Archive for the 'Mastery' Category

Five Traits of Great Players

Published on June 6, 2009 in Mastery, Practicing and Teaching. 1 Comment

A few months ago I stumbled on an lecture/article from the International Clarinet Society archives which I shared briefly, but did not write about. It’s worth reviewing and quoting here because it outlines the map to becoming a great player.

In today’s über-competitive music world, students must consider the mountain they are climbing. You cannot just be talented, or just work hard, or just have a good teacher. You must have all these, plus a vision of what you wish to become.

A failing of many students these days is to ignore the traditions and accomplishments of great players of the past. Most students take for granted all the modern tools they have at their disposal, such as recordings, electronic metronomes, tuners, machine made mouthpieces, numerous reed and reed tool choices, lots of great teachers, plus the added benefit of books on how athletes train, and the Alexander Technique for how to use the Self. 50 ears ago, recordings were a luxury. Now they are ubiquitous and accessible with a click of a finger.

Few or none of these existed 100 years ago, yet some players broke through the crowd to map new territory for their instrument’s technique. How did they stand out? Were they simply geniuses? Lucky?

On the contrary, they worked their asses off PLUS they thought outside the box. They didn’t just settle for being the best. Instead they created a whole new level of “best” for everyone else to match.

Students these days often wait for a teacher to solve all their problems for them. If not, the teacher must not be good enough. I try to teach students to identify, isolate and solve their own problems, with my guidance.

The article/lecture outlines and details five traits of truly revolutionary players. Though many of the descriptions are somewhat obvious and mundane, the basic message is clear.

Great players set their goals high and broad, then find a way to fill in all the details through patience and perseverance.

Here is the introduction, including the five traits:

This lecture explains why it is important for musicians to study the greats of the past, understand what made them stand out from their peers and how to apply these traits to themselves. Through brief profiles of Carl Baermann, Ernesto Cavallini and Buddy DeFranco, 5 traits are introduced which today’s musicians can develop to improve their musicianship and artistry. Also included is an article called Internalizing the Music which describes the process of learning that these great players go through when practicing.

Five Traits for Today’s Musicians to Develop:

1. Playing with spirit and emotion
2. Having a deep theoretical, historical and overall knowledge of music
3. Playing with flawless technical command of instrument
4. Developing an individual style and sound
5. Internalizing the music

My views follow-

1. Play with spirit and emotion- Why are you a musician? What does music do for you? If your answer is “Because I love music.”, then why? Keep asking, and when you get to more questions than answers, you are ready to begin the real search for spirit and emotion in music. Listen to every recording of the Mozart Concerto, or whatever piece represents your instrument for you, and pick your favorite one, or two. Then ask yourself as you listen, “Why does this appeal to me?” and/or “What would I do differently?”.

2. Have a deep theoretical, historical and overall knowledge of music- This search becomes obvious after pondering the first trait.

3. Play with flawless technical command of instrument- keyword “mastery”. It’s not about getting the notes, it’s about playing the instrument as easily as you walk (which can be an exploration itself). A lot of soul searching is required to face this minefield path. Patience, perseverance, and intelligent problem solving are the keys. Without such exploration, injury and limiting habits are guaranteed. Again, use questions to guide you. “What is causing this technical limitation?” The answer is not merely “more practice”, but instead “more practice with better understanding of causes”. The cause is often far removed from the symptom, and may stem from mis-use of your whole self. Great players mine these questions with scientific precision and patience, though they may not broadcast it.

4. Develop an individual style and sound- Don’t copy; emulate. Marcellus told me that many of his students suffered because they tried to sound like him (including me). Trusting your own internal concept takes courage. You may not sound the way you want right away. But don’t give up and return to imitation. I again suggest listening critically to many recordings to create your own “recipe” for sound and style.

5. Internalize the music- Cipolla offers a number of suggestions for doing this. I recommend memorizing a passage almost immediately to engage the more primal memory of the body. I also recommend singing passages to train your ear. (this is especially important for wind players, who, unlike string players, can more or less “push a button” and get a note without hearing it first.

The lecture/article is called Historical Perspectives of Excellence for Clarinetists, by John Cipolla, from the ICA ClarinetFest® 1999, Oostend, Belgium, July 10th, 1999.

Go read it now. Then practice with a new attitude.

