You really do need to know what's going on...

[VJOFan]

It's getting closer to Christmas which means I'll be doing at least some playing in December, so I have to get the horn out of six months of storage and see what happens.

Last night was when the mouthpiece hit the lips for the first time in a long time. What happened is what happily usually happens: my first sound sounded like the last sound I made before I put the horn away for a while.

I'm never 100% sure that will be the case- the breaks keep getting longer- and it is always a pleasant surprise to hear the sound come out well. The next pleasant surprise is that there really is no range loss either. I can only play for about 10 minutes to start but the endurance will return with regular work.

What that point to for me is that it clearly is important to have an understanding of what a good approach to the horn is.

Now, I have no clue of my embouchure type or anything of that nature. I have little vocabulary to describe what I do.

What I do have is a full body muscle memory combined with an auditory image that I spend 2 to 5 minutes meditating on before I make that first sound.

It makes me wonder if the best of the 'wind and song' crowd and the best of the Rienhardt crowd actually are on the same page. They both develop a consistent approach to sound production that requires attention to detail and repeated practice. The vocabulary used to describe things is different and they come at things from different ends of the system, but in the end they both result in players that address their horns in a consistent, effective manner for the player.

As has been noted many times, there are times when something breaks down and having a way to analyze the problem is helpful. I wonder if that analysis can effectively be feeling where air is getting stuck and where things feel out of coordination? Personally, if I can have a relaxed, uninterrupted air flow, and can get lips/throat/tongue to do their things to initiate sound and guide the pitches in a non-competitive way, I'm in business.

[BGuttman]

My experience after a long layoff is that day 1 isn't bad. Day 2, however, is a disaster. Days 3 through 8 are a slow return to form as muscle memory comes back. So don't be so smug. Watch out for Day 2.

[Doug Elliott]

The "Reinhardt approach" is to know what you need to do so it becomes automatic and the "wind and song" follows. If the "automatic" happens for you each time, that's what's important.

[harrisonreed]

Tennis players take breaks, but pros aren't coming back to to it after Christmas and getting on the court going "am I left or right handed? How the heck did I serve before?" Many brass players, even good ones, ask themselves exactly this sort of question.

A lot of brass players just don't think about the mechanics enough or at all, but people in all sorts of other physical and mental endeavors do. Even math. A mathematician might not do anything physical, but they need a deep understanding of the rules before they start making up equations.

[VJOFan]

Last night's session made me think along these lines.

Many studies show that to the brain, thinking about something is pretty much the same as doing the thing.

Does anyone else have a feeling of precognition when they get ready to practice?

What I mean is that the body almost feels like it is playing the instrument and music is already in the brain even as the case is being opened and while the horn is being set up. The horn going to the lips is just a manifestation of what is already real in the brain.

[Doug Elliott]

Exactly, and if you learn to think that way whenever you're listening to music, you are effectively practicing all the time. That's what I have always done.

[Kbiggs]

Many studies show that to the brain, thinking about something is pretty much the same as doing the thing. […]

What I mean is that the body almost feels like it is playing the instrument and music is already in the brain even as the case is being opened and while the horn is being set up. The horn going to the lips is just a manifestation of what is already real in the brain.

I’m nitpicking here but, if I remember my developmental psychology textbooks correctly, when thinking about an activity (mental rehearsal), the areas of the brain responsible for movement, balance, coordination, proprioception/kinaesthesia, etc., show electrochemical (or neural) activity that is similar to what the body does when performing the activity. Scientists learned this by using fMRIs and other imaging studies.

I know “pretty much the same as” and “is similar to” are very close for most people, but to my mind there’s a key difference: thinking about doing something, mental rehearsal (mindful recall and replay), etc., are very helpful when learning what to do to make fine adjustments, like a pitcher throwing a curveball vs. a slider. However, the pitcher (trombonist) still has to play the instrument.

I’m all for mental rehearsal and gedunken experiments. But there’s no substitute for doing. It’s like the old joke about the three frogs sitting on a log. One of them decides to jump into the pond. How many frogs are left on the log? Three. Thinking about something isn’t the same as doing.

For me, though, it’s the whole package: the full breath, coordination of tongue and air, slide (intonation!!), not to mention holding the damn thing. And then there’s the thinking part. It’s mentally taxing for me the first few days… and yes, I’ve been accused of losing a few brain cells over the years…

But that’s just me.

Nitpicking session over.

[Doug Elliott]

It's considerably more effective than NOT mentally rehearsing. And it doesn't wear your chops out with excessive or unnecessary face time.