THE PARALYZING IMPACT OF AIR AND EMBOUCHURE ANALYSIS

Adolph Herseth

There is nothing wrong with your chops. Your mind is messing them up.

Paralysis by Analysis.

When encountering problems technically or musically, first sing (vocally) then buzz (mouthpiece).
Transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument.

Arnold Jacobs

I believe that it is best to be somewhat unconscious of our physical maneuvers but highly conscious of our musical goals.

We must not give dominance to the instrument or our various body parts. We must give dominance only to the music.

Robert Dorer 

You have to turn up the volume on the trumpet in your head.

Roger Rocco

THE MUSIC TELLS US EVERYTHING WE NEED TO KNOW

SING BUZZ PLAY

My challenge as an instrumental teacher is very, very simple. The instrumental musicians who come to me for help with there inability to function have drifted away from their dominant awareness of the music to to paralyzing self awareness. I ONLY NEED TO DIRECT THEM BACK TO THE MUSIC. 

In over forty-five years of teaching, no young brass or woodwind player has ever asked me one question about air or embouchure.  The question I have heard quite often is, "How does it go?"I have great success raising their awareness of how the music should sound.

Many experienced brass or woodwind players think, or have been told, they have air or embouchure malfunction. I have never encountered a single wind player who actually has a problem with air, embouchure, tongue, or fingers. Their paralysis is always the result of distracting self awareness in their conscious mind. 

A VIVID CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF MUSICAL SOUND IS THE ULTIMATE DISTRACTION FROM PARALYZING SELF AWARENESS.    

THE BRASS TRILOGY

1. There is no reason for success or failure other than our state of mind.

2. Sound motivates function.

3. It’s just the singing.

Self doubt is a self inflicted wound that results from an expectation of failure. We always realize our expectations. 

Courage is the first step toward greatness.

Courage is not the absence of fear. It's the will to function in spite of it.

In over forty-five years of teaching, no inexperienced young wind player has ever asked me one question about air or embouchure. However, countless more experienced musicians have said that they have air or embouchure malfunction because someone told them so.

Much of my current teaching is directed to professional brass and woodwind players worldwide who have lost their ability to function. They have been told by other musicians, teachers, and the medical community, that they have Focal Dystonia, an incurable neurological condition. Sometimes they are needlessly prescribed injections into their embouchure.

With the exception of some woodwind players who experience paralysis in their hands, most wind players experience the symptoms of tongue, air, or embouchure malfunction. Often they are advised by teachers or the medical community that they cannot continue their career.

THE MORE A MUSICIAN CONSCIOUSLY ATTEMPTS TO CORRECT THEIR SYMPTOMS OF FAILURE, THE WORSE THEIR PARALYSIS BECOMES. IN EVERY INSTANCE, THEY HAVE CONSCIOUSLY ANALYZED THEIR TONGUE, EMBOUCHURE, AIR, OR HANDS UNTIL THEY BECAME PARALYZED. TRAGICALLY, PARALYZING SELF ANALYSIS IS PRESCRIBED AND ENCOURAGED BY MANY TEACHERS AND MUSIC SCHOOLS WORLDWIDE.

When giving a lecture or masterclass, I frequently ask attendees if they think they have air or embouchure problems or if they have been told they have problems. I’m not surprised that about one third of the musicians in the group respond affirmatively. I always assure them that there is nothing wrong with their malfunctioning body parts. Their physical symptoms of failure are the result of a problem with their conscious state of mind.

I HAVE NEVER ENCOUNTERED ANY WIND PLAYER WHO HAD ANYTHING PHYSICALLY WRONG WITH THEIR EMBOUCHURE, FINGERS, TONGUE, OR ABILITY TO EXPEL AIR. HOWEVER, I HAVE ENCOUNTERED MANY MUSICIANS WHO THINK THEY HAVE SOMETHING PHYSICALLY WRONG. THEIR PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS OF FAILURE ARE THE RESULT OF AN INEFFECTIVE STATE OF MIND.

Several years ago a professional trumpet player contacted me regarding his "embouchure dystonia".
His first words just before his initial lesson were, "Roger, I have bad news. I have just returned from the doctor. He told me there is nothing physically wrong with my chops."

I replied, "That's the good news!" 

A teacher once told me that if I could cut the tongue out of my mouth, I would be a good brass player. Yes, my tongue was not functioning well to articulate notes playing the tuba. However, I had no problems when I used my tongue to talk or chew food.

THERE WAS NOTHING PHYSICALLY WRONG WITH MY TONGUE.

Another teacher noticed that I was not breathing well so he told me to sit in front of a mirror and observe the expansion and contraction of my chest and stomach. A week later at my next lesson, I told him that the visual analysis he had prescribed, paralyzed me to the point that I could barely play. He angrily exclaimed that if I didn’t do the visual analysis, I would never play.

I WAS QUITE HEALTHY,  SO IT WAS OBVIOUS THERE WAS NOTHING PHYSICALLY WRONG WITH MY ABILITY TO INHALE OR EXPEL AIR FROM MY LUNGS.

Still another teacher told me that I had embouchure problems because there wasn’t enough room between my upper lip and nose to shift the mouthpiece 2/3 upper lip-1/3 lower lip. He told me to cut the upper rim of my mouthpiece so there would be room to move it higher on my face.

THERE WAS NOTHING PHYSICALLY WRONG WITH WHERE I COMFORTABLY PLACED THE MOUTHPIECE ON MY LIPS WITHOUT SHIFTING UP OR DOWN.

There is plenty of air at your lips when you play cracked (“rejected”) notes.

You are an expert breather. You have been breathing to sustain your life for a long time.

Arnold Jacobs

The key to playing well is found in speech.

No child studies their breathing , tongue manipulation, or vocal chords in order to say words. Their ability to speak is motivated by their awareness of the sound of words.

It’s the conscious awareness of the sound of words that motivates the subconscious mind to execute all the physical mechanics that are required to speak.

THE DETECTABLE vs THE UNDETECTABLE ELEMENTS OF PLAYING

We are all familiar with the “toys” many brass teachers use to detect air and embouchure. They include embouchure magnifying mirrors, clear plastic mouthpieces, embouchure visualizing rims, bags, balloons, tubes, respirometers, and other medical devices.

In all my years as a professional musician and teacher,I have never once observed a competent brass player using any visual or mechanical devises.

The only brass players I have seen using them are those who are struggling to play. These devices are useless because they attempt to substitute weak conscious awareness of playing mechanics for a powerful conscious awareness of sound.

The subconscious mind has complete awareness and command of all the mechanical skills that are necessary to play an instrument or do anything else. Those skills are motivated by sound not paralyzing analysis. To motivate complex mechanical function the subconscious reactive mind is much more powerful than the conscious intellectual mind. A flea has no intellect yet it can execute great mechanical skill in order to fly. Our subconscious mind skillfully execute thousands of commands to our various body parts to sustain life, walk, or talk .

Substituting weak conscious intellect for powerful subconscious function inevitably results in failure.

We must not bypass the immense power of the subconscious reactive mind by attempting to substitute with weak conscious intellect. We cannot detect motion or pressure of air, muscular manipulations, or frequency of pitch using the sense of feel which is relatively weak compared to the senses of sight or sound.

To an extent, we can detect air flow and pressure away from playing by blowing on our hands or into a mechanical device. However, there is very little ability to detect air flow or pressure while playing. We have great ability to detect sound as we play. Awareness of sound is a powerful motivator mechanical function. 

Feel and fail are four letter words to a brass player.

Attempting to play by feel is like trying to empty a swimming pool with a straw.

When you try to play by feel, you are going the wrong way down a one way street.

Arnold Jacobs

We cannot motivate function through the use of sensory symptoms. We must motivate function through motor (muscular) systems.

The use of mechanical “toys” attempts to bring awareness of playing mechanics to the sense of sight. There is an important reason why there are no mechanical devises or mirrors in my studio.

WE CANNOT PLAY AN INSTRUMENT BY MOTIVATING THE SENSES OF SIGHT OR FEEL. OUR GOAL PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT IS TO PRODUCE SOUND. AWARENESS OF SOUND MUST BE THE MOTIVATING ELEMENT. WE HAVE GREAT POTENTIAL FOR AWARENESS OF SOUND IN OUR IMAGINATION. 

THE SOUND THAT WE PRODUCE EXTERNALLY WITH AN INSTRUMENT MUST ORIGINATE INTERNALLY IN OUR IMAGINATIVE MIND. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO FOCUS PRIMARILY ON THE SOUND OF THE INTERNAL INSTRUMENT. 

