TROMBONE-L Digest 2394 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Hickeys BoneCat 2002-03 by "Chuck De Paolo" 2) Horn 4 Sale! by "illusions" 3) Need a case. by "Jenee Woodard" 4) Breathing by Robin Eubanks 5) Re breathing, and some quotes. by "M & S Walker" 6) Subscription info needed by Matmutt@aol.com 7) "Nerves" by sabutin 8) Re: "Nerves" by "D.J. Kennedy" 9) Re: Re breathing, and some quotes. by "Paul D. Kemp, Jr." ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 15:05:14 -0400 From: "Chuck De Paolo" To: "Trombone List" Subject: Hickeys BoneCat 2002-03 Message-ID: <001b01c1fe9e$f1a959a0$0200a8c0@ws2> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Folks, We will be at the ITF next week exhibiting. We're not looking forward to the 25 hour drive each way, but the show is sure to be a winner. If you go, please stop by the booth and introduce yourself - it's always a blast to meet up with customers on the road! Our new 2002-03 "BoneCat" Trombone Catalog is now available for download online. We expect the printed version from the printer on Monday the 20th and will have plenty on hand at Texas if all goes according to plan. If you would like to download a copy now, please visit this link: http://www.hickeys.com/bonecat2002.pdf Studio Teachers - as usual, multiple copies for use by your trombone majors are always free. Just let us know how many you need and we'll get `em out to you. You can also order them online at this page: http://www.hickeys.com/pages/bonecatx Thanks for your continued support. (please quote this message if you reply) In Music, ---Charles De Paolo General Manager & Webmaster Hickey's Music Center 104 Adams Street Ithaca, NY 14850 607.272.8262 (Phone) 607.272.2203 (Fax) chuck@hickeys.com (E-Mail) http://www.hickeys.com (Website) http://www.weather.com/weather/local/14850 ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 16:19:57 -0400 From: "illusions" To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Horn 4 Sale! Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000C_01C1FE87.DA655A80" CONN 88HCL I have a Conn 88HCL Trombone for sale. This instrument is in Superior condition, not quite a year old. Hardly any scratches and no dents. It is open wrap, rose brass, with CL2000 rotor. Comes with manufactures case w/ locks and Conn 4CL-G Lindberg Gold Mouthpiece.ÊÊI bought it for my son who was considering a pursuit in music....but unfortunately changed directions. Asking $2000, but will consider all offers. Jonathan Jones ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 18:24:52 -0400 From: "Jenee Woodard" To: Subject: Need a case. Message-ID: <005b01c1feba$d5801e00$18785dd8@gftjv01> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am in need of a case for an old Olds Ambassador trombone that lost its case when our basement was flooded a few years back. It doesn't need to be in great shape as the horn is not worth a lot. I don't want to pay much for it (maybe a few dollars and shipping costs) so E-bay tends to be out of the question I think. Here is the story...... I am teaching elementary music in a school that has a high percentage of students who are at-risk because of their family circumstances, poverty level, or both. I have one student, Bryant, who was fascinated with the trombone when I demonstrated the different instruments to the classes. Even though he has a hearing impairment, he wanted so much to try the trombone. I had an old Olds Ambassador student-line trombone in the basement (no lacquer left but plays well enough) that I took to school for him to try. In just a couple of weeks he has already shown that he will be able to play the instrument and I have agreed that if he continues to practice and play, he can keep the instrument. Now I need to find a case so he can transport it for lessons and band. Anyone out there who can help me out? Bob mailto:jeneewd@dmci.net "And the shock of walking out of the theater into broad daylight can be terrifying!" --Martin Scorsese ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 04:25:23 -0700 From: Robin Eubanks To: Subject: Breathing Message-ID: Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I read most of the discussion in the last digest about breathing with great interest. I guess ultimately you should use what works for you. Meaning, if it gives you the desired results. Personally, I'm a big proponent of taking in LOTS of air and controlling its distribution, as you need it. I feel that you need air to play a wind instrument and to get the optimum sound quality that you and your equipment can produce. Of course that's a subjective thing, but without an ample air supply and control of the aperture and embouchure, I think you're going to have problems. I use and teach aspects of the Arnold Jacobs technique in conjunction with Carmine Caruso, filtered through my own experience. Focusing on my intake and usage of air has pulled me through many situations where my endurance was coming into question, or playing upper register passages. A month ago had some oral surgery and had to do a 3 week European tour with the Dave Holland Quintet, when I was about 70% healthy. I had our sound man turn me up much louder than usual in my monitor. I couldn't play above a Bb for a week, which was a good lesson it terms of self-editing when I improvised. I also went over the set lists with Dave to let him know which pieces I could and could not play. I was surprised at how easy it was to play when you can play soft and get very close to the