4 Tips to Self-Improvement

Good morning everyone!
I am happy to be back to blogging.  It has been a while since I last wrote anything for you guys (I've been involved in a really cool arrangement for clarinet choir, which was sent to a publisher yesterday) but I am back with some tips to help you sharpen your skills, musically OR athletically.

A little overview... while I've mentioned it before, I can't stress enough the value of books like Stephen R. Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and it's sister book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens."  These books really lay it all out there and make it so you don't have to spend 20 years trying to reinvent the proverbial wheel.  I don't think any of these tips are new or are complicated but when applied properly, they can help you achieve your dreams.

1. Here we go.  The first item of importances is find yourself a teacher, coach, mentor, guru, etc.  These are people who have walked the road you are walking and can probably lend some advice.  I never improved as much in running as when I started training with a well-known South African coach in Boulder. He really knew how to get his athletes to perform.  Additionally, he had the heart of a teacher and would explain to me the practical aspects of things I'd only discussed in science class (like mitochondria... who knew those little guys were so important).  I will never forget him drawing me a picture of a muscle cell in the dirt behind the track after a workout one day.  My musical development was a little different but both my main teachers led me down a path of self-exploration which led to dramatic improvement.  These people know their stuff and, like the coach, helped me find my own path.  People literally slingshot into high performance when they start working with an expert.  Find someone you respect and can, sometimes blindly, trust to guide you where you have clearly communicated that you would like to be.  If you are fairly self-motivated, maybe a once a month meeting or phone call will suffice.  Other people prefer a once a week lesson and yet others would prefer to meet 5 times a week.  You must figure out exactly where you are on that spectrum and clearly communicate that to your new guru.  Additionally, make it worth their time.  If they are good, they are busy and if they are busy, they are probably good.  If you can afford daily coaching and are willing to put in the requisite practice or mileage (or whatever daily actions your pursuit requires), do it.  You will not regret it.  If you can't afford that (and most can't) then you will have to have a stronger degree of personal discipline to make this happen.

2. The second aspect is almost more important than the first:  listen to your guru and do what he recommends!  All the great teaching in the world is for naught if you ignore or don't practice what the experts you trust are recommending.  A story of two students:  Both came to me with a high degree of natural talent.  One had a mediocre work ethic (at best) and the other works like a dog.  As you may imagine, the dog-like worker has improved ten-fold in the short time we have known each other.  This student comes to lessons prepared, asks lots of great questions, and has won accolades of which no one in the history of his community has ever even dreamed.  I am 100% confident that if this student continues this upward trajectory, they will complete their goal of a DMA in clarinet one day.  As you may expect: The other student has stayed about the same.  There have been some improvements but they are few and far between.  Am I feeding magic beans to the first student?  That must be it!  Or (reality check) the diligent student is trusting the mentor (me).  I've seen this with athletes as well.  They show up for training and then go home and either a.) sit on the couch with a bag of chips and a six pack of beer or b.) go out for another long run their coach has no idea is happening and think they'll somehow improve on his plan.  The diligent athlete asks the coach: "what should I be doing in my downtime?"  (the answer is usually hydrating and recovering).  If you have a great training plan or think you know how to play your instrument perfectly, why do you employ a coach/teacher?  If you are just filling in credits for  a degree, is this fair to yourself, your school, your teacher or your future students?  In my humble opinion, there are way too many clarinet teachers out there who can barely play the instrument and squeaked (small pun intended) through college.  If you do not have a firm grip on it, what business does a private teacher have spreading bad habits on to students who, unknowingly, pay them to do that?  Additionally, if you are on scholarship either for athletics or music or anything else and can manage to half-butt your way through your degree while keeping your scholarship, have you really helped your school (who is paying you the scholarship)?  This is not uncommon at all but this self-centeredness is really bad behavior.  Out of respect for your teachers and coaches, please adhere to their plans as best you are able.  Don't feel bad about clarifying and re-clarifying your goals with your guru but if you trust them enough to pay them for their services and take up their time, you owe it to them to do the work!

