DIVE IN ...to this week's newsletter!

What to do

It's been a while. I haven't written for a couple of years actually. I have a pretty good excuse, I promise!  Last time I wrote to you, our family was about to grow in size by one.  Ta daaaaa!  Introducing Blair Alexander Nelsen, with his big brother Rhys.

 

Our 2 boys

We're having a blast together.  What an adventure. 

 

Another exciting update as well.  Stars aligned with timing and life, and I am excited to tell you I've rejoined Canadian Brass!  I had a crazy busy first month of concerts and recordings, and we're getting ready for some concert tours around America and Europe. Definitely living the dream!

 

Ok, let's dive into some thoughts I want to share. My hope in writing, as always, is that something you read here might guide you to see things a little differently, a little more clearly, and maybe even end up inspiring you into acting in new ways.

 

What to do

 

In order to improve, musicians of all levels must be able to learn.

 

"Wow, Jeff. Thanks! Good thing you wrote this to me. I hadn't thought of that before?"

 

Ah yes, I too can overstate the obvious. However, this, ability to learn concept has been proving to be less obvious than I had earlier believed. Sure, you probably wouldn't argue the fact that learning is important. We all have learned a lot, but we also have a lot left to learn.

I'll give you 2 things to do this week.

1. Catch yourself well - The next time you hear yourself think or say "don't", give yourself a calm "ah-ha" moment. Not a punishing, "ah HAA!! BUSTED!!!" Just a kind slow-down from your usual chattered-thinking and confident don't-ing.
2. Replace with To Do - Consider what your "don't" was, and figure out what it's opposite could be. It could take a bit of creativity at first. Do remember you're new to this. (I just did it!!!! I was going to type, "Don't decide this is difficult." Heyyy? See what I did there?!)

Bonus inspiration

 

Just to keep you believing you can do this, check out one of my favorite writer's ideas on "a little more..."

 

Plasticity 

by Seth Godin

 

It's possible that you're the way you are, that you do what you do, that you react as you react, and that it can never be changed.

Believing this is incredibly sad, though. Each of us is capable of just a little more. A little more patience, a little more insight, a little more generosity.

 

And if you can do a little more, then, of course, you can repeat those changes until you've done a lot more.

Registration EXTENDED to JUNE 1

For more information and experience being solution-based, and guiding yourself well, please check out my Fearless Performance for Musicians seminar. It's 5 days of inspiration and instruction on figuring out how you fear and how to choose better in both preparation and performance.

 

June 13-17 at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

 

It's coming up soon!!  I hope to see you there.

Constructive Panic

Hi everyone,

As we work well toward eliminating fearful choices from our performance arena, we can still be inspired by fear in our preparation arena.

Fear is not bad.  Negative results from our fear are bad.

Fear itself can be used for good.  I just watched a fantastic TED Talk about procrastination given by Tim Urban. I highly recommend you watch it today.

I think his talk fits well with the concept of working in our Learning Zone without getting into Panic Zone. 

Tim shares wise words and funnily-true stories about how and why we leave things until the last minute, and how we can still hit our deadlines.  Time passes as our deadline comes closer...until we get the ultimate inspiration, The Panic Monster!  I love it.  More often than not, that's how I "work". I often say, "I do nothing without a goal."  Setting a goal gives us a deadline or two, and some motivation to grow.  When we have deadlines, our panic monster can come push us to our next level.  But I've heard of people who actually plan their work and work their plan WELL.  I wake each day with renewed passion and determination that I can do that better TODAY.  Doing so isn't a mystery.

We can get our work done in a timely manner, so the Panic Monster is less urgent and more of a timely nudge. Let's help ourselves with this today, together.

This week's To Do

Think of a project you want to have finished by September 1. Set a week (not weak!) goal and a today task that take you closer to having your project finished.