microphone. Range, flexibility and endurance were all significantly easier. As I gradually healed during the tour, I had to convince myself why I normally worked so hard when I had this alternative possibility. My answer was sound and expression. The trombone sound that I like to project is big , full and dark. I need to fill my.547 horn with air to get that sound. My emotional range was also limited when I played soft and didn't use lots of air. The dynamic range was minimal and I felt like I was playing with a monotone voice. As I healed in the final days of the tour, I was happy to be able to fill up and air it out. It was much more work but also much more gratifying. -Robin Visit my website at: http://www.robineubanks.com/ Hear complete songs at: http://www.mp3.com/robineubanks ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 20:48:04 +1000 From: "M & S Walker" To: "Trombone-L" Subject: Re breathing, and some quotes. Message-ID: <004b01c1ff22$a7f97900$78c5223f@ozemail.com.au> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit G'day all. Can't help but add 2 and 2 together with a quote that Sam Burtis made, and one by Bill Reichenbach some years ago at an ITA seminar. Sam says..."In fact, I often use the conversational breath idea myself...I JUST YELL A LOT!" Bill Reichenbach says in the seminar (Sorry I can't remember exactly, it was a few years ago, something along the lines of).... "I spend my day (in the recording studios) playing as loud and as low as I possibly can. Mr Remington didn't really prepare me for that". Surely breathing styles are "horses for courses". You simply can't play a soft pianissimo legato line, with the same air as an aggressive fortissimo staccatissimo pyrotechnic line, or vise-versa. Thoughts? Matthew Walker Bass Trombonist, Opera Australia Walker's Instrument Repair, "The Brassery" ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 10:50:04 EDT From: Matmutt@aol.com To: trombone-l@po.missouri.edu Subject: Subscription info needed Message-ID: <73.1fd0e9df.2a19159c@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_73.1fd0e9df.2a19159c_boundary" Hi Folks; A friend of mine wants to resubscribe to the list and my five year old info is probably out of date. What's the proper procedure and adrress?? Regards, Larry Priori L P VVVVV ™À™ V ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 11:00:27 -0400 From: sabutin To: trombone-l@po.missouri.edu Subject: "Nerves" Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="============_-1190302060==_ma============" I recently got into a discussion on the Online Trombone Journal Forum about how to deal w/nerves and stage fright in general, and since this is a topic that surfaces on this list occasionally (and actually surfaced w/in me on a quite prosaic, everyday, take-care-of-business gig I had last night where my physical approach was not really in very good shape in terms of the demands of the job), I would like to share what I wrote w/you all as well. The original question was from a university student who had been defeated by nervousness in a given situation...short of breath, etc...who asked how he might better approach that particular problem. Several people answered, all sort of circling around either accepting the nervousness as a motivator of sorts, looking into various self-help books and methods, and/or making sure your diet and health needs are taken care of...bananas, lots of liquids, etc. Only one really touched upon eliminating it entirely by a process of concentration on the music itself. I then wrote: =================== As long as you are focused on possible success or failure (and are of the type to HAVE "nerves" in the first place...no value judgement in this one way or the other, but some people got 'em and some people don't...genetics, mostly, I think) then you are going to have stage fright. You can take pills for it, read books for it, be hypnotized, succeed 2015 times in a row, go through all the complicated mental gymnastics in the world for it, but as long as the relative perception of others...ANY others... regarding your "success" or "failure" is in any way truly important to you, you're going to be scared. You may be able to more or less control it...but it will be in there, shuffling its feet, waiting for its chance to GIT YA. If, however, you can switch from an approval or success oriented approach to one of simply doing with no hope or fear of any reward or punishment from without, then PRESTO !!! The fear is gone. This is sometimes known as an existentialist point of view. It also is quite familiar to students of many oriental pathsÉTaoism, Zen and most martial arts, for instance. Musashi Miyamoto (a Japanese master swordsman and philosopher/poet/artist of the 17th century) expressed this approach best in his book "The Five Rings" .He refers to it as "No Design, No Conception", and says: "In this method, when the enemy attacks and you decide to attack, hit with your body, and hit with your spirit, and hit from the Void with your hands, accelerating strongly. This is the "No Design, No Conception" cut." "This is the most important method of hitting. It is often used. You must train hard to understand it." It is also referred to as "Munen Muso" - this means the ability to act calmly and naturally even in the face of danger. It is the highest accord with existence, when a man's word and his actions are spontaneously the same. He says further: "Step by step walk the thousand-mile road." "Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. Next, in