go no note came out and i’ll go congratulations the process was right check out the difference between a

no note and a low c [Applause] all i’m doing is changing the aperture corners a little bit tiny bit aperture corners milk spout firm the corners no note becomes a note and it might you might not get the c right in the at the time doesn’t matter keep working on it you will second embrace those mistakes or missteps that lead to self-discovery mistakes or errors and or missteps are an important part of the learning process i like to approach them as an opportunity for non-critical self-discovery

non-critical be kind to yourself there are even times when i discover something that works uh there are even times when i discover something that works that is the part of the process working with eyes closed for self-awareness while not being self-critical is helpful to me if you’re serious about improving your playing and you want to overcome hurdles read those words and embrace them so important third take responsibility for your own learning i find that it’s important for me to be responsible and do the work by

following the process and working on the system if i do not do the work i cannot expect the results that i want to achieve i also try to be aware of my progress and make an honest evaluation of where i am in the sequence of the process i find that it’s important that as i do not get that i do not get try that i don’t try to get ahead of myself in the exercises development and learning is a lifelong endeavor just some quick thoughts on

the process of learning don’t rush ahead illusion of competence it’s a killer we think we’re doing it right but we’re not um take your time eyes closed look at the mrimastery.com home page eyes open for learning eyes closed for storing open for learning what’s the exercise what does it look like when it’s demonstrated what does it look like when i read the instructions then close my eyes and do the process replicating the process from away from the instrument then on the instrument is the tricky part

because the belief system says this won’t work this can’t work i can’t play like this versus i understand the physics i understand the acoustics i understand the process i understand how it works the three-word slogan is this must work it feels different that is fine errors are the learning process because of your understanding of how it works and the end result that you want you then adhere to process eyes closed replicate process instrument on no note happens don’t panic because you’re getting close to the result

that’s an error we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted then all of a sudden some would call that an error others would call that a building block a step a fundamental step towards the correct outcome milk spout aperture corners in body’s concert hall drop that’s not what i want but the process was great the result wasn’t what i wanted but the process was great oh where did that come from gone from no note tick to a note tick good good was it the result that

i want no was the process right yes now let’s keep changing it aperture corners tongue position mantra number one i want the lips to interact with the air as if they’re the vocal cords playing is no harder than humming talking and singing [Music] please read re-read and read again ken’s awesome post it’s really important stuff see you later