EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS

Words are powerful!

Repetition - practice until you can't get it wrong.

Take a "great breath" to help with your focus.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"The key to being successful is practicing something so many times until you can't get it wrong."

"Performing in front of 20,000 people really helps with your confidence."

GARRETT'S WORST MOMENT AS A PERFORMER

When performing with the Blue Devils drum corps, an instructor took him aside a few minutes prior to a major event and told him, "You miss too many notes." Because I was thinking about missing notes, I went on to have a terrible show, and of course missed a lot of notes.

THE HOT SEAT

Q: It’s 5 minutes before you go on stage for an important performance… What are you doing?

A: We wait until the last possible moment to get dressed. We're cracking jokes together, trying to keep a light environment.

Q: What’s the best performance-related advice you've ever received?

A:  Dave Schultz said, "Just have fun."

Q: Can you share one tip for our listeners to help deal with stage fright? (Physical, mental, etc.)

A: Andrew Golden said, "Just eat a banana. No one ever died because you missed a note."

Q: What’s a non-musical activity that contributes to your success as a musician?

A: Cooking has a wonderful correlation to music. Fundamentals, recipes, etc. Cooking keeps me honest because if I don't make a meal well, it's because I haven't practiced enough.

Q: Imagine you’re on stage. It’s the end of the performance and the audience is on its feet, applauding. They don’t want any more and they don’t want any less. Everything is perfect. What have you just done?

A: On the show Blast! in Tokyo. That show is so loved by the public in Japan.

Ryan Anthony is the principal trumpet with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and founder of a Cancer Blows, an annual concert series featuring the world's top trumpeters to raise funds and awareness towards finding a cure for multiple myeloma, which he was diagnosed with in 2013.

JN: Ryan, get us up to speed. What's going on in your world right now?

RA: The Cancer blows concerts have been a stunning success. When we did it in 2015, we thought it would just be a one-off concert. After my diagnosis, I was given x number of years to be able to fight it, and I was touched by so many colleagues around the world.

It was actually Doc Severinsen who started it. A week before my first bone marrow transplant, he asked if there was anything he could do to help. At that point, just to give myself something to hold onto, I just asked him to promise me we could share the stage together one more time. That really became the battle cry to everyone: just tell me we can share the stage one day. I thought they were just being nice to give me something to hold onto during the transplant, but it turns out that they kept their promises.

It’s been a huge success. I’ve been amazed with the amount of artists who want to be involved, to use our talents to do something good. For me, it’s really the best medicine that you could ask for.

JN: It had to have been a morale boost to have so many great players wanting to participate.

RA: Yes. These are my heroes wanting to stand by my side. It makes me feel like a kid again. I told my wife that if we get to a point where we can beat this, I've literally been given a stage where we can make some noise about it. This is my new lot in life. I have a voice for other patients who don't have one.

JN: Ryan, you're a world-class performer. And I like to start each interview for this podcast with what you consider to be one of your worst moments as a performer. A time when you expected to do well, but it just didn't work out.

RA: Right off the bat, I can think of two particular concerts. The first was in Cincinnati, and I just was not able to perform the show and do what I expected, nor of what the audience expected. I finally had to just come out and apologize to the audience. I told them I was having some issues and just couldn't get through the program, and that all I could do was give them my best.

It turns out that it was a very moving experience for myself and everyone there. It was a learning experience for me. I learned it's not necessarily about the notes. It's about the honesty and just giving 100% of what I could do that day.

Sometimes, it meant taking things down an octave, sometimes it meant changing the program around. It was very embarrassing for me at the time. But looking back, it ended up being a very positive turning point because I was able to connect with the audience in a way I ordinarily wouldn't have been able to.

RA: Another story is from about 3 years ago. I was on some new treatments and it just wasn't working. I felt like I was letting not only myself down, but my colleagues and the audience as well. So I finished the concert and went home and told my wife that I just didn't think I could continue doing my job with circumstances as they were. I wasn't playing in a way that I did when I accepted the job.