order to beat more skilful men, train according to this book, not allowing your heart to be swayed along a side-track. Even if you kill an enemy, if it is not based on what you have learned it is not the true Way. " "If you attain this Way of victory, then you will be able to beat several tens of men. What remains is sword-fighting ability, which you can attain in battles and duels." This is an exact analogue of the progress of a musician, except that we kill no one the process and are not in direct competition w/others. Not reallyÉwe are only in competition w/ourselves. Learn that fact, and you will be free of fear. All the other methods are just band-aids. S ============================ Someone else then responded: Have you read any of Don Greene's work or any of the other things that were mentioned on this post? Your dismissal of the info as "complicated mental games" and just a "band aid" leads me to believe that you haven't. These "games" are really ways to train yourself to get into the state of mind that Miyamoto is talking about. They are short concise actions that you can take to get away from your concious mind where fear resides and get into your right brain where action and intuition reside. The goal is not to activate your mental chatterbox by perforing a set of complicated rituals. It is to acieve mental quiet. It is to find your center, a concept deeply rooted in Zen and other Eastern philosopies. When your mind is quiet and you have found your center, you can just breathe and go for it, being absorbed in the action of playing and minimally concerned with the judgement of others or yourself. Your advice is sound as always, Sam, but I find your out of hand dismissal of methods that you might not have fully investigated to be a bit narrow sighted. Especially when the "band-aid" approaches that you demean are deeply rooted in the philosophies that you so greatly respect. Just my two cents... ====== And I answered: Yes, I have looked into the astonishing proliferation of "How To Be Calm" books, and they all make me nervous. Lest you take that as just another cheap wisecrack, please let me explain. The very first of these books in English, to my knowledge, was a book called "Zen In the Art of Archery" by a German named Eugen Herrigel , published in 1953. This gentleman became interested in Zen while in Japan on business, and studied it there in some depth.. Let me from quote some of his writing. ________________________________________________ Herrigel: Soon after I arrived in Japan, a meeting took place with some Japanese colleagues in Tokyo. We were having tea together in a restaurant on the fifth floor of a hotel. Suddenly a low rumbling was heard, and we felt a gentle heaving under our feet. The swaying and creaking, and the crash of objects, became more and more pronounced. Alarm and excitement mounted. The numerous guests, Europeans mostly, rushed out into the corridor to the stairs and elevators. An earthquake-and a terrible earthquake a few years before was still fresh in everyone's memory. I too had jumped up in order to get out into the open. I wanted to tell the colleague with whom I had been talking to hurry up, when I noticed to my astonishment that he was sitting there unmoved, hands folded, eyes nearly closed, as though none of it concerned him. Not like someone who hangs back irresolutely, or who has not made up his mind, but like someone who, without fuss, was doing something-or not-doing something-perfectly naturally. The sight of him was so astounding and had such a sobering effect that I remained standing beside him, then sat down and stared at him fixedly, without even asking myself what it could mean and whether it was advisable to remain. I was spell-bound-I don't know by what-as though nothing could happen to me. When the earthquake was over -- it was said to have lasted a fairly long time-he continued the conversation at the exact point where he had broken off, without wasting a single word on what had happened. For my part I was quite unable to pay attention, and probably gave stupid answers. With the terror still chilling my limbs, I asked myself rather: What prevented me from running away? Why did I not follow an instinctive impulse? I found no satisfactory answer. A few days later I learned that this Japanese colleague was a Zen Buddhist, and I gathered that he must have put himself into a state of extreme concentration and thus become "unassailable." Although I had read about Zen before, and heard a few things about it, I had only the vaguest idea of the subject. The hope of penetrating into Zen- which had made my decision to go to Japan very much easier-changed, as a result of this dramatic experience, into the intention to start without further delay. I was more concerned with the mysticism of Zen, with the way that led beyond the "unassailability." It was not my colleague's imperturbable behavior-impressive as it was-that hovered before me as a goal, for there are other methods of attaining this without having to go to Japan. In the meantime I was informed that it was not so easy to penetrate more deeply into Zen, because Zen had no theory and no dogma. I was advised to turn to one of the arts which were most strongly influenced by Zen, and thus to make contact with it by a slow and roundabout route. This advice l followed. In my book "Zen in the Art of Archery" I have given an account of this course of instruction. _____________________________________________________________________________ One of the most significant features we notice in the practice of archery, and in fact of all the arts as they are studied in Japan and probably also in other Far Eastern countries, is that they are not intended for utilitarian purposes only or for purely aesthetic enjoyments, but are meant to train the mind; indeed, to bring it into contact with the ultimate reality. Archery is, therefore, not practiced solely for hitting the target; the swordsman does not wield the sword just for the sake of outdoing his opponent; the dancer does not dance just to perform certain rhythmical movements of the body. The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious. If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an "artless art" growing out of the Unconscious. In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality. The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's - eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art. What differentiates Zen most characteristically from all other teachings, religious, philosophical, or mystical, is that while it never goes out of our daily life, yet with all its practicalness and concreteness Zen has something in it which makes it stand aloof from the scene of worldly sordidness and restlessness. Here we come to the connection between Zen and archery, and such other arts as swordsmanship, flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, dancing, and the fine arts. Zen is the "everyday mind" . . . This "everyday mind" is no more than "sleeping when tired, eating when hungry." As soon as we reflect, deliberate, and conceptualize, the original unconsciousness is lost and a thought interferes. We no longer eat while eating, we no longer sleep while sleeping. The arrow is off the string but does not fly straight to the target, nor does the target stand where it is. Calculation which is miscalculation sets in. The whole business of archery goes the wrong way. The archer's confused mind betrays itself in every direction and every field of activity. Man is a thinking reed but his great works are when he is not calculating and thinking. "Childlikeness" has to be restored with long years of training in the art of self-forgetfulness. When this is attained, man thinks yet he does not think. He thinks like the showers coming down from the sky; he thinks like the waves rolling on the ocean; he thinks like the stars illuminating the nightly heavens; he thinks like the green foliage shooting forth in the relaxing spring breeze. Indeed, he is the showers, the ocean, the stars, the foliage. _______________________________________________________ S: Now please go to Don Greene's website, http://www.dongreene.com/. (I am not picking on Dr. Greene here, you could go to hundreds of websites strung along the internet and see similar information.) See the charts and catch phrases, read through the advice he gives; take the survey if you wish. If you think he is purveying something on the same level as what Mr. Herrigel experienced, then by all means, go ahead and use it. I do not. I am not advocating the study of "Zen" here, whatever that may or may not mean, I am merely saying that in the case of performance anxiety we too can become "unassailable" by the simple expedient of forgetting about success and failure, possible approval and approbation, and just playing. No books full of charts can teach you this; there are no "How To" manuals. As Mr. Herrigel says: "I was informed that it was not so easy to penetrate more deeply into Zen, because Zen had no theory and no dogma. I was advised to turn to one of the arts which were most strongly influenced by Zen, and thus to make contact with it by a slow and roundabout route." There is "no theory and no dogma" regarding this thing either. You either do it or you don't, and just as archery (or kendo or calligraphy or flower arrangement, etc.) was recommended as a way to learn this in Japan, so can it be learned here as well in the study of music, in certain athletic endeavors and other physical arts . . You don't need a Zen master to teach you thisÉjust another musician who is no longer afraidÉand the real end result of such work is not merely the attainment of a better performance (or hitting a target w/an arrow), but of another way of living. A quick story about Carmine Caruso, and then I'm outta here. Some time after it began to dawn on me that Carmine was teaching something deeper than just brass playing, I found the Herrigel book and was stuck by its similarity to some of the things Carmine was sayingÉor NOT saying, actually. Carmine was teaching the DOING, not the thinking about doing (or the thinking about NOT thinking about doing, which appears to be the provenance of almost all the semi-new age self help books that try to follow the often lucrative path first blazed by Herrigel). If you asked Carmine a question about technique, or nerves or physiology or tactics or just about anything else on earth that pertained to brass playing, he would eventually gently and kindly lead you back to playing one of his exercises w/no words going on in your head whatsoever. Anyway, I thought I'd teach HIM something, child that I was, and went to my next lesson w/a brand new, once read copy of the Herrigel book. I immediately showed it to himÉyou have to picture a fairly old man in an undershirt and baggy pants, sitting in a battered easychair in a cluttered office overlooking 46th St. near B'way in Manhattan, cars honking four stories down on the other side of a window that had been uinwashed for many, many yearsÉ1972, maybe '73, the theme from "Shaft" played on someone's shouldered boombox drifting up among the car hornsÉ Carmine looked at the book, smiled, reached in a drawer in a crowded cabinet by his chair and extracted a battered old copy of the same book, said "Oh yesÉnice book", replaced it and then said "Well? Let's hear the six notes". (His most basic exercise.) Herrigel would have recognized this scene, I am sure, and I have never forgotten it. Relax. Be happy. Practice and play.