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The rewards of playing with earplugs

Published on March 10, 2009 in Clarinet, Mastery and Teaching. 2 Comments Tags: articulation, auditions, c scale, excerpts, music school.

I just had a great lesson with Emily Bacon, who has studied with me for a little over a year.

She is finally done with all her music school auditions, so we could move beyond the material required for those. (as much as I love the process of preparing music with a deadline, it hampers the real learning process, which has it’s own timetable)

We had nothing scheduled to work on during today’s lesson, so our time was a blank slate.

I decided to review some basic techniques with her. I gave her two exercises. The first is to play a chromatic scale, 16th notes, 3 octaves, and to articulate every other 16th. (tongue the first note, then slur two note groups all the way up, so the articulation is a 16th off the beat) This allows the player to keep the tongue very light and to emphasize the quality of air and voicing throughout the range of the instrument.

scale2

The second exercise is inspired by the first Parez Scale Book. C scale, slurred, one 8th and 16ths one octave up to an 8th at the top, stop-tongued, then an 8th on the lower octave C, stop-tongued. (I’ll write this out and post it below). Then the same scale on D (still a C scale), then the same on each note up the C scale. Then reverse and start from the top C coming down.

scale1

After we had reviewed and stabilized these two exercises, keeping the basics in mind (lose, open jaw, soft throat, soft “sinuses”, high back of tongue), I suggested a radical idea: playing with earplugs in!

What I love about Emily is her willingness to try something new and different. And she doesn’t just go through the motions, she really gives it a good shot, and she also trusts that I have some logic in mind.

So she put in some earplugs and played a few notes. “Ew, it sounds awful!” was the first, and expected, response. Then I had her play the exercises we had practiced before, and told her to trust the feeling of a soft open jaw, soft throat and sinuses and a high tongue. And she sounded GREAT! (to me, that is, since she could not tell how she sounded, only how it felt)

We continued, with earplugs in, by playing through some standard excerpts, such as the slow movement of Brahms 3rd symphony. When ever something didn’t sound right, I reminded her of the feeling of the basics, and it immediately improved.

I also recorded her playing these excerpts with the plugs in, so she could hear how good she sounded.

She then removed the earplugs and continued to play “by feel”, not allowing what she heard to influence how it felt. And, Voila!, she continued to sound really wonderful, with lots of ring in the sound all the way up the range, with perky articulations, clear attacks and releases of mid-range notes.

Today was the most rewarding kind of teaching, when a fresh idea takes root in a wonderfully receptive student. Thank you, Emily!

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Another Day Practicing

Published on February 22, 2009 in Mastery, Musician's Life and Practicing. 0 Comments Tags: poise.

There’s nothing quite like a day with nothing to do but practice. First of all, it doesn’t happen often. Second, it’s like any other day practicing. Which is to say, like no other day before.

Does Sisyphus feel different each day he pushes the boulder up the hill, only to find it at the bottom again the next day? I say he does.

Perhaps it’s just me, but each time I play the instrument, I can’t believe I can play it. It seems new. I re-invent the way I play every day, partly to be sure I’m not slipping into bad habits, but partly because there is always something new to learn about the intricacies of playing the instrument.

Some of the questions I ask as I play are:

Am I playing with my whole body? Are my feet in touch with the ground? Are my hips free? Is my neck free? Am I voicing naturally? Am I doing ANYTHING I couldn’t do “forever”, meaning, is it nearly effortless? Can I play a double high “C” at any given moment? Can I crescendo or diminuendo indefinitely at at any point? Can I easily move any note from any other note without compromising hand position?

Today I also paid close attention to issues of pain which often plague my body when I play: lower back, neck, shoulder and jaw cracking. This is not debilitating pain, but persistent and potentially serious if not addressed. I probably stretched and reset my body position as much as I practiced, trying to bring length and poise to the natural physical engagement of playing. It paid off. At one point near the end of a 3 hour practice session I gained enough physical poise to play without pain for an hour straight.

But the big question is, can I build all these questions into one overall “answer” which stays put from day to day?

So today I felt like I did a good job of pushing that boulder up the hill, and at the end of the day, it felt like it might stay there. But I can pretty much count on it being somewhere near the bottom again tomorrow. And so it begins again.

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Breathing naturally comes naturally

Published on January 24, 2009 in Mastery, Teaching and Technique. 2 Comments Tags: alexander technique, breath support, breathing, breathing cycle, breathing muscles, proper breath support, proper breathing, wind players.