3. Realistic reflection.  Realistic reflection on this blog comes in several forms.  The easiest and most measurable is the time trial.   If an athlete can run a solid time trial, alone (especially on a track), they are capable of at least a 5-10% improvement on race day.  This is an extremely hard discipline to master for me.  We all reach that moment where the brain says "ah, it's ok, you can let off the gas a little and pick it up later."  Someone needs to smack that guy in the face!  That is exactly the moment to do as our high school sweatshirts formerly advised "Shut up and run!"  Training for an ultra-marathon in this way can be tricky but not impossible.  The aforementioned South African coach told me: "Josh, you have to run like a musician."  There is really much in common:  cadence of foot strike, rubato for climbs and descents, timing of nutrition and hydration, heaviness of the set up and relative comfort of the activity.  I practice all of these at some point in my week.  A week of running for me equals about a day of clarinet practice in terms of items practiced.   But athletes aren't the only ones.  Musicians face the same obstacles.  Recordings are our time trials.  A major difference being that we usually play better in practice than in concerts.  I advise students to buy a cheap recorder that is easy to use and learn to make yourself sound good on it.  If you are having trouble with a rhythmic issue, put the metronome on, start the recorder and play the excerpt.  Notice where you and the metronome differ.  Most likely, it's one small spot tripping up the rest of your performance.  Go back and fix that spot by whatever means possible.  When you're reasonably sure you have it turn on the metronome and recorder again.  Is it right?  Keep repeating this until you get it.  This doesn't usually take long.  Now record a larger section with and without the metronome.  Remember that in an audition, you won't have that luxury.  You can also practice pitch issues but putting the metronome on a drone pitch.  Play the excerpt into the recording and you should be able to tell very quickly where your pitch is not quite right.  Practice, re-record, repeat.  Self-reflection is easy to understand but really hard to do when our ego gets in the way. The only way I've found to remedy this is to dissociate and talk to myself as though I were one of my students.  The guys in adjacent offices must think I have multiple personalities.  Either way, it works.  Look in the mirror... is that the product you want?  If not, what would you like to improve?

4. The final tip of the day is to remain a student.  Even if you have a bunch of degrees hanging on your wall, remain a student... or as T.S. Elliot said in The Wasteland:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

The North Face says "Never Stop Exploring."  This is good advice.  As a graduate student, my teachers spoke about voicing and tone color.  Like a good student, I did what they recommended but I didn't really understand the concept until a few years ago when I started experimenting (exploring) with multiphonics and extended techniques.  I read a few books, played around a little and one day it clicked.  Like a kid with a new box of crayons (the really big box!) I suddenly had all these new colors and slight variances of colors to use.  I kept messing and playing around.  Then I read the Tabuteau book and listened to him play and that color palate expanded again.  I may get my butt kicked technically by the giants in the field (I'm working on that one, see the previous point), but with a good reed I can match their tone color.  After a while it feels like musical impersonations.  SNL eat your heart out!

I hope these help.  Keep getting better at what you do!

Silverton and Beyond!

This semester promised to be filled with excitement and thus far it has delivered on it's promises! I returned late last night from the Silverton Fall Colors Chamber Music Festival where we, the artists, had the experience of making music in a beautiful, rustic, mountain town.  The artists on the concert included Tim Black, violin, viola, festival organizer; Dr. Katherine Shields, viola; and Dr. Andrew O'brian, piano.  Together performed two Dvorak miniatures, the Mozart Trio, and the Gordon Jacob Trio.  Additionally, we heard smaller works by Scirabin, Schubert, and Bill Douglas.  For me, it is really an interesting experience to perform with people in a very brief but intense setting.  We spent the first few hours reacquainting musically before we really settled in to each other's craft.  While it's not easy, I believe this to be an experience every musician should undertake at some point.  For those not so skilled, we provide workshops to pre-existing small groups.  Look for future offerings in 2013.  

I'll attach some pictures for the weekend.  Enjoy!
   