ÊÊ Forget about the rest of itÉit will take care of itself. It always has. LaterÉ S. Ê . ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 12:29:02 -0500 From: "D.J. Kennedy" To: sabutin@mindspring.com Cc: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Re: "Nerves" Message-ID: <3CE7E0DE.E912375F@midwest.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------132FDBCE58784B94B4BB3377" sweep the floor --make some coffee --the little robin i picked up and put in the nest has flown into the big tree ---------------------------------------------------------- in explanation --was worried about the cats getting the bird and this am cat escaped outside trying to catch him he goes exactly where i didnt want him to go baby toecat came out off the tall grass yesterday there was a missing baby robin -----today there the missing robin is in the tulip poplar --and the one that was on the ground yesterday has gotten his wings today natures ways are wonderful ---much rain and the mississippi is flooding i got a new old horn and put in the old mouthpiece ---and play the same old music but it mostly always sounds new ----trying to play new music ---oh that ez-one note at a time --and slow --maybe its possible ??????? nervous ---yeah ----the worst is when somebody in the band ----starts working on you saying --your outta tune ----i cant hear the changes --why dont you lay this one out listen to this polka tape etc----or they give you the ''look'' carl fontana ----has ''the look'' down ---put the horn away ---- guys talk about thier combo gigs when slidehampton or jj was out there -----the best is if you feel a good vibe from inside and it stays -and the joyspring sometimes stuff triggers insecurity ----finding out why and what to do about it if anything -----i still get nervous sometimes -- some bands thrive on all kinds of infighting and personal friction going on weird relationships ---abuse problems ---ladies mans----groupies - jealousy back biting and back stabbing --- really sucks if it a duo !!!!!!!!!!!! sabutin wrote: I recently got into a discussion on the Online Trombone Journal Forum about how to deal w/nerves and stage fright in general, and since this is a topic that surfaces on this list occasionally (and actually surfaced w/in me on a quite prosaic, everyday, take-care-of-business gig I had last night where my physical approach was not really in very good shape in terms of the demands of the job), I would like to share what I wrote w/you all as well. The original question was from a university student who had been defeated by nervousness in a given situation...short of breath, etc...who asked how he might better approach that particular problem. Several people answered, all sort of circling around either accepting the nervousness as a motivator of sorts, looking into various self-help books and methods, and/or making sure your diet and health needs are taken care of...bananas, lots of liquids, etc. Only one really touched upon eliminating it entirely by a process of concentration on the music itself. I then wrote:Ê===================ÊAs long as you are focused on possible success or failure (and are of the type to HAVE "nerves" in the first place...no value judgement in this one way or the other, but some people got 'em and some people don't...genetics, mostly, I think) then you are going to have stage fright. You can take pills for it, read books for it, be hypnotized, succeed 2015 times in a row, go through all the complicated mental gymnastics in the world for it, but as long as the relative perception of others...ANY others... regarding your "success" or "failure" is in any way truly important to you, you're going to be scared.Ê You may be able to more or less control it...but it will be in there, shuffling its feet, waiting for its chance to GIT YA. If, however, you can switch from an approval or success oriented approach to one of simply doing with no hope or fear of any reward or punishment from without, then PRESTO !!! The fear is gone. This is sometimes known as an existentialist point of view. It also is quite familiar to students of many oriental pathsÉTaoism, Zen and most martial arts, for instance. Musashi Miyamoto (a Japanese master swordsman and philosopher/poet/artist of the 17th century) expressed this approach best in his book "The Five Rings" .He refers to it as "No Design, No Conception", and says: "In this method, when the enemy attacks and you decide to attack, hit with your body, and hit with your spirit, and hit from the Void with your hands, accelerating strongly. This is the "No Design, No Conception" cut." "This is the most important method of hitting. It is often used. You must train hard to understand it." It is also referred to as "Munen Muso" - this means the ability to act calmly and naturally even in the face of danger. It is the highest accord with existence, when a man's word and his actions are spontaneously the same. He says further: "Step by step walk the thousand-mile