- By the end of 7 days from now I will have completed this goal : ___________________

- By the end of today I will have completed this task : ________________________ 

Many of you have school placement auditions coming up.  Take a look at your repertoire list, and pick a passage that you could be performing way closer to what is written.(That's a good way of saying, "pick a passage that's driving you crazy!" eh? ) Plan your specific tasks for today, like "find my real tempo and work at that tempo for 10 minutes." Real tempo is the tempo that you can play all the notes accurately and in tune, with musical shapes and colors.

If you want to knock off more tasks today, here are some ideas: listen to 3 recordings of today's excerpt, read a biography of my composer, listen to my favorite performer on my instrument, listen to music I love, walk for 20 minutes, drink 6 big glasses of water, only eat until 8pm, plan 5 tasks for tomorrow, get to bed by 10pm, get up at 6am tomorrow...

An example goal for the week is, "I will have worked all my repertoire at least once, have clear ideas of how all my repertoire can sound amazing to an audience, and have clear plans on my work for next week."  

It's all about task management.  Once you START doing this well, your goals and projects fall into place.  Do not expect to nail this by day 2.  Just dive in as well as you can, and you will see, with the next day's planning, how you can improve both your planning and execution.

Good luck with changing your Panic Monster into your Timely Nudge Assistant...or something like that?!  Heh...

Keep breathing!

Jeff

What's Driving Your Performance?

Just as the light turned yellow, I considered my distance to the intersection and speed, and lifted my foot off the gas and hit the brake.  My car slowed to a stop as other cars began crossing in front of me.  I was suddenly curious and thoughtful of the harmonious chaos involved in traffic.

In What Shape is Your Performance Training?

 

The Shape of things to come

When he mentioned the Monty Python analogy, I started to think about the shape of our progression of performance training. Think of a visual representation of our training evolution while we approach a big performance.

I just tried to draw what I think is a pretty common shape of performance training that I have often seen and done.  It looks like a wavy vase on its side.  

Here is the idea:

  

Timeline starts on the left, and progresses along, with swells and thinning of training quality. We ramp it up right before the big performance at the end.

What would be much better is something that is wide throughout. We also need room for a few dips of intensity along the way. But during our preparation, we fall off our path to successful performance during those large dips in training quantity and quality.

When the shape of our training is too much in the shape of wide-and-thin waves, we can't be sure we'll hit a good wave during our important performance.  This topic is a large dinosaur-sized (but hopefully not shaped) topic we can explore deeper in the future. We're surrounded by books, courses, and consultants specializing in this.  You're reading a newsletter right now that is devoted to this topic too!  I'll research and obsess much more before I try to draw an optimal shape of performance training.

For now, please dive into the inspiring words my dear friend and mentor John Ulmer wrote in response to my rough sharing of my "Shape of Performance Training" idea.

My rough email to myself and John:

(FYI, this is how I collect thoughts each week for newsletters: I write emails to myself with "Newsletter" in the subject - I copied John this time)

Are you in shape?

In what shape is your performance ?

Dinosaur Brontosaurus?
Thin at beginning and end, and fat in the middle?? Like a Monty Python skit?

Or Tyrannosaurus!? Thick throughout??

Most times we ramp it up to close to the event.......and sometimes have no tails...

John's Response:

Hey Jeff,

 

I love this thinking.

Runners are always in shape-that is, a basic shaped that is their "B" game standard. That's the foundation, and it takes a long, long time to develop. That foundation is actually built not out of intense effort, but out of habits, which themselves emerge from devotion. The intense effort comes in the weeks before the race, when we rely on the foundation we have built (the breathing, the form, the muscle training and nourishment habits) to construct a race strategy that is tailored for the body we have built on our foundation.  Sound familiar? What it means is that a victory almost never comes "out of nowhere". It's not a fluke-it's prepared for, and almost never does a runner win in a way that is unaccustomed or surprising. The time might surprise. The margin of victory might surprise, but those are just transitory measurements of the PRACTICE that has been built on the foundation that the runner's devotion has poured. 

 

John.

