Hi guys…
enjoyed reading these posts.. I didn’t understand alot but then I don’t need to.. which is where the Inner game of tennis kicks in…best book written some say on how to play the trumpet…. idea in the book is that to learn (tennis or the trumoet) you don’t need to annalyze.. make things happen .. rather give power to your inner self..let things happen. I am not a good trumpet player.. yet.. but I am pretty good billiards player. I am analyitical (self1) about shot selection but when it comes to execution I go into intuitive “self2” mode.. and after the shot I might think “wow.. how did I do that.. was I just lucky!!” I think it can be the same in the trumpet..you need to give “self2” a nudge towards learning.. let him/her to understand concepts like reasonace.. relaxed lips.. loose top lip.. body hall.. shape and for me warm air (imagine you are trying to fog up a mirror in the bathroom.. very relaxed open throat) and just let go.. cos I don’t know about you but my best experiences/sounds on the trumpet (3 years) have been from nowhere.. effortless..like magic.. wow how did I do that! Sportspeople know this..its their ability to get into the zone.. and the converse is true.. in our billiards match Arto.. one of our competitors.. was playing really well.. above his standard.. he was in the zone.. so I must confess I played an underhand trick “wow Arto you’re playing amazing tonight.. what’s your secret” sure enough from then on his peformance went down as he stopped letting go (self2) and reverted to making the shot (self1).. My twin brother was playng in the same match.. he is a btter player than me but didn’t play as well as me when the pressure was on.. he was focused n winning (self1) and not playng beautiful billiards to the utmost of his potential (self2) so that’s my question.. is too much analysis / focus on “winning” / development actually going to inhibit / slow up development? Rather be informed.. watch all the videos.. Greg.. Trumpet Professor (I like Paul’s videos though not his 2 pence coin strengthening exercises!) M2M etc.. have a clear enough understanding of the direction of travel you want to go in to be able to gibve self2 that nudge-to-learning and then hand over the steering wheel to self 2.. allow him/her “to play beautiful sounds” (or for that matter allow self2 to fail.. then self1’s job is to pick up self2 .. bit more of a nudge and
then encourage to have another go!) sit back and enjoy the ride! cheers steve