The breathing cycle is a beautiful and complex mechanism, which when used consciously in a natural way, gives us immense control over our phrasing, tone, pitch control and dynamics. Used unnaturally, problems arise such as shortness of breath, excessive nerves, hyper-ventilation while playing, fatigue and the numerous symptoms of those misuses in our playing; erratic phrases, out of tune pitch and strident or hollow tone.

Breathing correctly, or naturally, comes naturally, if you let it happen without unnecessary interference. (Inhibiting unnecessary interference is the engine which drives the Alexander Technique.) Unfortunately, most wind players have interfered with the beautiful and natural inborn cycles of breathing muscles in their attempts to improve it or master it.

The link below takes you to an animation of a child respirating. Children use themselves naturally for the most part, until they are instructed to do something another way, when the pernicious issue of self-consciousness comes into play, often causing misuse which may never be corrected.

I recommend watching this cyclical animation of breathing for numerous cycles, breathing along with it to experience your own breathing cycle.

To begin the demonstration, click “start”, then, to get the animation going, click “next” several times to see each phase of breathing. After that it should continue automatically. Be sure to also click “show ribs”, which shows the beautiful elasticity of the rib cage expanding up and out, and contracting down and in. Notice how the top of the lungs and rib cage expand just as much as the bottom.

An unfortunate limitation of this animation is that it doesn’t shows the surrounding body moving along with the ribs and lungs.

Watching someone breathe naturally is really mesmerizing, as the torso expands and contracts, rises and falls, seemingly independent from the head and neck. The shoulders, resting on the rib cage, only rise and fall as a consequence of the rib cage doing so, not from their own effort. Novices learning to breath consciously often think the shoulders should “be raised” when breathing, which creates tension in the neck and distortion of the natural cycle.

Scalenus Neck Muscles

Scalenus Neck Muscles

To create inhalation, the diaphragm contracts, pulling down, creating negative space in the lungs, which then pull in air. As the same time, the ribs moves up and out (excursion) at the 24 (12 on each side) joints of the ribs along the spine, with the aid of the External Intercostal Muscles. The ribs also expand (excurse) at the cartilage tissue connecting the ribs to the sternum. Some of the neck muscles also help with inhalation, namely the scalene muscles of the neck, which connect to the top ribs and help them raise on inhalation.

post-shoulder-muscles1Do not confuse these neck muscles with the Trapezius, right near by. These are the muscles used when you shrug your shoulders. At times it seems helpful to use these shoulder muscles to pull a bigger breath, but these create more tension than inhalation.

On exhalation, the diaphragm is passive, the lungs are eager to spring back to their smaller shape, just as a balloon released pushes air out, and the ribs pull in and down with the aid of the Internal Intercostal Muscles. Under exertion or while speaking or laughing or singing or playing a wind instrument, various abdominal muscles are used to push the diaphragm up and the air.

These abdominal muscles are:

-Transverse - the main muscles that hold your body insides … inside
-Rectus - this is the “six pack” area
-External oblique - the left and right side “twisting” muscles
-Internal oblique - inner muscles that counterpart the externals to help with twisting

Instead of attempting to describe exactly how these muscles are used, which is not only difficult to verbalize, but also nearly impossible to enact consciously, it is better to turn to the instinctual use of these muscles, as in speaking or laughing. when the subtle use of abdominal muscles is observed, they may be seen to contribute to smooth exhalation with a “group effort”. Here again, the concept of “inhibition” so often mentioned in the Alexander Technique is critical. Observation of our “natural” patterns often creates other misuses and un-helpful effort.

One of the best analogies I have heard to date to indicate how the abdomen feels when properly supporting is from Robert Marcellus, who said it feels like there is a tire around your abdomen pushing in from all around. Nothing else should be involved, not your neck, not your back (except lower), not your legs, not your shoulders, not your jaw, not your tongue, not your throat.

An easy exercise to help observe our natural support abilities is to put your hands on the sides of your waist and say soft laughing “ha” sounds with a little gasp between each. Notice how the whole torso is involved without tensing. Now increase volume. Keep the “tire” image in your mind as you feel the various muscles around your abdomen work in tandem to exert the huffing “ha” sound.