road." "Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. Next, in order to beat more skilful men, train according to this book, not allowing your heart to be swayed along a side-track. Even if you kill an enemy, if it is not based on what you have learned it is not the true Way. " "If you attain this Way of victory, then you will be able to beat several tens of men. What remains is sword-fighting ability, which you can attain in battles and duels." This is an exact analogue of the progress of a musician, except that we kill no one the process and are not in direct competition w/others. Not reallyÉwe are only in competition w/ourselves. Learn that fact, and you will be free of fear. All the other methods are just band-aids. S============================Ê Someone else then responded: Have you read any of Don Greene's work or any of the other things that were mentioned on this post? Your dismissal of the info as "complicated mental games" and just a "band aid" leads me to believe that you haven't. These "games" are really ways to train yourself to get into the state of mind that Miyamoto is talking about. They are short concise actions that you can take to get away from your concious mind where fear resides and get into your right brain where action and intuition reside. The goal is not to activate your mental chatterbox by perforing a set of complicated rituals. It is to acieve mental quiet. It is to find your center, a concept deeply rooted in Zen and other Eastern philosopies. When your mind is quiet and you have found your center, you can just breathe and go for it, being absorbed in the action of playing and minimally concerned with the judgement of others or yourself. Your advice is sound as always, Sam, but I find your out of hand dismissal of methods that you might not have fully investigated to be a bit narrow sighted. Especially when the "band-aid" approaches that you demean are deeply rooted in the philosophies that you so greatly respect. Just my two cents... ======Ê And I answered: Yes, I have looked into the astonishing proliferation of "How To Be Calm" books, and they all make me nervous. Lest you take that as just another cheap wisecrack, please let me explain. The very first of these books in English, to my knowledge, was a book called "Zen In the Art of Archery" by a German named Eugen Herrigel , published in 1953. This gentleman became interested in Zen while in Japan on business, and studied it there in some depth.. Let me from quote some of his writing.Ê________________________________________________ Herrigel: Soon after I arrived in Japan, a meeting took place with some Japanese colleagues in Tokyo. We were having tea together in a restaurant on the fifth floor of a hotel. Suddenly a low rumbling was heard, and we felt a gentle heaving under our feet. The swaying and creaking, and the crash of objects, became more and more pronounced. Alarm and excitement mounted. The numerous guests, Europeans mostly, rushed out into the corridor to the stairs and elevators. An earthquake-and a terrible earthquake a few years before was still fresh in everyone's memory. I too had jumped up in order to get out into the open. I wanted to tell the colleague with whom I had been talking to hurry up, when I noticed to my astonishment that he was sitting there unmoved, hands folded, eyes nearly closed, as though none of it concerned him. Not like someone who hangs back irresolutely, or who has not made up his mind, but like someone who, without fuss, was doing something-or not-doing something-perfectly naturally. The sight of him was so astounding and had such a sobering effect that I remained standing beside him, then sat down and stared at him fixedly, without even asking myself what it could mean and whether it was advisable to remain. I was spell-bound-I don't know by what-as though nothing could happen to me. When the earthquake was over -- it was said to have lasted a fairly long time-he continued the conversation at the exact point where he had broken off, without wasting a single word on what had happened. For my part I was quite unable to pay attention, and probably gave stupid answers. With the terror still chilling my limbs, I asked myself rather: What prevented me from running away? Why did I not follow an instinctive impulse? I found no satisfactory answer. A few days later I learned that this Japanese colleague was a Zen Buddhist, and I gathered that he must have put himself into a state of extreme concentration and thus become "unassailable." Although I had read about Zen before, and heard a few things about it, I had only the vaguest idea of the subject. The hope of penetrating into Zen- which had made my decision to go to Japan very much easier-changed, as a result of this dramatic experience, into the intention to start without further delay. I was more concerned with the mysticism of Zen, with the way that led beyond the "unassailability." It was not my colleague's imperturbable behavior-impressive as it was-that hovered before me as a goal, for there are other methods of attaining this without having to go to Japan. In the meantime I was informed that it was not so easy to penetrate more deeply into Zen, because Zen had no theory and no dogma. I was advised to turn to one of the arts which were most strongly influenced by Zen, and thus to make contact with it by a slow and roundabout route. This advice l followed. In my book "Zen in the Art of Archery" I have given an account of this course of instruction. _____________________________________________________________________________ One of the most significant features we notice in the practice of archery, and in fact of all the arts as they are studied in Japan and probably also in other Far Eastern countries, is that they are not intended for utilitarian purposes only or for purely aesthetic enjoyments, but are meant to train the mind; indeed, to bring it into contact with the ultimate reality. Archery is, therefore, not practiced solely for hitting the target; the swordsman does not wield the sword just for the sake of outdoing his opponent; the dancer does not dance just to perform certain rhythmical movements of the body. The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.