Play and Pray

[rhodf]

I first became aware of the Adam approach when in college. I met and observed many of his students. I talked to a friend of mine who happened to be an Adam student and asked what was the secret of his phenomenal range. My friend told me that you had to hear the note. Craziness I thought. I have been in the practice room several times, played a double C on the piano to 'hear' the note and then put the trumpet up to my lips only to be sadly disappointed. This was a great stumbling block to me accepting the Adam approach. From reading other posts on this site, I understand this concept to be a stumbling block to others as well. Many skeptics have described the approach as “play and pray”. Before I understood it, I just called it craziness. Since I came to the Adam approach as a skeptic, I hope that my experiences might help others who have the same concerns I had.

Hearing the note in your head is step one. You want to hear the note with as much detail as possible. Hear the sound color, the volume, the intensity, everything. With practice and time this will get easier. Does this mean that if I can hear the note perfectly, that I can play it, you might ask. No, of course not, but it is a big step in the right direction. What you are doing is setting up a goal in your mind of what sound you want to produce. Through sufficient time and practice your body will adjust to get you ever closer to that ideal sound in your head. It is much like a missile homing in on its target. At first it is off course in one direction and then may over-correct in another. Through a series of corrections it homes in on the target. Your job is to keep your focus on the target, namely the sound in your head. Your body will adjust through time and practice to get ever closer to that target sound. Never take your eyes off the target!

The difficult and frustrating thing is when you imagine a great sound and then produce a mediocre one. When this happens, keep the ideal sound in your head without being overly negative about your previous note and try again. Understand that this process will take time and patience. If your experience is anything like mine, however, you will be surprised with how quickly you move closer to your ideal.

I would highly recommend Pschyo-cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. While this book is not about trumpet playing, it really cleared up my questions concerning goal orientation.

[PH]

Great post!!!!!