I also had success with one student with the following exercise. From a standing position, release your knees as you bend at the waist. Put your forearms on your knees to support this stance as you relax your torso and back, letting your butt go out behind you as your head and back become parallel to the floor. Take slow deep breath, letting your butt relax away from your torso toward what ever is behind you, let’s say the wall. As your ribs round out and to the side, your head and neck remain relaxed, which allows the spine to “gather”. Let this expanding torso/gathering spine movement continue until you are gently full… then exhale, letting your a) butt continue relaxing away from you as your b) head moves the opposite way and your c) spine lengthens and your d) torso (combination abdomen and ribs) squeezes in. Your spine feels like a soft stretchy necklace of beads in the middle of a balloon. When the balloon expands around the springy bead necklace, the beads pull closer together. When the balloon contracts, the beads move farther apart.

The emphasis here is to notice the involvement of the butt area as it expands to accommodate the viscera being pushed down and out, and then how it becomes the “spring” point from which the team of abdominal muscles and rib muscles push the air up and out. After a few breaths like this, slowly begin to move to standing, letting your head come up and forward, keeping knees bent and butt moving away from your head. Keep awareness of the freedom of your butt!!

Enjoy breathing deeply! Don’t over think it. Just remember, breathing naturally really does come naturally. You don’t have to learn how to do it, just learn how to control it with out interfering with it.

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Clarinet Pushups

Published on January 12, 2009 in Mastery, Practicing and Technique. 2 Comments Tags: Clarinet, concerts, diane ackerman, hand position, mouthpiece, natural poise, practice session, rehearsals.

I have discovered that issues with the right hand position holding up the clarinet can deteriorate over time, causing serious problems if not corrected.

Such a problem occurred with me. When I reached out to turn a page with my right hand, I always felt a shocking pain shoot up through my forearm. I just ignored the symptom, which usually flared up during professional rehearsals and concerts, when I had little time to reflect on the cause.

Now that I am practicing more at home, I had to face the problem. I played around with it over several sessions. (I’ve noticed I use that phrase a lot, “played around with”. It reminds me of Diane Ackerman’s wonderful book, “Deep Play”, a lush and poetic exploration of the subject from a Darwinian point of view. Ultimately, play is how we best learn.)

It wasn’t until I was out for a walk one day that I noticed now my right hand never let go of the clarinet. I had tension continuously in that forearm. The epiphany was more physical than spiritual, but I suddenly felt my hand’s natural openness, each finger’s distance from the others, inhabiting its own muscular “space”.

It brought new meaning to my habitual suggestion to students to shake out their hands to find their natural poise. I’ve also told them their hands should feel like they are holding a large sponge ball. Now my hand felt joyously like it was holding a large ball, not quite basket ball size, but just big enough to call each digit out from the center of my hand into a poised fan shape.

I carried this openness into my next practice session, and found that my thumb collapsed from this ideal position under the weight of the clarinet.

I “played around” with that habitual issue, exaggerating the “openness” of my hand way beyond the position required by the keys. The muscles of my forearm were not weak at all, just lazy.

So I invented a little exercise, clarinet pushups, to remind my hand of its inherent openness. For those who wish to try this exercise, here it is.

While standing, hold the clarinet way out in front of your body, so your arms are extended. Level the instrument so the mouthpiece is slightly below the plane where your mouth is. Without bringing it to your lips, push up and toward your mouth with your thumb to bring the instrument up to your playing position, while keeping your arms extended. Repeat this “pushup” a dozen times or so.

Do not forget to mind your general stance, meaning your overall tension and balance. It’s useless to isolate the thumb while torturing other muscles. You should feel a little burn in the front of your right shoulder. The weight of the clarinet is not the sole responsibility of your thumb, or your shoulder, but is, with good “use”, transfered to your back where the real strength lies.

Don’t worry that your fingers and hand extend beyond the keys while doing this. Focus on the space between the fingers during this exercise, not the position of the hand.

Now, with your arms extended and open, as if you are about to give someone a hug, use your thumb and arms, in that order, to bring the instrument to your mouth to play. Never lose awareness of both hand’s openness.

Play a C scale two octaves, not worrying if you over shoot a few keys. Again, the point is to contract that open fan shape as little as possible.

If you, like many woodwind players, have suffered from discomfort in your right hand from holding the instrument, this exercise will help you become aware of, and perhaps resolve, those issues.

My right hand hand facility has improved, and I rarely have shocks up my arms when turning pages.