IF WE ARE LISTENING TOO INTENTLY THE EXTERNAL INSTRUMENT, WE WILL ATTEMPT TO CREATE FUNCTION WITH SENSORY AWARENESS. FAILURE WILL BE THE INEVITABLE RESULT BECAUSE ONLY SOUND AWARENESS WILL MOTIVATE FUNCTION.

Some teachers use the sense of sight by using mechanical devises to distract the student from the paralysis resulting from their intellectual analysis. I have found that non-musical mechanical devises take the player further away from the sound rather than bring them closer to it.

All of the devises in my studio are instruments that function only to create musical sounds. Their purpose is not to become more aware of air or body parts.

Awareness of sound is the ultimate distraction from paralyzing analysis because it directly and powerfully motivates the mechanical skill required to produce sound.

Adolph Herseth

Think sound not mechanics.

Roger Rocco

Sound motivates function.

Imagination is much more powerful than intellect.

IMAGINATION vs. INTELLECT

Arnold Jacobs

We can have an intellectual understanding of the music but we must not be intellectual about how to produce it.

We must have the (non-intellectual) mind of a child.

Our minds must focus on telling a musical story.

The product is musical sound not mechanical function. Go for the product.

Roger Rocco

Computers were developed by powerfully imaginative minds to compensate for weaker intellectual minds.

Albert Einstein was an average student intellectually but he had a vivid conscious imagination. Imagination is a very powerful force because it motivates the power of the subconscious mind. When creating motor function, conscious intellect bypasses the power of the subconscious.

Robert Collier (The Secret of the Ages)

The conscious mind is the gateway to the power of the subconscious.

H. A. Vandercook

If you can sing it, you can play it.

Arnold Jacobs

I sing the notes in my head as I play them. It doesn’t matter how my lips feels or how I feel.

There are acoustical laws that must be obeyed. We must send frequencies to the instrument that it can respond to. We must sing the music in our head while playing.

IMAGINATIVE MENTAL SINGING vs. CONSCIOUS INTELLECTUAL ANALYSIS

Conscious intellectual analysis with mirrors and optical devises motivates the senses to transmit information from the external tissues to the brain (input). Since the brain is focused primarily on receiving weak information through sensors, output diminishes so there is little mechanical function. Motor (muscular) function is motivated by the transmission of information from the brain to the muscle tissues (output).

Your subconscious mind will respond faithfully and powerfully to your conscious awareness of sound.

However, your subconscious mind will search for sound using the sense of feel if your conscious awareness of sound is vague or absent. Your subconscious mind already knows how to execute the mechanics necessary to play. Your conscious mind only needs to have a powerful awareness of the notes you want to play. When you only have a vague awareness or no conscious awareness of the sound, your subconscious mind will attempt to create a “feel” awareness of sound by converting your lips into ears. Lips have great potential to produce sound but they are very poor detectors of sound. We must prevent the subconscious mind from searching for the sound by feel in the lips. We only need to provide a vivid awareness of the sound in the conscious mind.

THE MOST VIVID CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF SOUND IS ACHIEVED BY MENTALLY SINGING WHILE PLAYING. 

 SING BUZZ PLAY

A number of years ago I observed a demonstration of which areas of the brain were active while playing an instrument. The brain of a violinist was scanned as she played. The part of her brain that was most active was the same part that is active in speech. She was speaking with sounds created by the violin rather than vocal chords.

Some sounds are labeled words and some are called music. It doesn’t matter how we label them because all sounds originate as conscious thought in the same area of the brain. The messages of sound can be transmitted to any tissue. People who have had their vocal chords removed because of cancer learn to speak crudely using other tissues in their throat.

We all learn to speak without any conscious understanding of the mechanics involved. Over time our subconscious mind learns the mechanics necessary to realize to our conscious awareness of sound. We only need to allow a child the time and repetitions necessary to make it happen. Since a brass instrument has no sound of it’s own, the sound that emerges from bell is a direct reflection of the mind of the player.

Arnold Jacobs

There are two instruments. One in the hands and one in the head. The instrument in the hands is a mirror reflecting the one in the head.     

Roger Rocco

You must be an honest musician because you have a lie detector in your hands.

(3:1) THE GOLDEN RATIO AND “THE LADDER OF AWARENESS OF SOUND”

We must have a powerful conscious awareness of the sound in order to produce a powerful resulting sound with an instrument. Vocal singing and mouthpiece buzzing are powerful tools that raise our awareness of sound. I advise students to sing and buzz, in any combination, three times to elevate their musical awareness. The sets of three should be repeated until the sound awareness has been elevated enough so that they can maintain conscious singing while playing.

Sound awareness must be powerful enough to overcome all distractions such as feel, the instrument, or the conscious analysis of mechanics. Once they have learned fingering and playing position, my elementary students only asked the following question.

HOW DOES THE MUSIC GO?

They never asked me how to play their instrument! They knew much more than me because they play them everyday. My success as a teacher and as a player has always resulted from my communicating the music to my students or myself. Yes, it’s that simple. Any music therapist knows that music has a very powerful influence on the mind.

We must have a simplistic approach to motivate the complex mechanics required to play an instrument or do anything else.    

H. A. Vandercook

Keep it simple.

THE HOT STOVE SYNDROME (PARALYZING NEGATIVE CONDITIONING)

Paralysis by Analysis inevitably results in a history of failure. Over time the physical discomfort and emotional pain the player experience becomes associated with and reinforced by the instrument. The instrument becomes a "hot stove" that the subconscious (reactive) mind rejects as harmful. The rejection results in paralysis of the embouchure, breathing, tongue, fingers, or any combination of those elements of playing.

The normal reaction to the paralysis, discomfort, and emotional pain is to consciously restore function and to feel good.

Feeling good when you play is a by-product of playing correctly. You cannot motivate correct playing by attempting to feel good first.

As the player consciously attempts to motivate the tissues and feel good, they create more failure resulting in increasing paralysis and emotional pain.

Paralysis (dystonia) is motivated by the subconscious mind in response to a history of failure. The process of restoring function can only occur if the player gradually creates a history of success.  

Most of my teaching involves helping musicians recover or develop their playing skills that have been lost, or never achieved. They usually have dedicated themselves to paralyzing analysis of their air, embouchure, and sometimes fingers. Most often the self analysis was prescribed to them by well intended teachers, technical method materials, and music schools.

My job is always very simple. I only need to alter the musician’s state of mind by directing them to focus only on the music.
 
Self analysis is not only unnecessary, it results in destructive paralysis. If children self analyzed how to speak or walk, they would never be able to do either. Many musicians devote their lives to learning how to master playing an instrument but never do.

IF YOU MASTER THE MUSIC FIRST, MASTERY PLAYING THE INSTRUMENT WILL FOLLOW.   

THE MUSIC TELLS US EVERYTHING WE NEED TO KNOW.

IT’S JUST THE SINGING!

THE BRASS TRILOGY

1. There is no reason for your success or failure other than your state of mind.

2. Sound motivates function.

3. It’s just the singing!

The brass player’s conscious awareness must focus only on the sound they want to create with their instrument. Their conscious commitment to the sound will motivate the subconscious mind to do whatever is necessary mechanically to realize it with an instrument. The most vivid awareness is achieved by mentally singing the music as it’s being played.

Roccoism

Your subconscious mind will respond faithfully and powerfully to your conscious will if you don't interfere with paralyzing self analysis.


Adolph Herseth

It's amazing what the lips can accomplish if you get your mind out of the way.

Arnold Jacobs

I believe that it is best to be somewhat unconscious of your physical maneuvers but highly conscious of your musical goals.

H. A. Vandercook Keep it simple. If you can sing it, you can play it.

Arnold Jacobs I sing the notes in my head as I play them. It doesn’t matter how my lip feels or how I feel.

Adolph Herseth When encountering problems technically or musically, first sing (vocally)then buzz (mouthpiece). Transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument.

Meredith Willson “The Think System” from “The Music Man”

Marion, the librarian, speaking to Harold Hill, the bandmaster.

Is it true that you have developed a revolutionary new method of teaching music called “The Think System”?

Harold Hill Yes, it’s really quite simple. Nobody has to teach you how to whistle. You only have to think the tune to have it come out perfectly clear.

Roger Rocco

We must have a childlike simplistic approach to executing the incredibly complex mechanical skills that are required to play an instrument or do anything else.