Tuesday, September 11, 2012 and the Power of Binary Inquiries

There are many things to discuss here today.  The first, the inevitable... today is September 11.  If we take nothing else from those events, let's take away the sense of compassion that ensued and the looking our for someone besides number one.  I received a terrified phone call that morning from my roommate's family.  The woman on the phone said, "Have you turned on the television?" It was about 7:00 am and I was preparing for a day at work at the Boulder Running Company on Pearl Street.  She frantically told me that a plane had hit the North Tower.  I said I'd check on it and have my roommate call her back.  Literally three minutes later, the second plane hit.  As I was watching coverage of the first plane.  I went to work that day and needless to say, we shut down early and had very little foot traffic.  We watched the news that night in eerie disbelief.  I think everyone went through a similar experience.  I got up the next day and went to work with an expression of "what just happened?" Slowly life went back to normal but an innocence was lost that day, by all, I believe.  The real take-away from that event was that for a short while, people really seemed to care about each other.  Friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and total strangers realized that these are people, just like me.  While most of that feeling has eroded over the 11 years, it still appears from time to time.  As a nation, I wouldn't mind if we could get back to that post 9-11 approach to people.

In the realm of running or music, I would like to impart a very small, simple approach that can radically improve you experience in either (or both).  So often in our training or practicing, we are looking for massive improvements.  This is noble and should be considered but the root of large improvements are fixing very small parts.  Here's how it's done (extrapolate as necessary).  In our endeavors, we each have many weak spots.  Some weak spots are insignificant and others are critical.  If my aim is to run 100 miles at 9:00/mile, being able to run a 100m in world-class time may be insignificant.  With the same aim, if I am unable to run more than two consecutive 9:00 miles, this is significant and this is the starting place.  We must first establish where our short comings are.  If you work with a coach or teacher, they're usually pretty happy to share that with you (it is their job, after all).  If you are self-coached or out of school, you must rely on realistic self-evaluation for this data (or you can ask a trusted, knowledgeable friend).   This is the first step. This is usually a series of yes or no questions such as: "Did I play all the notes in this scale correctly?"  If they answer is no, as I suspect it would be if you are asking the question, ask another yes/no question.  "Did I play the first x number of notes of this scale correctly?" In this case, keep asking until the answer is no.  When you reach the "no," use this as the focal point.  Then we move to step 2.    

 The next part takes a little more faith and creativity. By asking yes/no questions, we can strengthen our weaknesses and surmount any obstacles.  Let's say you consistently miss a note in a scale.  Assuming you can establish what the right pitch is, you may ask: Am I using the right fingering (PS: In scales the answer is almost always "no" on this question)?  Keeping asking these types of questions until the answer is "no."  Once you reach the "no," experiment with alternate solutions.  Aim to incorporate specific solutions, not generalized such as: "Is this better?" Save that for later.  By isolating the issue, we can fix the small problems which may be derailing our entire operation.

The last step is integration.  After we have extracted an issue, we must weave it back into the product.  Sometimes, we get really good what was a problem but reinserting it into the bigger picture is skewed.  This becomes a time to address the periphery and work through it slowly and piece by piece, possibly adjusting our starting place.  To follow our scale example, if the problem was between the 6th and 7th notes of the scale (there are 8 notes in most major or minor scales, for those of you not familiar with music) but the first five notes were ok by themselves, then try starting on 5 and play to 8.  If reintroduction is the problem, it must be achieved gradually.

To simplify, problem solving is achieved through three distinct steps of binary yes/no questions:
1. Identify the problem
2.a Experiment to find a solution to the problem (be creative, research, pray)
2.b Solve the problem
3. Reincorporate the problem area
4. Reevaluate

While this process is relatively easy, sometimes it can take a while.  It is one thing to know you fall apart at 20 miles, it is quite another to train to remain strong at that point.  Step 2 is the hardest, in my experience.  Regardless, it is wise to have a plan to solve these problems and continually grow, whatever your field of endeavor!

9/4/12

Happy Tuesday, all.  It seems this really is the time I sit down and write about what's going on in my world.  This week's new discover is the iPhone 4.  One of my employers was gracious enough to include me in their plan and so I upgraded.  It seems to work pretty well despite some initial issues getting everything set up.  I really appreciate that my calendar syncs between my Macbook Pro and my iPhone wirelessly (and without me thinking about it).  I have a couple of GPS aps that I'm itching to try but I'm hesitant to take the phone out on a run without a cover.  It seems to be very delicate and the surfaces are very smooth.  I'm a little paranoid about dropping it on the sidewalk or on a rock somewhere so to combat that, I've ordered an Otterbox Defender.  We found it on Amazon for less than $20!

