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Well said, philip. You’re right, failure is a good thing–it is how we learn. It can be frustrating when it happens, especially if we are focused on Results and do not have the mindset of being an objective observer. And if we don’t do anything to experiment trying something better, refocusing on better process and what it means to play open, relaxed, with passive air, efficiently, freely.
In time, we develop a series of “coffee moments” as Greg calls them which I guess are the new “neural pathways” in our minds of how to play. It becomes more and more second nature and our worst “bad days” become greater than our best “good days” before. I just posted something on the “must read” thread Greg created yesterday that is kind of on this same topic if you’re interested.
I’ve done repeated laps through Largo and am better each time I do, coming away with something new each time.
When I was young, I treated warm up exercises as something to “get through” so I could get to the fun stuff of playing. I didn’t know why I was playing what I was playing, really; I understood it helped me feel a bit better, but I didn’t really know why or care why I was playing the notes I was playing or why there were a variety of ways one could warm up (Stamp, Caruso / Mitchell 6 notes, long tones, scales).
The nature of this beast we play is that we must begin again each day focusing on the production of sound and finding again the optimal balance of Shape and Air. When I have my best days, I find I enjoy my sound in the middle register and am amazed again at the ease at which I can play and the fullness and resonance of my sound, the openness and ease of playing. My mind is not eager to “get through” my warm up and move on to playing high notes, but enjoying the sound I am producing in the middle and low register, the foundation of everything else.
As we develop a keener sense of awareness of how it feels to play, and as it becomes easier for us to play, we remember and want that feeling again and have increased confidence as time goes by that we will find that ease again.
Be patient with yourself and observant of how things Feel and Sound and let that be your ultimate guide to how You should play–how to balance Shape and Air.
As Greg says, anyone can play anything they want on the instrument. I believe that too.
For example, I haven’t yet developed my range up to Double C, but I believe it’s physically possible for me to play that note today and I believe you can to.
I believe it’s more about coordination than it is about developing strength; that’s why there are young people that stumble across playing high notes. They’re not stronger and while they may be more “talented” in some aspects, it’s just a matter of our discovering for ourselves what precise combination of “Shape” and “Air” we need to form to make those pitches speak. I believe it’s only a matter of time before we unlock that ability, IF we are patient and objectively observe how our “experiments” work or fail and make minor adjustments based on those experimentations…and don’t overdo it and lose focus on Process to focus our attention on Results, becoming emotionally attached to the outcome of whether or not we are successful–a positive feedback loop destined to fail… And blindly playing exercises repeatedly, making no adjustment for what is working and what isn’t, expecting a different result is insanity…I used to do that, so I guess I was “insane”…
My plan for this year is to spend a small time each week on range and endurance. I’m not certain I’ll develop my range all the way to Double C in 2021, but things are off to a good start (except for overdoing it a bit)… And in my opinion, playing trumpet is more range and I will be focusing on all sorts of other aspects of my development as well. But I have kind of held off on specific goals with my range until now. I need to work on really “owning” some notes below Double C first, I was only using “Double C” as perhaps the ultimate goal for myself and most players. Above that doesn’t interest me much, except that playing a bit above that might be necessary in order to feel like one can “own” Double C and play it consistently and musically.