SING BUZZ PLAY

THE FINALE ULTIMO

For those who require a book, you are welcome to print these posts and bind the pages. Please accept this information as a gift from Arnold Jacobs who blessed me with a career and life in music. Roger

THE IMPERFECT PURSUIT OF PERFECTION, THE PARALYZING IMPACT OF SELF ANALYSIS

Roccoisms

Your determined pursuit of perfection will lead to greater imperfection if you cannot accept the inevitable reality that an element of failure is a necessary component of creating success.

You must celebrate your moments of success and accept your moments of failure so that you are joyful when you play rather than in despair.

Poor sound can be transformed into quality sound. Silence cannot be transformed into quality sound.

Focal dystonia is a symptom rather than a disease. Any physician understands that treating the symptoms of disease does not lead to a cure.

Your subconscious mind will respond faithfully and powerfully to your imaginative conscious will if you don’t interfere with intellectual self analysis.

Imagination is a much greater motivator of the power of the subconscious mind than intellect.

There is no reason for your success or failure other than your state of mind.

Robert Carter (The Secret of the Ages, 2007 Wilder Publications)

The conscious mind is the gateway that allows access to the power of the subconscious.

Arnold Jacobs

If you cannot accept crudity, you cannot create quality.

Adolph Herseth

If I didn’t miss any notes, I wouldn’t have any friends.

Paralysis by Analysis

Maurice Andre

I expect the notes to be there.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE

A brass player, or any musician, has no opportunity to test or modify their musical product before they present it to an audience. However, computer programmers or electrical engineers can fully evaluate and modify their work until they have complete confidence of its value. They rarely face consequences of failure unless their evaluations and modifications are incorrect.

Because of the precarious acoustical characteristics of brass instruments, a 100% expectation of success is not possible, even for the greatest players. A certain amount of failure is inevitable. Excessive failure over time is debilitating. The negative psychological impact of too much failure is not as great for an elementary musician as it is for a professional whose livelihood and self esteem depend on a high level of success. The negative consequences of failure are greater for the musician who is expected to produce.

The musicians who come to me most often for help are experienced professionals whose careers are in jeopardy. In time, their fear and anxiety becomes powerfully conditioned to and reinforce by the instrument in their hands. This powerful association, conditioned reflex, was first demonstrated by the Russian behavioral psychologist Ivan Pavlov in his well known experiments with a salivating dog. The instrument becomes an enemy rather than a friend.

THE PERFECTIONIST PERSONALITY

Roccoism

The perfectionist musician cannot not tolerate imperfection with a instrument in their hands. As a result, much of the time they are dissatisfied with their performance because perfection is not a realistic goal. As their dissatisfaction grows over time, the instrument becomes a powerful reinforcing influence motivating mechanical paralysis.

Parents celebrate their children’s first intelligible words or first steps. The positive reinforcement encourages their continued development. If the child was scolded for their imperfections, paralysis would set in and all development would cease.

A personal friend, with a doctorate in psychology and works as a therapist, dreamed of becoming a professional pianist when she was a child. Her father, who was a fine pianist himself, was her teacher. When there were visitors to their home, she was always expected to perform for the guests. However, she was only allowed to play until she made a mistake. When she inevitably made an error, the impromptu recital was terminated and she was asked to leave.

Since she was not allowed to fail, the consequences of her inevitable failure eventually caused paralysis to the point where she could no longer even sit at the piano. The piano became a powerful factor reinforcing her emotional pain, anxiety, and personal disappointment.

There is a response in the subconscious mind that reacts to protect us from emotional or physical harm. When we touch a hot stove, are response is not a conscious intellectual event. We don’t think to ourselves, “This is uncomfortable. I don’t like it. What should I do about it?” Our subconscious mind reacts powerfully and instantly to remove our hand from the uncomfortable situation.

THE DOUBLE BARRELED SHOTGUN

The brass player has a double barreled shotgun pointed at them because they experience both emotional pain and physical discomfort when they fail to execute the notes they want to produce. If a pianist or violinist plays the wrong note, they may experience personal disappointment but they do not experience physical pain. The rejection of the air column within a brass instrument is quite uncomfortable. A friend once described it, “like trying to push a piano up the stairs.”

PERFORMANCE ANXIETY - THE BARRIER OF FEAR

Roccoism

Most people never realize their dreams in life because they are paralyzed by their fear of failure.

Adolph Herseth

A trumpeters life is risky business. No greatness can be achieved if the player is paralyzed by fear.

When a musician fails in performance, deep emotional pain and fear of continuing failure come instantly. Their expectation of success weakens and their expectation of failure grows in a accelerating downward spiral.

Maxwell Maltz (Psycho-Cybernetics, 1960 Prentice-Hall, Inc.)

The mechanisms of success and failure are the same.

Roccoisms

We always realize our positive or negative expectations because our subconscious mind will faithfully react to satisfy our conscious will. The exception is if our will directs intentional or perceived self inflicted harm.

The subconscious mind may respond independently if there is no conscious will.

Our expectations are usually the result of creating a history over time. If our legs function properly to get us out of bed everyday, we will expect them to function the same tomorrow.

Since the subconscious mind does not distinguish between fantasy and reality, it is possible to create an expectation motivated by imagination. I frequently use this technique in my private teaching. I will ask students to imagine that they are me or someone else whose playing they admire.

First Case Study

I worked with a fine oboist, who was completing her DMA at a major university. When she brought out the case with 20-25 reeds, I asked her to choose the best and worst ones. There was no hesitation picking the worst one, but she struggled to choose the best reed.

Finally, when the two reeds were removed from the case, I asked her to use the worst one. The anguish of her facial expression indicated that she did not expect to succeed. I asked who her favorite oboist is. When she replied, I said, “Do you think he could play the worst reed successfully?” Without hesitation, she replied, “Yes!” I instructed her to pretend it was him playing La Gazza Ladra. She immediately performed the solo beautifully Her reed and oboe became inconsequential and the music was the only thing that mattered. Her commitment to the music allowed her to transcend her expectation of failure which was powerfully reinforced by the reed.

SECOND CASE STUDY

I received a call from a very fine professional flutist who I knew as an excellent high school musician. Sadly, she told me that for the previous fifteen years, her right hand has been somewhat paralyzed and she experienced pain while fingering. She also mentioned that she had been to flute teachers and medical professionals worldwide but no one has been able to help her.

I first asked if her hand functioned normally when she was not playing the flute. She said yes and added that the doctors could not find anything physically wrong. I immediately knew the physical malfunction was the result of her state of mind. Since her mind was causing the problem, I understood that her recovery must be to alter her state of mind. She had lost her mental commitment to the music and was now focusing on her right hand. She was desperately trying to eliminate the pain and to make her fingers function.

H. A. Vandercook

Keep it simple.

If you can sing it, you can play it.

Arnold Jacobs

I sing the notes in my head as I play them. It doesn’t matter how my lip feels or how I feel.

Roccoisms

The highest level of awareness of sound is achieved when we mentally sing the notes as we play them.

It’s just the singing and buzzing no matter where your mouthpiece is located.

SING, BUZZ, PLAY

THE PROCESS OF RECOVERY

The most effective technique to bring her awareness back to the music was to have her vocally sing as she fingered and to mentally sing as she played.

Since I understood that the flute was reinforcing her paralysis and pain, the first step was to sing vocally without fingering. After several repetitions of vocal singing, I ask if she thought she could sing and finger the instrument while it rested on her lap. She replied affirmatively and was able to finger freely and without pain.

I asked her to alternate repetitions of vocally singing and fingering with singing mentally while fingering. She gradually brought the flute to playing position. I told her to mentally sing and play but only when she expected to succeed. She was able to play a short passage normally and without pain the first time she tried. It was her first moment of success in many years.

I wanted to know what had happened to cause her paralysis and pain fifteen years prior. She replied, “I started giving eighty flute lessons a week to make a living.”

She was listening to so much low level performance that the elementary tone production dominated her awareness. Her subconscious faithfully responded to realize the elementary level playing that she was allowing into her conscious awareness. As the physical symptoms of her failure became more severe, she became anxious and very unhappy. Her physical and emotional pain became associated with flute and her subconscious mind perceived it as a harmful object, causing paralysis as it erroneously tried to rescue her from harm.

Jay Friedman

After a day of teaching, I sound more and more like my students.

Because Adolph Herseth understood the negative impact of listening to low level trumpet playing, he only accepted very advanced students. When a student leaves my studio, I always play my horn to renew my awareness of sound. Jake taught thirty hours of lessons per week but never allowed the mostly dysfunctional playing he heard to negatively impact his personal playing. He always separated his teaching from his personal performance.