The music for my upcoming recitals is in an ever-improving state and I'm excited about my upcoming performances.  Running on the other hand is in a sad state of affairs.  The calf injury is feeling quite a bit better but these first two weeks of school have left me rather drained (bad excuse).  A quick look at the calendar shows that the time I have available is usually in the neighborhood of 5 am or after 7 pm with Wednesdays being after 9 pm.  Normally being up by 5 is not a problem, but I've been having trouble getting to bed before 11 pm and, as we all know, that's insufficient sleep for most people.  I suppose the simplest solution at this time is just to get my happy little butt in bed earlier.  I also find myself craving community in the running department.  I really like my solo runs but every now and then it would be great to meet up with some other like minded people for a long run and shared adventure.  I'm fascinated with other people's solutions to these (seemingly) mundane problems.  Feel free to leave a comment about how you fit it all in.    

Let's make this week better than last!   

Back (again)

Ok, so I'm back on here after a somewhat long hiatus.  It seems my now bi-weekly drives to Farmington jar my creative writing juices.  So here goes...

We have a wedding date!  (finally!)  October 5th, 5:00 at FUMC in Durango.  Most of the planning and prep is done.  No stress there, which is surprising for a wedding.

Roni and I had a huge summer.  There are no two ways about it.  We each worked at our respective places of employment with "gazelle intensity" and easily put in 50-60 hours each week on top of driving between Durango and Creede every week. We're not yet debt free but this summer was very solid in terms of moving us ahead.  To catch everyone up to speed:  after reading Total Money Makeover in September, starting a budget in October, and taking Financial Peace this spring, we have paid off and cut up our only credit card, my car, and one small-ish student loan.  All that remains are our student loans.  We still have a big mountain to climb but we're working it.  Sallie Mae can move out anytime, that's ok with us.  Between the two of us, we work for Fort Lewis College, San Juan College, First United Methodist Church, Katzin Music, Piedra Vista High School and have private students of our own.  Our weeks are a little hectic but we're making it work (and we even have most Saturdays to ourselves).

Clarinet-wise, I think things are at least on track.  I'm preparing for a big semester in that department as well.  I am performing with in a trio in mid-September on the Gordon Jacob Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano as well as the Mozart Kegelstatt and a couple Dvorak Serenades.  We'll be at the Silverton Fall Colors Chamber Music Festival as well as at Fort Lewis College on September 17th.  Additionally, I am preparing a solo recital of the Copland Concerto, Piazzolla Histoire du Tango, and Villa-Lobos Choros No. 2.  The Copland and V.L. are in good shape, but the Piazzolla has some work to be done... mostly technical as many of the licks don't lay very well under the fingers.  It'll be ready by October 28th.

The real frustration is in running.  No races this summer but I wouldn't have been in great shape anyway.  The calf-thingee from this spring is still rearing it's ugly head from time to time so I'm not at all happy about that.  The compression sleeves are a help, though I wish they were a little better (any suggestions?).  I really would like to be in the 15-20 hour/week range with this but I'm currently closer to 5-10.  I'll start posting workouts when I getting into the double digit hours again.  I would say this is due to 2-parts busy, 1-part injury prevention/ mitigation.  Not a good combo.  I did discover the beauty of the Riverview Athletic Complex (aka a decent sized softball/soccer complex with very runable grass).  I aim to make that a staple of my week, possibly sans shoes.  It's a little more than .6 miles from my house and couldn't be any closer to my office at the church.  (Funny side story:  a young guy from the school, probably 6 or 7 years old, was walking home one afternoon and screamed at me to "Put some pants on, you freak." I told him that wasn't very nice and he sprinted home. You could tell he was having a bad day from the way he left school.  I love split shorts.)  Additionally, I've really enjoyed the Junction Creek trail but recent cycling activities have drawn huge crowds there and I spend a good chunk of time dodging bikers who are screaming down the trails at unsafe speeds.  It's a great place to train as it's shady and open most of the year, includes some good sized, runable climbs, etc.  I'm simply not a fan of the psycho cyclists.  The Mike and Susie trails behind Raider Ridge are decent but tough due to the constant undulation.  In that same area, Horsethief Road is an enjoyable, smooth area that may be better suited for a relaxing mid-distance run.  The upside is that I'm using my HRM more and dialing in on the appropriate effort for each workout.  I've switched from a numbers-based display to a %-based display and it seems to be working a little better.