That concert, I was not playing well. I couldn't play the part, I was missing notes. But the very next day, I got an email from a family in Oklahoma. A woman's father was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and he didn't want to continue doing the treatments, didn't want the transplant. So they took him to the symphony concert in Dallas just to get away, and they pointed out to the father that there's this guy down there playing trumpet.

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When his four-year-old ears heard the hammered dulcimer for the first time, Joshua Messick turned to his mom and said, “I promise I will learn to play the hammered dulcimer before I am thirty.”

At nine, when he got ahold of a pair of dulcimer hammers and coaxed sound from the strings for the first time, a music teacher asked how long he had been taking lessons. “I haven’t,” he said, still going at it. It’s as if Joshua came into this world equipped with a pre-existing relationship with the hammered dulcimer.

Joshua began arranging music at ten and composing in high school. By the time he was eighteen, he became the 2003 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion.

Joshua is first and foremost a composer, crafting original compositions drawing from Celtic, Classical, and World styles. For those who love more traditional music, he breathes new life into Folk, Hymns, Classical, and traditional favorites.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Josh was the featured performer for a Japanese movie called Mary and the Witch's Flower.

It's hard to identify what's causing the nerves, but preparing is key to mitigating them.

Know the difference between being eager and being anxious.

Mimic your performance conditions prior to the performance.

Performing on Facebook Live adds an element of performance when you're practicing.

Transparency is key to getting people to know, like and trust you.

Have freedom to make mistakes.

JOSH'S WORST MOMENT AS A PERFORMER

No specific moment where I felt on my face. But I have been disappointed with my performance. I was way too hard on myself and just didn't enjoy myself. If you're not enjoying yourself, why do it? Nerves often contribute to me simply "surviving" on stage, rather than sharing my gift with others.

QUOTABLE QUOTES

People want to see passion and confidence, not perfection.

Knowing the difference between nerves and anticipation can change your life.

THE HOT SEAT

Q: It’s 5 minutes before you go on stage for an important performance… What are you doing?

A: Stretching. A lot of negative emotions are stored in our muscles.

Q: What’s the best performance-related advice you've ever received?

A: Just enjoy yourself.

Q: Can you share one tip for our listeners to help deal with stage fright? (Physical, mental, etc.)

A: Breathe.

Q: What’s a non-musical activity that contributes to your success as a musician?

A: Exercise. Music isn't just an exercise of the mind, it's of the entire body.

Q: Imagine you’re on stage. It’s the end of the performance and the audience is on its feet, applauding. They don’t want any more and they don’t want any less. Everything is perfect. What have you just done?

A: My first concert in Asheville, the place was packed. I had worked so hard to promote it and people loved it. It was so gratifying to see that people enjoyed the music and walk away with a smile!

Hear Nicole tell her story about using beta blockers in her performance on tonight's LIVE webinar. It will be streamed from the musicpreneur.com Facebook page!

Find it at Facebook.com/musicpreneurdotcom

If you're listening to this after August 3, the replay will be available at musicpreneur.com/nicole.

Welcome to Secrets of the Musical Mind, presented by MusicPreneurDotCom!

Today I welcome back to the show Mr. John Beder, the director of the documentary "Composed," about the problem of performance anxiety.

If you missed our interview about John's entrepreneurial journey, you missed a good one. Make a point to have a listen after this!

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Raymond Riccomini is a longtime trumpeter with the Metropolitan Opera, and will be taking on the role of Second Trumpet with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for the 2017-18 season.

JN: Ray, sounds like you have quite the busy summer ahead of you.

RR: Yeah, it’s a little bit crazy. A lot of new rep to learn.

JN: When do you actually head out to SF from NY?

RR: I don’t leave NY until beginning of September. So I have a little while.