Happy Tooting!

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Thoughts on Perfection and Being Human

Published on January 6, 2009 in Mastery, Musician's Life, Orchestra Auditions, Performances and symphony management. 2 Comments Tags: alexander technique, audition, auditioning, chicago symphony, effortless mastery, facebook, kenny werner, maria callas, obsessive compulsive disorder, orchestral auditions, orchestral musician, playing music, principal tubist.

In the current world of perfectionist auditions and recording quality performance standards, I doubt that Maria Callas would have been much more than a talented wannabe. Her tone was too bright, her vibrato too wobbly. What a tragedy, that musicians such as that are probably being overlooked.

Will Roesch, a tuba student, wrote me a note on Facebook, inquiring about the pros and cons of perfectionism in the music world. He wrote:

I was wondering if you could offer some words of wisdom.

To be blunt I have obsessive compulsive disorder, so I’ve always struggled with the ideas of perfection, order, symmetry, and so forth. Unfortunately, even within the comforting realm of music it’s managed to manifest itself. I’ve been given a few perspectives on orchestral playing. One teacher insists perfection is the only gateway to an orchestral job; the Principal Tubist of the Chicago Symphony instilled in me there is no such thing as perfection. He told me you can only do your best, and the true mark of an orchestral musician is improving from the last audition/performance/etc.

The perfection thing is ground into me every week; and I know for a normal person it would be stressful, but for someone like me with OCD, it becomes overwhelming.

So how do you do it? Do you put unrealistic demands on yourself in an attempt to reach a specific goal, or is perfection really the goal for which I should be striving?

When I’m playing, if I start to think about the mechanics of what I’m doing, I inevitably make a mistake, but I’ve noticed when I think of something out of body or just get lost in the moment entirely, things seem to go fine. I like to think of my tuba as a dusty, forgotten leviathan that never gets the spot light, and when the time comes, it’s the one singing the song to show what beauty it has to offer, not me.

I have posted my response below. I will add to this over the next few days. I also welcome conversations about these ideas in the comments.

Will- Thanks for the intriguing explorations and questions about the various philosophies of playing music. You really got me thinking.

Since I began studying the Alexander Technique, I’ve attempted to hone the answers to such questions, both for myself and my students. We performers embody such a paradox by attempting to perfect the expression of seemingly “other-worldly” music with all too human bodies.

I think it was Van Cliburn who said something to the effect of “Music offers enough to fill a lifetime, but one life is not enough to do music justice.” Music may or may not be perfectible, but it is always improvable, and certainly worth the trouble.

So, how then do we approach such a difficult and elusive goal? The answer is both philosophical and practical.

We forever strive toward perfection by setting our sights on the heavenly goal of the perfect performance, all the while seeking the most efficient path physically. (I am reminded of Kenny Werner’s book, Effortless Mastery)

The second part of that phrase is the real key. The great performers practice not so much to perfect a piece of music, but to render performing it effortless. Ironically, perfection is all the more attainable when we get out of our own way.

Yet, our “efforts” toward “effortlessness” can become a problem in itself. Your frustration with the choice between “thinking about the mechanics” and simply “letting it happen” is symptomatic of that problem. You have the right idea in striving to let it happen in an “out of body” sort of way, but that won’t help you if you happen to be hindered by one or more physical misuses.

In that case, you need to allow yourself to step back, as many steps as necessary, possibly back to simply standing or sitting without playing, in order to find your way toward the most efficient and “effortless” use of your self, by which you can move beyond one particular limitation and on to the next. And so on and so on. Backward until you arrive at a place where forward is truly possible, then forward until you find another habit of misuse, all the while remembering that our real goal is not physical ease, but the music itself.

Think of traversing a huge river gorge in a jungle to photograph a beautiful, rare orchid. You can see the other side just a few hundred feet away, but the depth of the gap is insurmountably deep. How do you get there? You cannot just jump; wish as you may to be able to fly. You must weave your way meticulously down one face of the gorge, through many unknown and possibly endless obstacles; then cross the river, which may be a problem in itself, then scale the other side, before arriving just a few hundred feet from where you were. You must take care not to injure yourself along the way, so attention to efficient solutions to the myriad challenges is critical along the way.