Adolph Herseth

There’s nothing wrong with your chops. Your mind is messing them up.

Roccoism

The music tells us everything we need to know.

Arnold Jacobs

We must give dominance to the music not the instrument or ourselves.

I believe that we should be somewhat unconscious of our physical maneuvers and highly conscious of our musical goals.

Adolph Herseth

Sound is the criterion for how we do this and that.

When encountering problems technically or musically, first sing then buzz. Transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument.

AIR AND EMBOUCHURE ANALYSIS IS POISON NOT MEDICINE!!!

In over forty years of studio and classroom teaching, not one student has ever asked me anything about air or embouchure! Any music teacher is well aware of the question they hear most often.

"HOW DOES THIS GO?"

The students are constantly telling us what they need and most teachers ignore it. Instead, many teachers force feed students useless information that is very destructive to those who take it seriously. My students frequently complain about conductors and clinicians who instruct them to give dominance to paralyzing self analysis. Here are the worst examples:

FILL THE INSTRUMENT WITH AIR!

The instrument is already full of air. Since it has no sound, they should say fill the instrument with sound.

Roccoism

Sound motivates function.

IT REQUIRES MORE AIR TO PLAY SOFT THAN LOUD.

On a single breath, I can sustain a soft note with a tuba for 30 seconds but I can only play a very loud note for 1-3 seconds.

BREATHE FROM THE DIAPHRAGM (STOMACH).

Attempting to breath only from the stomach will reduce the vital capacity by 50%! No one tells an athlete to breathe only from the diaphragm otherwise they would collapse from exhaustion.


Roccoism

It is not necessary to teach you how to breathe because you have been doing it very well for your entire life.

The list of erroneous comments is endless but the most destructive are about embouchure analysis and breath control.

DROP YOUR JAW.

TIGHTEN OR LOOSEN YOUR LIPS.

FAST OR SLOW AIR

DIRECT THE AIR UP OR DOWN INSIDE THE MOUTHPIECE.

USE MORE OR LESS MOUTHPIECE PRESSURE.

SHIFT THE MOUTHPIECE OR KEEP THE MOUTHPIECE STABLE AS YOU ASCEND OR DESCEND IN PITCH.

RELAX!

Roccoisms

It is not necessary to study air or vocal chords in order to talk. It’s the sound of the words we want to say that motivates the mechanical function of speech. Nothing is different when we have an instrument in our hands. Our awareness of the music will motivate the mechanics required to play the instrument.

While playing, a wind instrumentalist has only a very vague awareness of air pressure or air flow. Since we cannot detect air, we should focus on what is detectable, SOUND!

THE ACCEPTANCE OF IMPERFECTION

Roccoisms

Your acceptance of failure will allow you to minimize the consequences. Your inability to accept failure will maximize the consequences.

You don’t need to enjoy or celebrate your moments of failure, but you must accept the fact that they are going to occur as you strive for success.

Your response to failure must be to act in a manner that leads to success not more failure.

Shinichi Suzuki

We can teach a child how to play an instrument the same way they learned to talk.
“THE THINK SYSTEM” from The Music Man by Meredith Willson

Marion, the Librarian

Harold, is it true that you have invented a revolutionary new system of teaching music called THE THINK SYSTEM?

Harold, the Bandmaster

Yes, it’s really quite simple. Nobody has to teach you how to whistle. You only have to think the tune to have it come out perfectly clear.


Roccoism

Your ability to speak is not motivated by intellectual analysis of breath and vocal chords. The mechanics of speech are motivated by the sound of words. In the same manner, your ability to play an instrument is motivated by "The Sound of Music".

Arnold Jacobs

The key to playing a brass instrument is found in speech.

THE VALVELESS TUBA

Arnold Jacobs

“I don’t fill the instrument with air. I fill it with vibrations (sound).”

Adolph Herseth

“When encountering problems technically or musically, first sing (vocally) then buzz. Transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument.”

“Practice entire sessions on the mouthpiece alone to avoid having problems creep into your playing.”

Roccoisms

“I gave tuba playing a long time ago. Now, I play an 18ft. mouthpiece with valves.”

“Play the mouthpiece not the instrument.”

For many years I have demonstrated in master classes and lessons, that I play the mouthpiece inside the tuba rather than play the tuba. The tuba is just a very selective amplifier of the sound that I create in the mouthpiece. I call the demonstration, “The Valveless Tuba” or “Tuba Gymnastics” I tell the listeners that it looks and sound like I’m playing the tuba but I’m not.

I perform very rapid scales and chords, or a technical etude without using valves. I play the three octave “gymnastics” very fast to disguise the fact that many of the notes are inaccurate or out of tune. As I play, I remove the mouthpiece from the leadpipe so the audience can hear that I am sending the same sound to the mouthpiece that they hear coming from the bell.

Recently, I cleaned one of my piston valve tubas and began the process of reassembling the instrument. Before inserting the valves, I decided to play it. The buzzing sound did not come out the bell but emerged from the first valve casing. I buzzed fairly loudly and fingered all the empty valve casings for about 30 minutes before placing my mouthpiece in an instrument with valves. I was careful to be sure that I was on pitch by playing familiar music.

After my extended practice session playing the valveless tuba, the resonance that came from the bell of the tuba with valves sounded as though Jake was playing! I immediately knew that I had discovered a valuable tool. It was a real valveless tuba rather than the fake one that I had been using in my “tuba gymnastics” demonstrations. Playing the valveless tuba was very similar but yet somewhat different from playing the mouthpiece alone, using a BERP, or buzzing into a megaphone (tubaphone).

I was more willing and able to commit to sending a resonant and accurate sound directly into the leadpipe of the real instrument rather than just the mouthpiece alone or an external device. I suspect that the reason is I have a much longer history of playing the mouthpiece inside the leadpipe than outside somewhere. Also, the valveless instrument accepts inaccurate frequencies.

Since the valveless tuba did not provide any amplification of my mouthpiece playing, I provided it myself by buzzing fairly loudly. When I sent the same level of tone production to the tuba with valves, the effortless sound coming from the bell was very full and resonant. I was surprised and somewhat distracted because it sounded like someone else playing!

I soon realized that I was not fully transferring the same mouthpiece playing from the valveless tuba to the one with valves because the frequencies were not quite accurate. I was not transferring the same commitment to mental singing that was being achieved playing the valveless instrument.

I REMINDED MYSELF THAT I ONLY NEEDED TO TRANSFER THE SINGING BECAUSE MENTAL SINGING, NOT FEEL, MOTIVATES THE PRODUCTION OF SOUND THAT CAN BE ACCEPTED BY THE VALVE TUBA!

LIBERATION

My experience playing the valveless tuba completely freed me from the paralyzing negative influence of the instrument. There are no consequences of failure because the leadpipe accepts just about any frequency. It’s very forgiving of inaccuracy because no single harmonic series is defined by one column of air. There are infinite air columns.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL PLAYING THE VALVE TUBA IS FOR IT TO BECOME A VALVELESS TUBA!

Arnold Jacobs

“There are acoustical laws that must be obeyed. We must send in frequencies that the instrument can accept. To do this, we must mentally sing the notes as we play them.”

“I sing the notes in my head as I play them. I don’t care how my lip feels or how I feel.”

I have frequently thought that maybe having valves on a brass instrument is not a good thing, That’s not true! Valves are wonderful tools.

HOWEVER, WE MUST FULLY UNDERSTAND THEIR LIMITATIONS! VALVES DO NOT PRODUCE SOUND!

The primary function of valves is to aid technical facility playing in various keys, extend lower range using less tubing, and to improve intonation. Because valves allow the brass tubing to be shorter, there is room for larger bore sizes which provide greater amplification with varied timbres.

I frequently coach brass players before a professional audition. I ask, “How would you feel (confidence level) about the audition if it was to be played on the mouthpiece alone?” They always reply, “Great” or “No Problem” My immediate response is always, “GUESS WHAT? IT IS A MOUTHPIECE AUDITION!”

It is very important to understand that what motivates tone production when playing the mouthpiece, no matter where it is located, is to mentally sing the music as you create it. This is not difficult to accomplish! I have seen pre-school children buzz melodies on a trumpet mouthpiece without instruction if they imitate what they see and hear someone else doing.

The primary mental focus of mouthpiece playing outside the leadpipe is mentally singing the notes (melody) that you want to produce.

THE BRASS PLAYER’S STATE OF MIND (COMMITMENT TO SINGING!) MUST BE THE SAME REGARDLESS WHERE THE MOUTHPIECE IS LOCATED.