Ê If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an "artless art" growing out of the Unconscious. In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality. The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's - eye which confronts him. This state of unconsciousness is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art. What differentiates Zen most characteristically from all other teachings, religious, philosophical, or mystical, is that while it never goes out of our daily life, yet with all its practicalness and concreteness Zen has something in it which makes it stand aloof from the scene of worldly sordidness and restlessness. Here we come to the connection between Zen and archery, and such other arts as swordsmanship, flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, dancing, and the fine arts. Zen is the "everyday mind" . . . This "everyday mind" is no more than "sleeping when tired, eating when hungry." As soon as we reflect, deliberate, and conceptualize, the original unconsciousness is lost and a thought interferes. We no longer eat while eating, we no longer sleep while sleeping. The arrow is off the string but does not fly straight to the target, nor does the target stand where it is. Calculation which is miscalculation sets in. The whole business of archery goes the wrong way. The archer's confused mind betrays itself in every direction and every field of activity. Man is a thinking reed but his great works are when he is not calculating and thinking. "Childlikeness" has to be restored with long years of training in the art of self-forgetfulness. When this is attained, man thinks yet he does not think. He thinks like the showers coming down from the sky; he thinks like the waves rolling on the ocean; he thinks like the stars illuminating the nightly heavens; he thinks like the green foliage shooting forth in the relaxing spring breeze. Indeed, he is the showers, the ocean, the stars, the foliage. _______________________________________________________ S: Now please go to Don Greene's website, http://www.dongreene.com/. (I am not picking on Dr. Greene here, you could go to hundreds of websites strung along the internet and see similar information.) See the charts and catch phrases, read through the advice he gives; take the survey if you wish. If you think he is purveying something on the same level as what Mr. Herrigel experienced, then by all means, go ahead and use it. I do not. I am not advocating the study of "Zen" here, whatever that may or may not mean, I am merely saying that in the case of performance anxiety we too can become "unassailable" by the simple expedient of forgetting about success and failure, possible approval and approbation, and just playing. No books full of charts can teach you this; there are no "How To" manuals. As Mr. Herrigel says: "I was informed that it was not so easy to penetrate more deeply into Zen, because Zen had no theory and no dogma. I was advised to turn to one of the arts which were most strongly influenced by Zen, and thus to make contact with it by a slow and roundabout route." There is "no theory and no dogma" regarding this thing either. You either do it or you don't, and just as archery (or kendo or calligraphy or flower arrangement, etc.) was recommended as a way to learn this in Japan, so can it be learned here as well in the study of music, in certain athletic endeavors and other physical arts . . You don't need a Zen master to teach you thisÉjust another musician who is no longer afraidÉand the real end result of such work is not merely the attainment of a better performance (or hitting a target w/an arrow), but of another way of living. A quick story about Carmine Caruso, and then I'm outta here.Ê Some time after it began to dawn on me that Carmine was teaching something deeper than just brass playing, I found the Herrigel book and was stuck by its similarity to some of the things Carmine was sayingÉor NOT saying, actually. Carmine was teaching the DOING, not the thinking about doing (or the thinking about NOT thinking about doing, which appears to be the provenance of almost all the semi-new age self help books that try to follow the often lucrative path first blazed by Herrigel). If you asked Carmine a question about technique, or nerves or physiology or tactics or just about anything else on earth that pertained to brass playing, he would eventually gently and kindly lead you back to playing one of his exercises w/no words going on in your head whatsoever. Anyway, I thought I'd teach HIM something, child that I was, and went to my next lesson w/a brand new, once read copy of the Herrigel book. I immediately showed it to himÉyou have to picture a fairly old man in an undershirt and baggy pants, sitting in a battered easychair in a cluttered office overlooking 46th St. near B'way in Manhattan, cars honking four stories down on the other side of a window that had been uinwashed for many, many yearsÉ1972, maybe '73, the theme from "Shaft" played on someone's shouldered boombox drifting up among the car hornsÉ Carmine looked at the book, smiled, reached in a drawer in a crowded cabinet by his chair and extracted a battered old copy of the same book, said "Oh yesÉnice book", replaced it and then said "Well? Let's hear the six notes". (His most basic exercise.) Herrigel would have recognized this scene, I am sure, and I have never forgotten it. Relax. Be happy. Practice and play. Forget about the rest of itÉit will take care of itself. It always has. LaterÉ S. . ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394 Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 12:54:37 -0400 From: "Paul D. Kemp, Jr." To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Subject: Re: Re breathing, and some quotes. Message-ID: <007601c1ff55$dcc70ca0$565b4d0c@shark> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear List, I'll never forget almost 8 years ago when I had my first lesson with Larry Borden, and he said 2 things to me: 1)" I think you play very well." 2) "However, there are some things about your breathing that kinda puzzle me". I then said, "There are things about breathing that I have been confused about for years." He then said, "Would you like to do some work in this area, and I said "YES" and the next 2 1/2 hours were spent analyzing what happens when we breathe. Now, in some aspects, I'm a slow learner, so if that sounds excessive, believe me, it wasn't Larry's fault, it was mine. He broke out the anatomy books, and we had a short discourse on the respiratory system, and then we used the spirometer alot, and it took me a long time before I could use the mouthpiece with the spirometer with that dial turned all the way to the right and I could move that little white ball all the way to the top. However, I was determined, and I did what he told me to do after I returned home, and folks, bad habits are hard to break. One morning, I called Larry on the phone, and he suggested that I start with the dial all the way to the left, blowing gently, until I had developed the coordination necessary to move the ball up with the dial all the way to the right. It took me 6 weeks before I could do it, but the results were revolutionary. Once I could do it consistently, then I started practicing many, many, many long tones in the low register--the lower the better, then I practiced Rochut 8va basso, breathing as necessary, and I found that the more that I did this, the easier it was to play in the middle register and upper registers. The teaching of Arnold Jacobs took on a whole new meaning, and I've read Song and Wind many times, and anything else that has come out in print concerning his pedagogy, and if you don't have the Arnold Jacobs: Portait of an Artist CD, get it: because if you do and really listen to it and try to incorporate into practice what he preaches, it will change your life. Does it happen overnight? NO, but you can improve in a relatively short period of time if you'll really concentrate on it. Silence doesn't improve anything. You start with what you can do, and in terms of volume and tonal range, you expand it in both directions, and you always try to SOUND GOOD. Many times I think we tend to forget that we are human beings and we really don't have an idea what ":perfect" playing is, and being an imperfect human being, I know that I'll never achieve it. However, I can try to improve what I do in percentages each day. Some days, I feel like eveything is working just great--other days it seems that no matter what I do, I always have little "glitches" that I just can't seem to eradicate. I think that's just part of the experience of being human, and one of the reasons why it is so important to re-introduce ourselves to the fundamentals each day and in our heads, we try to make them sound better than we did the day before. In terms of breathing, I try to breathe as deeply as I can using as little effort as I have to in order to achieve that purpose. If I don't do that, then I just don't sound good, and I always try to make it sound better than anybody else. That sounds like a very simple answer, and it is, but is by no means easy. Paul D. Kemp Jr. Chattanooga Symphony www.trbnplyr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "M & S Walker" To: "Trombones and related issues forum." Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 6:48 AM Subject: Re breathing, and some quotes. > G'day all. > > Can't help but add 2 and 2 together with a quote that Sam Burtis made, and > one by Bill Reichenbach some years ago at an ITA seminar. > > Sam says..."In fact, I often use the conversational breath idea myself...I > JUST YELL A LOT!" > > Bill Reichenbach says in the seminar (Sorry I can't remember exactly, it was > a few years ago, something along the lines of).... "I spend my day (in the > recording studios) playing as loud and as low as I possibly can. Mr > Remington didn't really prepare me for that". > > Surely breathing styles are "horses for courses". You simply can't play a > soft pianissimo legato line, with the same air as an aggressive fortissimo > staccatissimo pyrotechnic line, or vise-versa. > > Thoughts? > > Matthew Walker > Bass Trombonist, Opera Australia > Walker's Instrument Repair, "The Brassery" > > > > ----__ListProc__NextPart____TROMBONE-L__digest_2394--