Is the orchid worth all that? The only way you can answer is that you enjoyed the process of getting there (I know. Huge cliché) the challenge as well as the journey. Dreaming of the orchid along the journey helps, and it may even offer critical creative inspiration, but patience and perseverance are the real tools. Obsessing over the goal is counter productive. If you lose sleep or hurt yourself, how does that help? (Yet many musicians grow up feeding on self-destructive habits) Suppose you never quite make it? What have you gained along the way?

Seeking to attain the highest goal is vital to our motivation, but it cannot destroy our joy in the seeking, otherwise our efforts are philosophically and spiritually fruitless.

There are too many bitter musicians out there who only sought the orchid and got lost along the way.

(To give a very real example of what I just described, the process of typing my answer to your inquiries could have easily become an issue of misuse in itself, as I slouched in front of the computer typing, compulsively goal oriented instead of process oriented.)

Incidentally, I am still misusing myself in front of the computer as I type this, right after having a great, body expanding yoga class!!

I would like to add that auditions are, in my opinion, tainted by an unrealistic perfectionist culture which has permeated their practice over the past two decades. A great player takes chances. A perfect player rarely does, if ever. I can understand (without condoning) such a cookie cutter benchmark if the position is in a section. But for a principal position, I would much rather an extremely high quality player who pushes the limit a bit each time he/she plays, striving for the ever elusive beauty of the music.

I believe that any phrase can be played a number of ways, some more effective than others, but different versions of which can reach out to the listener with a slightly different version beauty. If that were not the case, then there would be only one version of every piece sold on CD.

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Constructive Vacations Away From Practicing

Published on December 25, 2008 in Mastery, Musician's Life and Practicing. 4 Comments Tags: practice habits, rostropovich.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

I am fortunate to be able to spend this Christmas in Charleston, SC visiting my father. The weather here is mild, even for Charleston during this season. The temperature is a balmy 70 degrees, and a welcome break from the cold north.

I almost chose to leave my instrument behind to lighten my baggage. I ended up bringing it. But my family was incredulous that I even considered coming clarinet-less. Normally my clarinet goes wherever and whenever I go. However, that wasn’t always the case.

Earlier in my career, I found that a week or more away from the clarinet improved coordination and overall control upon returning to practicing. Solutions to persistent problems suddenly became evident. Bad habits were less ingrained. Good habits were easier to assimilate.

Most teachers warn against any extended break from regular and studied practice. Many famous players chant the same tune. I believe it was Rostropovich who said, “If I miss one day of practice, I notice. Two days, and my wife notices. Three days and my neighbors notice.”

The question arises. Do we risk losing a critical edge if away from the instrument for more than a day or two? I believe the opposite to be true. All types of practicers, from compulsive bingers to disciplined regulars, may experience a fresh sense of perspective and clarity about their goals and weaknesses after some time off. The body’s repetitive stress injuries have time to heal; the mind can expand and visualize being a better player.

In general, practicing is only beneficial if done wisely. Hashing and hacking for hours daily without attention to form and focus will cause serious harm, not only to the body, but especially to the subtle muscular and neural habits required of fine playing. If practice habits have been sloppy or compulsive, a break will allow a fresh start with a clean slate. Bad habits, both in attitude and body, become evident during the first few minutes of returning to playing.

What of the case of the disciplined player with good, steady practice habits? A five to ten day separation from the instrument can benefit this type of player as well. All performers, even the most experienced and accomplished, encounter plateaus or rough terrain along the path to mastering an instrument. A short break can foster a major breakthrough upon return.

Of course, time away from practicing needs planning. A week long vacation just prior to a performance or audition potentially invites disaster. If extensive time away from the instrument is unavoidable, the player can “practice” away from the instrument through visualization and score study. In fact, silent study is constructive at any time. In fact, visualization interspersed with intensive hands-on sessions can turbo-charge progress in playing abilities.

The disciplined player, along with the compulsive practicer, is encouraged to take occasional “constructive” vacations from their instrument. During such times off, while basking in pleasant diversions, the musician may choose to avoid any thought of their instrument, or they may wish to visualize playing effortlessly with virtuoso bravura and confident expressiveness. I recommend the latter. You really are improving your playing!

As I write this, sitting outside on a screened porch, breathing mild air and listening to a gurgling fountain, I relish this break from playing. (I guess I didn’t need to bring my instrument!) Even more, I relish the pleasant anticipation of returning to it with fresh vigor.

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