 

Task for Today - Pour some Devotion

Amazing writing, eh?! Wow...to construct a race strategy.  Let's do this!  I'm excited to have shared with you this idea of keeping the shape of our training progress to more of a steady growth shape, gradually getting wider as we improve. Through daily devotion in the form of our investment of time, energy, and choices, we shape our knowledge and skills.

 

When we perform we share our knowledge and skills.

 

When you trust your process, you move steadily forward.  Keep doing well on this matter.  

Find a way today to pour some devotion into your training in a way that wides its quantity and quality.

 

Slow and steady wins the race.

 

Oh that tortoise and that hare. 

 

 

 

Ok, so you don't have to move slowly, but you do have to move steadily. Devote yourself to this process of steadiness. You cannot move steadily forward if you do not trust the process. Keep doing what you know will serve yourself and your dreams.  

 

Be steadfast today. 

 

Shape your learning well, in a steady shape of expansion. This is the most interesting man in the world...so he knows.  Trust him:

 

Let's get in great shape today! 

Jeff

"Have no fear...YOU and HERE"

-me.

Who's it going to be?

As I write these newsletters, I'm conscious of the fact that I'm sharing what I think, and that what I think guides and creates who I am. It's the same think/am sharing when I play my horn.  It's the same when I speak to my friends, my students, my wife, my child, and beyond...and speaking is performing.   Performance is a constant circle of building and sharing, as well as possible, of who we are.   I should qualify that.  Performance is a constant circle of building and sharing of who we are.  Good or great performance is this circle of building and sharing being done as well as possible.   Just performing, versus creating good or great performance is up to you.       When we perform, we share who we are.  During lessons that I'm teaching, often there are moments when things are very simple, yet very complicated.  This is fine. This is life. But when the person speaks with hopes of a black and white answer or agreement and they don't get one, sometimes they dislike the complication.   "Just tell me what to do here." has been said.  Are those the words of a creative hire-able or marry-able solution-based person you would want to join forces with? Yeah not so much...   Personally, I love the muddy middle-ground! This is where regurgitation ends, and YOU appear.  This is where you get to choose. Un-Black-and-White-ness means you're free to figure it out for yourself, make that mix of creative choice and high standards as good as possible, and go share that!!  ...and then repeat the whole Build/Share circle again and again...  Question - "Should I take time on this note or that note?" Black and White Answer - "This one." Freedom-and-Opinion-Creating Answer - "Well, you can do that on either note.  It really depends on how and why you do it." You choose   When you hear a possibly ambiguous answer, there is still a critical moment of choice in your hands.  Is this a problem that you didn't get the clear answer you wanted, or have you just been given an opportunity to choose for yourself?   THIS moment of assessment is when you REALLY get to develop who you are. I'm writing about about this topic this week because I spent some time with a good friend and colleague, mezzo-soprano and arts advocate Carla Dirlikov. I watched her thoughtful interview about her extensive experience performing as Bizet's Carmen and was moved by her comments.  I was especially inspired when she mentioned that Carmen really knew who she was.   "I honestly admire her. I admire her sense of value...and that's something that people don't really understand because people think, "Ohhh, she's a femme fatale and she's this home wrecker."  But actually no, she's someone who really knows who she is, and she's someone who stays true to herself."   Carmen really knows who she is. And Carla brings that to her portrayal of Carmen.   Task for Today - Make it YOU.   Do you know who you are?     This is who you bring into every performance, and what you share every time.  For every performance, it's not "What do you have for us?" but it's something that goes way deeper.     "WHO do you have for us?"   And then all you can do is share that!  So yes, it's about "What's it going to be?" but you can and must go deeper.   Make it YOU   Today, in preparation, answer yourself the question of, "Who am I in this idea?"   Answering that question will take you down new avenues in your pursuit to:       Learning what to Love Well and what to Let Go will equip you to know who you are and enable you to share that.   The more you try to act, the less real it is. Don't go out there to try to be who you think they want.  No matter how much you know about what they want, you must go be you!  That's what you're doing anyway, so know this during preparation too!  When you prepare, you can include things you know they want in what you Build...so you build a you that is who they want, but when you cross your magic line from back stage to onstage, the goal is to be yourself.  As Carla says in her interview, "I think that that is the purpose of life. I think that's the mission in life, is to know who you are." ...and if that doesn't end up being hirable or 2nd-date-able, keep building. Less is more.     Your final pre-performance question is always "Who's it going to be?" "It took a tremendous amount of confidence for me to believe that I didn't have to do anything." - Carla D   It took Carla confidence and a ton of good preparation.   My life's goal since high-school has always been to exist as I am, and have that be enough.   "I exist as I am, that is enough,  If no other in the world be aware I sit content,  And if each and all be aware I sit content.  One world is aware, and by the far the largest to me, and that is myself,  And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,  I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness, I can wait."                                   Walt Wittman - Leaves of Grass  In your next performance, for both your audience and your peace of mind - clearly answer this one simple question: Who's it going to be? I look forward to seeing YOU soon, Jeff "Have no fear...YOU and HERE" -me.