Obviously, time management is kind of an issue here.  Overall, I think I'm quite adept at it and manage myself quite well.  I don't mind getting up at 5:00 or going to bed late, if need be.   I do stress a little more than I should during my pre-dawn runs.  I'm usually on time for things and during those runs, I worry that if something happens (i.e. my calf acts up and I have to walk home), I'll be inexcusably late for any subsequent appointments--especially on days when I have to drive to Farmington, NM.  I've never really been able to relax during a mid-day workout unless it was at the gym (but who wants to run on a treadmill when the weather is decent?)  So it's easier to wait until I get home which is always risky.  It is at this time of the day, I'm hungry, tired, and pretty ready just to read a book or crash on the couch with the wife and dog.  Tuesdays are always hard.  One day at a time, I suppose.  On Wednesdays, there really is no option to running before work since choir rehearsal goes until 8:30 PM.  It still stresses me out.  I would really love to consistently have a 2-3 hour run before my day gets going.  Sounds like a goal to me. I do think that 5:00AM is about my limit, though, especially when the day could go until 9:00 PM.  So here goes.  I'll post later with an update.                   

Hiatus

Hello everyone,
I'm back from a long hiatus.  I won't go into details about what happened (everyone's fine, don't worry) for a little while.  Let's just say Roni and I moved into town, spent Christmas in Montana, and are a third through Spring Semester.

I thought about posting this on Facebook since it was inspired by a friend's post but Facebook seemed so cluttered already that I thought I'd just write something here.

So today is Valentine's Day but this post is not about Romantic love, it's more about loving what you do.  Two days ago, Lance Armstrong placed second in the Panama Half-Ironman. He was expected to blow away everyone but instead got passed in the last 1.5 miles of the end and came in second by almost a minute.  While this is still VERY respectable, it led me to the question of what his life must be like and how he can go from full time cycling back to his roots (he started as a triathlete, after all).  I came to the hypothesis that success is the product of systems.  This is where the Facebook post comes returns.  A group to which I subscribe and greatly admire (Iron Prodigy) posted something about Phillip "The Gift" Heath.  For those who don't know, and don't want to Google it, Heath is a very successful body builder.  What I learned was that Heath has a system whereby he (or his coach) creates a plan and sticks to it.  I suspect his plan is a little more rigid and all-encompassing than most successful people's as he practically schedules every minute of his life... tedious as it sounds, it obviously works because he seems very successful.  After reading "168 Hours, You Have More Time Than You Think" by Laura Vanderkam, I suggested at a recent staff meeting that scheduling one's week to that extent is very freeing in that you no longer have to make decisions about what to do at a given moment.  One participant responded with "Just so you know, that would be my definition of Hell."  I was a little put off at the time but the more one thinks about it, the more one realizes that success is not an accident.  Scheduling every minute might be a little neurotic but having long range plans is not.  Frankly dividing a big goal into smaller ones is really comforting in that you only have to get from point A to B today, not from point A to Z.  Baby steps.

So the lesson here is:  figure out where you want to be and allocate time and resources to it. Come up with a system whereby improvement is not just possible, it's inevitable. Lance has  a system, Phil has a system, Mr. Tabuteau had a system.  Leaving success to chance has horrible odds.

Here's a thought to leave with you:  Glaciers carved a large portion of the Rocky Mountains so we can say they were highly successful.  A glacier is not fast.  A glacier is incredibly strong and powerful.  A glacier is incredibly constant.  A glacier makes a huge impact but nonetheless, it is not fast.  Thus should we, who desire success, be.  A glacier might move an inch a day for 10,000 years or more!  Talk about slow and patient!  The end result, however is magnificent.  Next time you're driving in the mountains and notice those horizontal stripes on the side, think about how long it took the ice, boulders, and debris to move from one side to the other.  Now let's consider the power!  How much do you think that glacier weighed that it could move massive boulders and literally carve mountains?  I have no idea but I'm guessing a lot!  Now ask this: was there anything that could have or did stop this progress?  Very seldom is the answer yes and it's usually by something way more massive like the Earth warming substantially and melting the glacier.

