[Trombone-l] Error free playing

[Jeff Albert]

Well, I tend to put erors into one of two categories: mental or physical.

There are times when one just physically or technically can't do what needs
to happen.  Those are only fixed with practice.

The mental errors are usually focus related, at least for me.  When my focus
drifts from the musical task at hand is when I make mental errors.

Jeff

On 8/21/06, Richardson, Timothy Mr. DAC USAG Franconia DPW <
timothy.a.richardson at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
> This might sound nontrombone, but it is similar in some ways to a recent
> thread on fluffs.
>
> I played organ in church this Sunday.  It's not my regular gig, but they
> needed somebody bad, and..........that's what they got.  Bah-dum-pah. (One
> of them actually asked, "Do you play piano as well?"  "No, sir, I play
> piano
> just as badly!" Hey, you don't get set up like that very often.)
>
> I don't have the keyboard skills to actually play SATB hymns, but I dumbed
> down the arrangements a lot and practiced my butt off, and learned them
> well
> enough to have some cushion in speed.  While I was near the edge of my
> capabilities, I made errors that should have been avoidable.  I played the
> last verse of Finlandia flawlessly, even with the distraction of the
> missing
> trumpet fanfares playing in my head <grin>.  The verse before that one
> though came close to crashing and burning.
>
> What is the process that generates error?  And how can we reduce it, and
> make our playing more robust to faults?  I doubt that it is different from
> trombone to keyboard.  There may not be one single cause.  On trombone not
> knowing all your keys well may predispose you to missing sharps, and on
> piano not being solid on keyboard geometry may leave you in the wrong
> position.  Any identifiable deficiencies I can work on.  But I think there
> is generic error as well, a separate category.
>
> I know in some types of playing being error free is not a top
> consideration,
> but in other styles it is more desirable to play within the envelope, chip
> free.  I tried to stay within the envelope but still had fluffs.
>
> -
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at maillists.samford.edu
> http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l
>



-- 
www.jeffalbert.com

www.scratchmybrain.com

www.pepperenterprises.com