THE HOT STOVE SYNDROME

If an instrumentalist develops a history of failure, the resulting emotional pain and physical discomfort will become closely associated with and influenced by their instrument. The instrument reinforces the player’s expectation of failure. The subconscious mind will respond to the player’s expectation of failure by creating physical conditions that cause even more failure.
Eventually, the instrument becomes a “hot stove” that triggers a paralyzing reaction in the subconscious mind.

We become sabotaged by a subconscious response that is supposed to protect us from physical and emotional harm rather than cause it.

Roccoism

“We always realize our expectations whether they are positive or negative.”

I have only seen the Hot Stove Syndrome, when someone played the mouthpiece outside the instrument, one time. I have had hundreds of people come to me for help when their instrument was negatively influencing them to the point of paralysis. However, they always can play the mouthpiece beautifully when it’s outside the instrument.

When a brass player comes to me for help, I always ask to hear their mouthpiece playing first. After briefly listening, my response is always, “Wonderful, there’s nothing wrong with your playing.” Usually, they are startled by my evaluation. Sometimes their body language tells me that they think I’m lying. I immediately ask, “How do I know there is nothing wrong?” The obvious answer is because, “Your playing sounds good!"

Arnold Jacobs

“I don’t care if what you are doing (physically) is all wrong if it sounds good.”

Sometimes, a player will respond, “It may sound okay but it feels lousy.” I remind them that Jake tells us that it doesn’t matter how it feels. I also tell them that if they want their playing to feel better they must commit to the sound by mentally singing first.

Roccoisms

“Feeling good is a by-product of correct playing. You cannot motivate correct playing by trying to feel good first.”

“Sound motivates function, not the reverse.”

“Feel and Fail are four letter words to a brass player.”

Yes, playing the mouthpiece somewhere other than in the leadpipe of an instrument, feels different. SO WHAT!!! To be truly liberated from the paralyzing influence of the instrument, we must transcend our physical feedback by committing to the production of sound in the mouthpiece.

Are we mentally singing when we play the mouthpiece outside the leadpipe? The answer is absolutely, positively, YES! There’s no other way to make it happen!

It’s not difficult to do unless we are more committed to the feel of playing, or physical mechanics rather than sound we want to come from the bell.

Roccoism

“The instrument has no sound of it’s own. The only sound that will emerge from the bell is the sound that you produce in the mouthpiece which originates in your conscious mind.”

Arnold Jacobs

“What you feel like (while playing) is not important. You should focus only on what you want to sound like.”

“There are two instruments. One in your hands and one in your head. The one in your hands is a mirror reflecting the one in your head.”

Alolph Herseth

“Think sound not mechanics.”

Roccoisms

“Sound motivates function.”

“There is no reason for your success or failure other than your state of mind.”

IT’S JUST THE SINGING!

The highest level of awareness of sound is achieved when we mentally sing the music as we play it. Our subconscious mind responds to the musical awareness by executing all the highly complex mechanics required play the instrument. The mechanics of playing are much too complex to be motivated by the conscious mind. This is the same process that we use for speaking. Our subconscious mind responds beautifully to our conscious thoughts of words without any intellectual understanding of how it’s done.

IN THE ABSENCE OF A CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF SOUND, THE SUBCONSCIOUS BRAIN WILL ATTEMPT TO CREATE SOUND AWARENESS BY USING THE SENSE OF FEEL. IT WILL TRY TO CONVERT LIPS INTO EARS. THAT'S LIKE TRYING TO DRAIN THE WATER FROM A SWIMMING POOL WITH A STRAW.

Adolph Herseth

"It’s amazing what we can achieve if we don’t allow the (conscious) brain to interfer.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your chops. Your mind is messing them up.”

THE VALVELESS TUBA

The most important aspect of the valvesless tuba is not the transfer of imprecise resonance to the instrument with valves. We must transfer precisely tuned resonance. That can only be achieved by mentally singing. It we are only interested in transferring imprecise resonance, the instrument will reject the sound no matter how hard we work to impose it.

The real benefit of the valveless tuba is realized only when we are totally committed to the transfer of our mental singing. The valveless tuba reminds us of what that commitment is without the negative influence of the instrument. The motivation of that negative influence is our history of failure.

WE MUST TRANSCEND THE INSTRUMENT AND ALL OTHER DISTRACTIONS WITH OUR COMMITMENT TO THE SINGING OF THE MUSIC WE WANT TO CREATE. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!!!

Alolph Herseth

“No greatness can be achieved if the brass player is paralyzed by fear.”

Roccoism

“Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s the will to function in spite of it.”

IT’S JUST THE SINGING!

IT’S JUST THE SINGING!!!

IT’S JUST THE SINGING............

I recently made a wonderful discovery about my four tubas. None of them have valves anymore!

IT'S JUST THE SINGING!

Arnold Jacobs - “I sing the notes in my head as I play them. It doesn’t matter how my lips feels or how I feel.”

When me and several of Jake’s students were in the process of contributing to his book, Song and Wind, I told Brian Fredrickson, author and publisher, that those words were the most important in the book. In that statement, Jake says nothing about air, embouchure, tongue, lungs, diaphragm, or any other body part. However, he does strongly imply that those things don’t matter at the conscious level of the brass player’s awareness. He says that his commitment to mental singing is his most important consideration no matter of how his lips or the rest of him feels physically. Such simplicity is the secret of his success as a musician and teacher.

Roccoism - “We must have a simplistic approach to the intricate complexities of playing an instrument or doing anything else in everyday life.”

Arnold Jacobs - “I want you to have the mind of a child, not that of an analytical adult.”

“You may be analytical about the music but you must not be analytical about how to produce it.”

“You must give dominance to the music you want to produce, not your instrument.”

H.A. Vandercook - “If you can sing it, you can play it.”

“Keep it simple.”

Meredith Willson - “The Think System” from The Music Man

“Nobody has to teach you how to whistle. It’s quite simple. You just have to think the tune to have it come out perfectly clear.”

Robert Carter - The Secret of the Ages

“The real power of the mind is in the subconscious. The conscious mind is only a gateway to subconscious.”

Roccoism - “Our approach to playing an instrument should be no different than the other things we do in everyday life.”

Adolph Herseth - “Think sound not mechanics.”

“Paralysis by analysis.”

THE HOT STOVE SYNDROME

The subconscious mind is not intellectual it’s reactive. If we touch a hot stove, it will react immediately to removed our hand. There are no intellectual considerations about whether the stove is harmful or uncomfortable or about how to respond. A powerful conscious will is required to override the reactive mind that wants to remove your hand from harm. It’s not possible to consciously stop your heart from beating or to stop breathing for an extended period.

This subconscious protective response is much more powerful than the conscious will . Although the response protects us from harm in everyday life, it can sabotage us when we have an instrument in our hands.

CONDITIONED REFLEX

In time, our experiences, positive or negative, become associated with the instrument. If our playing history is mostly successful, the instrument will reinforce the continuation of the positive experiences. However, if we develop a history of failure, the instrument will have a powerful negative influence on the subconscious. That influence will motivate the protective reaction of the subconscious mind to prevent us from the continued emotional and physical harm associated with it. When the instrument becomes a hot stove, a variety of physical symptoms, from paralysis to uncontrollable shaking (dystonia), will make an ugly appearance.

THE DOUBLE BARRELED SHOTGUN

Brass players and vocalists experience the negative symptoms of failure at two levels. There is an anxious emotional response that all musicians experience when they fail and there is also physical discomfort. A friend of mine beautifully described the physical discomfort he experiences while playing the trumpet. “It feels like I’m trying to push a piano up the stairs.” A horn player, who I have worked with recently, described physical discomfort in her entire face.

THE “FEEL GOOD” APPROACH TO BRASS PLAYING

Our natural response to physical or emotional pain is to eliminate it. We may take a medication to reduce the pain of a headache or we might remove ourselves from a toxic personal relationship.

Roccoism - “Feeling good is a by-product of playing correctly. We cannot motivate correct playing by trying to feel good first.”

Most often, brass players respond to the physical symptoms of failure by trying to “fix” what seems to be wrong with their breathing, chops, tongue, or fingers.

Adolph Herseth - “There’s nothing wrong with your chops. Your mind is messing them up.”

Malfunctioning body parts (chops, tongue, lungs, etc.) are the result of a problem in the brain, not the individual body parts. People who stutter have nothing wrong with their apparatus of speech. Many stutterers can easily sing lyrics with no malfunction. The problem and the solution to the problem is in the brain, not the vocal chords, tongue or lungs.