So, my friends, keep at what you love doing so much that you could make a plan for its success.  See if you can literally map out your own progress or at least your next step.  I bet you can and I bet adhering to a plan will be more pleasant than you initially presumed.  Happy Valentine's Day!

On the Road Again!

Today marked a small milestone in my recent training log.  After being knocked on my butt for a the better part of a week by a head cold, I have now logged four days in a row.  It's a small victory but each day has been 15 minutes longer than the previous so that I am up to 1:15.  Today was not super-cold according to the thermometer but it felt much colder on the skin.  It also felt slow.  After last week, who cares!?  I'm happy to be running.  It is such a critical part of my life that living without for more than a few days wears on me.  One advantage of the chill in the air was that last night's mud was this mornings solid ground.

The last few runs (both before and after the hiatus) were completed in the New Balance MT 101's.  Admittedly, I was skeptical at first but have since become a fan.  My dad and I discuss running shoes and techniques at length and I think I've convinced him that less is more, which is one of the features I appreciate about the 101's.  From what I can tell, the heel and forefoot are roughly the same height.  As such, they give a similar benefit to running barefoot but with the added protection of a rock guard under the forefoot.  After reading "Born to Run" my dad is sold on the idea that heel striking is generally not a good thing.  Ironically, wearing through the heel of two paris of Nike Kantaras a few years back  didn't bear much weight.  Nonetheless, he's a fan now.  Growing up in Alamosa and doing our fall cross-country training at Cole Park, we ran barefoot on the grass all fall.  We did not do it because we were trying to be "minimalists" or make a statement, it just felt good and we could run faster without shoes.  The occasional twig, mud, gravel helped us toughen up our feet.  As I recall, I only had one major injury during my years running high school cross-country or track and that was a season where we didn't spend much time at the park.  I was also running in a pair of Saucony Procyons.  The heel on those was quite a bit higher than the forefoot and, to make matters worse, the heel was PU and I believe the forefoot was EVA.  I liken this to pulling a cement mixer behind a sedan.  The upper on the 101's isn't the most comfortable I've worn but it is fine with a pair of Smartwool socks.  I've yet to take them out on a "hardcore" trail but they've handled the roads around our house better than I expected.  Gravel tends to penetrate the forefoot of most shoes but not these.  I really enjoy my Vibram KSO's on wooded trails but there is a huge compromise in speed when running on any sort of rocky surface, including country roads with crusher fines.  They're great around town or on a treadmill.

The treadmill is an interesting place for the Vibrams.  The smart runner uses that winter training device to improve his form.  If you listen when running on a treadmill you'll either hear yourself clomping along (the hollow space under the machine makes it act like a drum) or you, hopefully, won't hear yourself at all.  I call this "quiet running."  A person would really have to have some ninja skills to run silently but it's a nice goal.  The idea is to run as fast as you can as quietly as you can.  This is achievable outdoors as well, especially on crunchy trails.  If you breathe with your mouth a little more open than usual, you can silence your breathing and then try to eliminate any noise from your footfall.  A few summers ago, I was practicing this technique on Miner's Creek Trail in Creede, CO and actually startled a deer while I was running at almost full speed.  I arrived within arms length before I realized she was there and slammed on the breaks.  The sound of the gravel scared her off but, had I been a cougar, she would have been an easy meal.  I wonder how many mountain lions have thought this of me.  It's probably better not to know.  "Quiet running" outside is a treat, to me.  On a windless day, without the sounds of my feet and breathing I have a sense of flying through the trees.  After a few minutes, a person becomes keenly aware of every twig crunching in a bush just out of view or barking marmot standing on a rock.  These are the runs that you never want to end.  

Musically, things are progressing towards an upcoming recording session.  I am preparing a little Mozart, Strauss, Stravinsky, Mahler and more.  I've spent a good amount of time on each of these and am pretty ready to put them aside for a little while and eat some turkey.

Today was far from a "perfect" day but definitely a good day in both categories.  Anyone in the Durango area is invited to the First United Methodist Church on the evening before Thanksgiving for an ecumenical service featuring an all-comers choir.  If you have any inner American Idols needing exercising, please come and join us at 5:30.  I'll be conducting the choir on a piece called "A Simple Thanksgiving" by Joseph Martin.  There will be homemade pie following the service.  Win-win!