Just Play...

Do you know what time is iiiiiiit!!??

 

I wrote to you in a newsletter a few months ago about my experience of hearing those words yelled by a DJ in a club in Cuba. Those wonderful words mean to me that it is time to play!

I know, it's always time to play.  But seriously, how often do you? How often do you let go, and just play for play sake. This is the deepest most powerful gift of having a 4-year-old! He reminds us to get present, and play.

 

The performers we admire most, often remind us how simple a great performance can be. Those performers are present and have done the backstage work so that they can be in a state of play during their performance.

It's Not a Competition

So I'm walking into a sushi restaurant last weekend after having performed an exciting concert. I was feeling really good about the event! It was with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and I was with a good friend I hadn't seen in a while. I had just got out of the car and was walking past some teenage kids who were hanging out in front of the restaurant.

 

One of the kids said with distain, "Geez, it's not a competition!"

 

I was already in the restaurant when I realized the girl had said that to me. I had forgotten that I was still wearing my formal-wear tails and stuff...

 

My thinking went from finding it funny, to being angry at the quick uninformed judgement and attempt at insulting a stranger who was having a really great night, to wanting to walk back out there and just say, "You're right.  It isn't."

You are not what you do. (...or what you wear.)

 

I didn't go say anything to the kid.  (I figured they probably needed a hug if they're saying hurtful things to strangers, but that'd be too weird.) But I have been thinking about how we compete too much. 

 

I'm competitive...at times.  Being competitive serves me well when I set my goals and need to motivate myself.

 

Unfortunately, competing can lower our standards when we set our standards relative to other people or to our past.  Competition can have us prepare and perform relative to beating others.

 

Another potential negative result from competing can happen if I get destructively emotional about how I compare to others.  When I do this, I usually need to reassess things.  Often when I feel bad about how I compare, it's because I'm comparing some sort of external value judgement about a specific aspect connected to me, against my self-worth. DANGER DANGER!!

 

You are not what you do!

 

That idea would have helped me a ton while growing up. We constantly compare ourselves to others. This is a big part of most of my painful memories from high-school.  Comparisons can be healthy.  Competing, though, can make things more about winning than being our best.

 

Mozart. Beethoven. Shakespeare. da Vinci.  Picasso. 

 

Were they competing?  Maybe.  But consider how much of what they accomplished was from competing, and how much was just a result of their efforts to be the greatest pillar of excellence they could possibly be.  The heights of their excellence pillars were endless (well, ok...until they died) and that constant choice of standards resulted in incredible creative output from them.

 

Meryl Streep. Ella Fitzgerald. Joni Mitchell. Focusing on connection, communication, story telling...

 

Ok, these next ones get a bit more creative, but I think my idea still applies.  Basketball great, Michael Jordan. Tennis great, Serena Williams. Competing, for sure! But also simply putting the ball in the hoop regardless of who's on the court...serving an ace, regardless of who's across the net. Relentless excellence, not relative in their minds, to anything but their best.

 Task for the Day - Just do your best