I remember the first lesson of the principal trumpet of one of the second tier American orchestras who was in serious jeopardy of losing his job. His first words to me were, “I just came from the doctor. The bad news is that there is nothing wrong with my chops.” I responded, “That’s the good news!”

RESPONSE TO FAILURE

Many brass players complain, “I was a better brass player in high school.” or some earlier time in their lives. “What has happened to me?”

What has happened is that a history failure has developed and that history has become powerfully associated with and reinforced by the instrument in their hands. Why does anyone develop a history of failure? The simple answer is that some musicians never really learned how to be successful. Others alter their state of mind from what had originally brought them success.

Roccoisms - “Sound Motivates Function.”

“Feel and fail are four letter words to a brass player.”

Adolph Herseth - “Sound is the criterion for how we do this and that.”

“Paralysis by Analysis”

All musicians experience a certain amount of physical input when they play or sing. When that input becomes dominant over an awareness of sound, the musician has opened the door to a room of failure and misery.

Arnold Jacobs - “We cannot produce sound through sensory systems which provide input to the brain. We must stimulate the motor systems to produce output.”

“Eighty to ninety percent of our consciousness must be devoted to an awareness of the sound we want to produce. Awareness of how we feel or of the external sound must be peripheral not dominant.”

If a brass player, any instrumentalist, or vocalist gives dominance to “feel” (input), output (motor function) becomes greatly diminished or ceases completely.

THE SYMBIOTIC MIND

When there is a symbiotic relationship between the conscious and subconscious levels of awareness and function in the brain, wonderful accomplishments can be achieved.

Adolph Herseth - “It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we get the interference of the (conscious) mind out of the way.”

When the relationship is antagonistic, function ceases. The power of the imaginative and intellectual conscious mind can only be realized by an equally powerful subconscious response.

ROCCO’S LAW - MUSICAL RESPONSE = MUSICAL AWARENESS

Roccoism - “Climbing the ladder of musical awareness will bring you to the notes you want to play.”

The subconscious (reactive) mind does not react independently of the conscious will unless there is no conscious will to react to. If you consciously think about lifting your right hand, the subconscious mind will not lift the left hand instead. When playing an instrument, the subconscious mind will function to realize the conscious awareness of sound. The realized sound will always be at precisely the same level as the player’s conscious awareness. The familiar phrase, “garbage in, garbage out”, is an accurate description of what occurs.

When the conscious awareness of sound is vague or absent, the reactive but irrational subconscious mind, will react by attempting to create a more powerful awareness of sound in another manner. It will revert to the lower level sense of feel and will attempt to the player’s convert lips (mouthpiece/embouchure) into ears.

Roccoism - “Playing by feel is like trying to empty a swimming pool with a straw.”

Since the lips are capable of producing sound but not detecting it, there is no auditory information available to realize and no playing mechanics will be motivated.

INTELLECT AND IMAGINATION

Roccoism - “Imagination is a much more powerful force than intellect because imagination motivates the amazing power of the subconscious while analytical intellect attempts to by-pass it.”

Robert Carter in his book, The Secret of the Ages, tells us that the real power of the mind is in the subconscious. Every moment of our lives, the subconscious mind motivates whatever is necessary within us to maintain life.

The father of one of my brass students is a computer engineer. I once asked him if all the computers in the world were linked together, could they provide the same life sustaining functions of our subconscious mind? He replied, “No, they couldn’t keep an ant alive.”

If the subconscious no longer provided life sustaining function, could the conscious intellectual mind substitute? The answer again is no. When we attempt to substitute for the power of the subconscious with conscious analytical intellect, we will fail. We don’t have enough intellectual capacity or awareness of the internal body parts necessary to motivate the many physical functions necessary to sustain life. Computers were invented and developed to compensate for our intellectual shortcomings!

What motivates the incredibly complex mechanics necessary for the flight of a bird? It obviously cannot be analytical intellect since the intellectual capacity of a bird is quite low. It must be imagination. The bird has a conscious awareness of where it wants to fly which is usually to find food or escape danger. There is no conscious awareness of how to make it happen. Along with sustaining life, the mechanics necessary to fly are a function of the bird’s subconscious. This ability is already present in the bird’s subconscious from before the time it emerges from it’s shell.

THE LADDER OF MUSICAL AWARENESS

Every experienced school music teacher is aware of the question most often asked by their students after, “Can I use the bathroom?” In many years of teaching, no wind player has ever asked me about embouchure or air! Universally, the question music teachers hear most often is, “HOW DOES THIS GO?” The students understand that their ability to execute the notes is correlated with their musical awareness of the notes. Our ability to learn speech is based on the awareness of the sound of words, not an intellectual understanding of how to say them.

SING, BUZZ, PLAY

Adolph Herseth - “When encountering problems technically or musically, first sing (vocally) than buzz the mouthpiece. Transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument.”

Herseth says nothing about air (fat, fast, slow etc.) or embouchure (tension, relaxation, or mouthpiece placement)!

The highest level of musical awareness is achieved by repetitions (sets of three) of vocalizing and buzzing away from the influence of the instrument. When we play the mouthpiece alone, we must maintain the same internal mental singing that is required for external vocalization. The only thing that is different when buzzing the mouthpiece is that we substitute lips for vocal chords.

Roccoisms - “I gave up tuba playing a long time ago. Now I play an 18ft. mouthpiece with valves.”

“Play the mouthpiece, not the instrument.”

THE COMMITMENT

Roccoisms - “The level of tone production on an instrument is equal to the level of the player’s mental commitment to the sound of the music.”

“The subconscious mechanics required to play an instrument are motivated by the musicians conscious musical awareness, not the reverse.”

“The highest level of musical awareness is achieved while singing vocally or mentally singing when playing an instrument.”

“Transcend your instrument with a powerful awareness of the sound you want to produce.”

Arnold Jacobs - “I always believe that it’s important to be somewhat unconscious of our physical maneuvers but highly conscious of our musical goals.”

“The key to success, playing an instrument, can be found in speech.”

FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

A high level of musical awareness is required to transcend all influences such as the feel of chops, or the negative conditioning associated with the instrument. I have developed a very basic formula that elevates the musician’s musical awareness.

Roccoism - “My students and I have failed to apply the SING, BUZZ, PLAY formula. However, when we did apply it, it has never failed us.”

1. The Repetition of Three - Sing vocally and Buzz the mouthpiece in any combination of three repetitions. Familiar musical phrases should be buzzed loudly to encourage tone production. Midrange transposition may be used if the music is too high or low to achieve a resonant sound.

Example - Sing 1X - Buzz 2X; Sing 2X - Buzz 1X; Buzz 3X etc.

2. Repeat the sets as necessary until you are able to transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument. Sometimes only a single repetition of singing or buzzing is necessary.

3. The ultimate goal is maintain mental singing while playing without any preparatory repetitions.

4. The commitment to mental singing must be total, without any other considerations or concerns, such as air, embouchure, or fingering (slide).

5. Applying this formula, a history of success must first be achieved in the practice room. As the player experiences more success, their expectation of success will grow.

Roccoisms - “Your subconscious mind already knows how to play the notes. It only needs to be highly aware of the notes you want to play.”

“We always realize our expectations, positive or negative.”

“Ben Franklin said, "The only truths in the world are death and taxes. There is a third truth. SING, BUZZ, PLAY”

“There is no reason for your success or failure other than your state of mind.”

The Teacher

ROCCOISMS

“The primary job of a teacher is to create opportunities for success.”

“The most important student of any teacher is the one they see in the mirror.”

“A great teacher has an opportunity to influence other lives in a profound way.”

“There are many who can play instruments very well. However, a great teacher is very rare.”

ARNOLD JACOBS

“I hope to be remembered for my teaching more than my playing.”

As a young musician, I first learned of the great power of teachers to influence lives when they influenced mine. I was fortunate to have wonderful teachers in my early in my career. Jake was the most influential but there were many others. Some, like Adolph Herseth and Ed Kleinhammer, taught me by example. I never had a formal lesson, but I had profound opportunities to learn from them whenever I was in their presence.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I EVER LEARNED FROM JAKE AND THE OTHERS WAS MUSICAL AND PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY.

A student at Vandercook College of Music once asked, “Mr. Rocco, Why are you such a great teacher?” I responded, “Because I was lucky to have great teachers myself.” I have always considered my work training teachers to be the most important of my career.

I once attend a lecture given by a teacher who was the recipient of “The Golden Apple Award” for his excellence in education. He spoke of the advice his mother, also a teacher, gave him when he was considering entering the education profession. She advised, “If you love history, become a college professor. If you love children, become a teacher.”

ROCCOISMS

“There is a profound difference between the subject we teach and to whom we teach it.”

“A great teacher must love their students more than what they are teaching.”

We have all experienced learned scholars, who have extensive knowledge of their subject, but are poor teachers. Most often, that’s because they love their field of study more than their students.

It is understood that someone who teaches music must love music. The challenges of trying to make a living in the music profession are a test of that love. However, it is a fact that some teach music because it’s not possible for them to perform professionally. They may be highly accomplished musicians but the professional performance opportunities do not exist.

Sometimes, these unhappy performers become unhappy teachers as well. Unfortunately, they also end up with unhappy students.

ROCCOISMS

“Always remember that the students in your studio, classroom, or rehearsal room are not there for your benefit. They are in your care to receive the experience of music. When you provide that experience for your students, you will also receive a great benefit.”

“As a teacher, you must continue to develop your personal performance skills. If you stop playing your instrument, you will forget why you have a career in music.”

“Let the music be your most powerful guide in teaching. If you listen carefully, it will tell you everything you need to know.”

“Sound motivates function.”

“The question heard most often by any music teacher is, “How does this go?”

H.E. Nutt

“To teach is to learn twice.”

In November 2005, The Instrumentalist magazine featured me in an article about a brass player who has success teaching string and woodwind instruments. I mention that, “My students know much more about their instruments than I do. However, I know much more about the music. That’s all I need.”

Everything I do as a teacher in a classroom, rehearsal room, or lesson studio is about helping my students develop a higher awareness of the music they are attempting to play. I consider my lack of technical knowledge to be an advantage because I’m not distracted from the music. Most importantly, I’m not distracting my students either.

Recently, one of the violinists in the Mother McAuley High School Orchestra asked, “Mr. Rocco, why don’t you ever say anything about the violin? You only talk about the music.”

I replied, “Be thankful because you already know a lot about the violin. It’s the music that you need to know more.”

ROCCOISMS

“If your heart is not pounding in your chest from the thrill of what you just played, you must see your doctor. There’s something wrong.”

“Take what you learned and experienced with you. Don’t leave a single crumb on the floor.”

“I know what it is like to be a suffering brass player. Fortunately, I also know the joy of playing well. Suffering is not a requirement in order to experience the joy, but it’s an inevitable outcome for someone who does not know how to create success.”

THE JACOBS LEGACY

Since his death in 1998, I have heard this remark on many occasions.

“I’m experiencing problems in my playing. I wish that Jake was still around.”

Yes, we have lost Jake's personality and the twinkle in his eyes. However, his spirit and knowledge are still with us because it lives within the many devoted students he left behind.

If you need help, ask for it anytime! (rogrocco@aol.com)

"The Think System"

HAROLD HILL

“Nobody has to teach you how to whistle. It’s really very simple. You just have to think the tune to have it come out perfectly clear.“

H.A. VANDERCOOK

“Keep it simple.”

“If you can sing it, you can play it.”

On several occasions, graduate students at Vandercook College of Music said, “Mr. Rocco, you are teaching “The Think System” from “The Music Man!” I was very familiar with the music, but I knew nothing about the plot.

Eventually, I had an opportunity to conduct “The Music Man” so naturally, I studied the libretto. When I discovered “The Think System”, I almost fell off my chair! Yes, I had been teaching “The Think System” for years. Also, it was nothing more than the two most important mantras of H. A. Vandercook that I had known and encouraged with my students for many years.

I immediately knew that there must have been a link between Meredith Willson and H.A. Vandercook. I asked the school historian to do some research. An hour later, he very excitedly showed me a student registration form for Stanley Willson (horn, 1941), Mason City, Iowa. Bingo!

I also knew that eventually I needed to link Stanley to Meredith. However, I was positive “The Think System” was influenced by Vandercook.

As time passed, I repeated the story to many of my graduate brass pedagogy classes. One year, a student asked, “Mr. Rocco, Why don’t we make the link between Stanley and Meredith a class research project?” I replied, “Great idea!” The next day, the same student reported that Stanley and Meredith were cousins. Bingo again!

Later, two of my students, now colleagues, presented me with an original program from the first production of “The Music Man”. It is autographed by the entire cast, and Meredith Willson. WOW!

Recently, one of those students, who has won positions with two major American orchestras, sent me the following email.

In my years of playing and teaching horn, I have learned a few truths about auditions. Many are culled from personal experience and feedback from committee members, but others are learned from Arnold Jacobs and Roger Rocco. None of these maxims are especially original, but they seem to be profound keys to success.

Audition truths

#1) Make it sound easy. Let them wonder what you can't do, so don't show them.

#2) Treat the audition like a performance. Be expressive and tell a story.

#3) Let insistence on great pulse frame your singing.

#4) Live in the moment, from your first waking moment that day
till your last note played. Don't look ahead or behind.

#5) Be a singer, not a horn player.

#6) It is vastly more essential to be mentally committed than
physically prepared.

#7) Overcome distractions!

All of these proved themselves at the semis and finals of a
recent major orchestra audition. Adversity and distractions
came in the form of equipment failure. In short, I was forced
to use three strange instruments, as my own horn had a sudden
de-soldering of the thumb key early in the day.

I borrowed two horns from fellow hornists, and even one horn
from a committee member as I walked onstage. I was able to
perform at a high level due entirely to my state of mind.
Roger had emailed me a day earlier with a mantra: "It's
just the singing!" This phrase rang through my head as I
walked onstage: "It's just the singing!" I picked up the
strange horn, and right before I committed to the first
E-flat of the Strauss First Concerto: "It's just the
singing!" How the horn responded was entirely meaningless
to me, as I was in what Jake called "storyteller" mode.

"It's just the singing!"

I didn't have the time to test the horn to know if it
were a larger bore size, more or less resistant to mine,
or even how loudly I could play without the sound edging
out. These facts are always irrelevant, and more so on
this day. I controlled what I could: my state of mind.

I am reminded of the story Roger tells of the man
drowning in a pool. His friend holds two items: one a
brick, the other a life preserver. He tells you the life
preserver will save you, but you have never seen one.
You have however seen bricks, as your house is made of
them, and feel comfortable with them.

Which one would you choose? The bricks (history of feel)
or the life preserver (singing)?

I had no choice, and in hindsight the horn breakdown
was a blessing, as it forced me to focus and showed the
committee I could deal with extreme adversity.

Made for a memorable day, one that ended in success
that I can now draw on for future use. I must say,
in hindsight, though, the distractions presented by
foreign horns is nothing compared to the distractions
of our history of playing by feel.

"It's just the singing!"

THE MUSIC MAN

Harold Hill, the main character, is a crook. He decides to swindle the people in a small town (Mason City, Iowa) by telling them that he’s a famous professor of music. If they purchase instruments and uniforms, he promises to develop a band program. He has no intention of doing anything other than skipping town with their money.

However, he meets and falls in love with the town librarian, Marion. He decides that he wants to stay after all. As a result, he must order instruments and uniforms and teach the band how to play their new instruments. Since his educational credentials are false, he doesn’t really know what to do. After the instruments and uniforms arrive, he comes up with a “revolutionary new method of teaching music called, ‘The Think System’.”

At the first band rehearsal, and all subsequent rehearsals, Harold only asks the band to vocally sing the familiar Minuet in G by Beethoven. The band members are never asked to play their instruments because he doesn’t know how to instruct them.

In time, the parents become suspicious and investigate his educational credentials. They eventually learn that there is no Music Conservatory in Gary, Indiana and that he must be a criminal. Just as the townspeople are about to have him arrested, the band marches into the scene.

Harold instructs the band to “Think” as they play the same music they have been singing endlessly. What is heard the first time they play their instruments, is crude but the melody is recognizable. It proves that Harold is not a phony after all. Yes, “The Think System” works!

PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS by MAXWELL MALTZ

“The mechanisms of success and failure are the same.”

THE SELF IMAGE

Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon who discovered the self image by accident. He noticed that as he surgically altered the appearance of his patients, their reaction to the cosmetic changes could be categorized into one of three groups.

1. Some of the patients experienced life altering changes. Many became more successful in their careers or they found love and married.

2. Others experienced no life changes whatsoever.

3. Although their appearance had been dramatically altered, the third group could not recognize any physical change when they viewed themselves in a mirror.

His observations eventually lead to our understanding of the mind’s ability to consciously create imagery or awareness of ourselves, any object, or sound. This imagery, commonly referred to as “Creative Visualization”, is a powerful force because it motivates a powerful response from the subconscious mind.

Maltz describes how the power of visualization can be used to create accomplishment. He tells the story of a famous golf teacher who said, “If I concentrate only on where I want the ball to go, it will go there even if I’m doing everything wrong mechanically.”

ARNOLD JACOBS

“I don’t care if everything you are doing is wrong if it sounds good.”

The obvious response to Jake’s statement is that if it sounds good, if can’t be wrong.

ROBERT CARTER (The Secret of the Ages)

“Our conscious awareness is the gateway leading to the subconscious mind.”

“The Secret of the Ages is in the power of the subconscious mind.”

SHINICHI SUZUKI

“We can learn to play an instrument the same way we learned to speak language.”

ARNOLD JACOBS

“I sing the notes in my head as I play them.”

“I want you to have the (simplistic) mind of a child.”

ROCCOISM

“Playing an instrument, or doing anything else, requires complex physical mechanics. However, we must use a simplistic approach to create accomplishment.”

BARRY GREEN (The Inner Game of Music)

“Wouldn’t you like to function on your instrument with the ease of a six year old child?”

TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS

We exist in two different worlds. There is the external world that we are partially aware of through our senses. I say partially aware because we can detect only a small portion of the spectrum of light with our eyes and a very limited range of frequency with our ears. There is a lot going on around us in the external world but we have little or no awareness of its presence.

There also is a unique and powerful internal universe within our bodies. This universe provides the opportunity for us to live and function in the external world. At the conscious level, we have very little awareness of this internal world unless something goes wrong. We usually experience pain or some other discomfort.

However, the internal universe is masterfully monitored and controlled at all times by our subconscious mind in order to maintain life. It also allows our conscious mind to create accomplishments other than for life support. Although it can be argued that everything we do in the external world such as maintain a job, exercise, or acquire food is also to provide for our life support.

The subconscious mind developed immense power because the complexities of life support are much more demanding than what even the most powerful computers can achieve. The subconscious mind also has complete awareness and control over all the muscles within the body.

For instance, we understand that at all times, our heart is pumping blood, food is moving through our bodies, and we are breathing without any conscious direction. However, these functions are continuously being directed by the subconscious mind. Life support cannot be sustained without specific direction from the brain.

If we decide to move an arm and hand to pick up a glass of water, the decision of how to manipulate the body parts takes place subconsciously in response to our conscious desire to pick up the glass. It is not necessary to have an intellectual understanding of the complex motor mechanics involved in manipulating body parts.

ROCCOISMS

“When we attempt to bring a subconscious function to the conscious level of thought, we destroy our ability to function.”

“Our approach to playing an instrument should be no different than the approach we use to do anything else like walking or talking.”

“We must maintain a symbiotic relationship between the subconscious (reactive) mind and the conscious (intellectual) mind. If that relationship is corrupted by our conscious interference, we lose the ability to create any accomplishment.”

ADOLPH HERSETH

“Paralysis by Analysis.”

“Think sound not mechanics.”

ARNOLD JACOBS

“The key to playing an instrument can be found in speech.”

“It is best to be somewhat unconscious of our physical maneuvers, but highly conscious of our musical goals.”

THE LADDER OF AWARENESS

The subconscious mind is reactive not intellectual. It always responds honestly and precisely to the will of the conscious mind, which is intellectual. If the will of the conscious mind is powerful and vivid, the response of the subconscious will be precisely the same. The subconscious mind cannot react independently of the conscious will. We cannot consciously decide to lift our right hand and have the subconscious mind lift the left hand instead.

Problems arise if the subconscious vision of the conscious awareness is vague, confused, or non-existent. This motivates the subconscious mind to react by searching for sound rather than responding to a vivid awareness of sound. We must motivate the subconscious mind to respond through motor systems rather than search utilizing sensory systems.

ARNOLD JACOBS

“You cannot create accomplishments using sensory system. You must motivate motor (muscle) systems.”

“The nervous system is a one way street. You cannot create function motivating sensors and muscles at the same time.”

ROCCOISMS

“If you don’t have a powerful conscious awareness of the sound you want to produce, your subconscious will react by searching for the awareness somewhere else. Since the mouthpiece is on your lips, it will attempt to create a feel awareness of sound by trying to convert your lips into ears.”

“The most powerful musical awareness is achieved when we mentally sing the notes as we play them.”

“Mentally singing as we play may seem like a complicated or difficult thing to do, but it’s easy if you are highly aware of the notes.”

If we ask a child to buzz the familiar tune, “Mary had a little Lamb” on a mouthpiece, they are singing the notes in their head as they play them. It requires no instruction or conscious understanding of how it’s achieved. They just do it! If we ask them to buzz an unfamiliar melody, they don’t do it. The most common question any music teacher ever hears is, “How does this go?”

Instinctively, young music students know that they can play the music if they know how it should sound. When I’m working with young inexperienced musicians, most of what I do to create accomplishment is to communicate what the music should sound like. Once that awareness is powerfully envisioned at the conscious level of thought, their subconscious reacts by doing what is necessary mechanically to realize their musical awareness.

“THE THINK SYSTEM”

It’s nothing more than creating and maintaining a high level of musical awareness in the conscious mind. The subconscious will react precisely to create the necessary playing mechanics rather than search for sound awareness by feel at the embouchure.

ROCCOISMS

“Attempting to play by feel is like trying to drain the water from a swimming pool with a straw.”

“Feel and fail are four letter words to a brass player.”

“Your subconscious mind already knows how to play the notes. It only needs to know the sound of the notes you want to play.”

TOXIC SELF ANALYSIS – BEWARE THE ANALYZERS!

Some people naturally have analytic personalities. Unfortunately, some students have analytic teachers as well. Occasionally, I have also noticed that some analytic teachers are not analytic players themselves. And, some analytic players are not analytic teachers. The most paralyzing situation is the combination analytic player and teacher instructing an analytic student. Disastrous!

Often, analytic students are drawn to analytic teachers because they are searching for false comfort rather than an opportunity for success.

ROCCOISMS

“When you have an instrument in your hands, trying to find a “The Comfort Zone” is ultimately very uncomfortable.”

“Feeling good when you play is a by-product of correct playing. You cannot motivate correct playing by trying to feel good first.”

I remember when I was teaching applied tuba and euphonium at a major mid-west university. Frequently, groups of other brass students (trumpet, horn, trombone) would camp outside my studio door to listen to what was going on in the lesson. Some of the analyzers did not credit “The Think System” for the success they were hearing through the closed door.

A typical comment was, “That’s baloney!” “They have figured out what’s wrong with their embouchure and air, and eventually I will too!” Tragically, I have also heard such comments from highly accomplished professional brass players who eventually lost their careers.

ADOLPH HERSETH

“There’s nothing wrong with your chops. Your mind is messing them up.”

“Sound is the criterion for how we do this and that.”

“THE THINK SYSTEM” + EMBOUCHURE AND BREATH ANALYSIS + TONGUE + FINGERS?

I have also heard such critical commentary as, “Yes, you must hear the notes, but you must also have a perfect embouchure and air.”

WHAT IS NOT UNDERSTOOD BY MANY BRASS PLAYERS AND THEIR TEACHERS IS THAT CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF SOUND MOTIVATES A PERFECT EMBOUCHURE AND AIR.

ANALYSIS OF BODY PARTS AND UNDETECTABLE AIR MOTIVATE PARALYSIS!

ROCCOISMS

“When you accept “The Think System”, you must also reject self analysis. Like oil and water, the two can never come together. If you try to combine them, self analysis will always dominate and you will fail.”

“It is possible to have only one conscious thought at a time.”

“FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD”

The path to achieving success in Emerald City is not green, blue, or red. When the true path to success is clearly understood, we only have to stay on that path. The process of searching for other paths always leads to “The Witches Castle!”

SING, BUZZ, PLAY

The SBP formula was develop in order to directly apply “The Think System” in a powerful way.

ROCCOISMS

“At times, my students and I have failed to apply the SBP formula. But the formula has never failed anyone when it was applied.”

"If someone understands how to perform, they can play on any equipment. If they don't know how to perform, they can't play on anything."

"If you are not playing well, it's because you have stopped doing what you normally do when you do play well."

ADOLPH HERSETH

“When encountering problems technically or musically, first sing then buzz. Transfer the singing and buzzing to the instrument.”