JN: Is it a different vibe for you going from an opera gig to a symphony gig?

RR: Yes. The hours will be very different. I think the biggest challenge with the transition is that my family will still be in New York. As far as the new job is concerned, the biggest challenge will be to figure out what to do with all the extra free time I have. (laughing)

JN: We’re talking peak musical performance. Ray, you’ve been in the trenches so long there at the Met, so I’m sure you’ve got some stories to tell. But take us to what you consider to be one of your worst moments as a performer. A time when you expected to play a certain way, but it just didn’t work out.

RR: I can think of a couple of moments like that. I’m lucky that this happened fairly early in my career. The worst one ever was when I was at the Manhattan School of Music. We were getting ready to perform Mahler’s 6th Symphony, which is one of my favorite pieces of all time. I had waited all year to play it. I over practiced going into it, and the day before the show, I woke up with a blister on the inside of my upper lip. So being young and dumb, I thought I could just pound my way through, so I just kept playing and plyaing.

The concert started, and I knew pretty much from the get go that it was going to be a bad night. That was probably the worst moment, but it turned into one of my best moments. After the show, I left and took a weekend back at my parents house, and then came back and a week later started dating the woman who is now my wife. She said that was one of the first moments she had seen me really struggle and fail.

JN: So failure led to a great moment.

RR: A very great moment. (laughing)

JN: I like what you said earlier how you were fortunate this happened early in your career. It’s as if you just get it out of the way, now you can work on being a success.

RR: Yes. Of course, that reaction comes from being on this side of the story. If I were still the same person and the same player I was 25 years ago when that happened, I wouldn’t have that response. But looking back over the time since that happened, I’ve grown to appreciate what it meant. What it led to, and the direction in which it steered me.

JN: What was your reaction when it happened? (Before you realized it had endeared your wife to you?)

RR: I was so embarrassed. It was that feeling that you’re naked on stage. I think of that Steve Martin movie, Lonely Guy where he walks into a restaurant and says, “Table for one,” and everyone in the restaurant stops talking, the spotlight shines directly on him.

https://youtu.be/kQ7CNUuoe3E

Plus it’s such a good piece, everyone is playing so well, and here I come in to ruin everything.

JN: Well, you got it out of the way, and now you’ve seen some things at the Met. Can you describe for people who may not be familiar with the job, the magnitude of the music you play and a little taste of your workload there.

RR: If I had to boil it down to one word, you just have to be listening all the time. You’re listening to the head of the section, to the heads of other sections, how a singer is phrasing, maybe the conductor is fighting or leading them,

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Chris Davis is a trumpeter in the Chicago area. He’s the leader of the Chris Davis Jazztet, performs with the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and is the host of a podcast titled, Behind the Note.

JN: Chris, get us up to speed, what’s going on in your world?

CD: I’m performing a lot. Working Broadway in Chicago right now, which I’m really excited about. It’s been a long term goal for me to do that. I’m playing with the Jazztet a lot, playing Andy’s Jazz Club. I teach primarily brass, which I love, in the neighborhood where I grew up. Plus, we have a new baby on the way.

JN: So what exactly is a jazztet?

CD: It’s a jazz group. I used the word “jazztet” because I wanted to be flexible. I didn’t want to be limited to a certain number of people I can use. My band in full is 7 pieces, but it varies on how the personnel is used.

JN: We’re talking peak musical performance. And sometimes to talk about the peak, we need to go through the valleys. So take us to what you consider to be one of your worst moments as a performer.

CD: This is very early in my career, but it’s important because there are a lot of cool things that came out of it. When I was in 7th grade, I was in a very competitive environment. Under one roof, we had 4th graders and 8th graders in the summer program. We were all working together to become better musicians.

When the school year started, we separated according to our age. When I finally made it to 7thgrade, I was able to play a jazz solo in the jazz ensemble. This was a big deal, because ever since I started playing, I had always wanted to do that. We grew up in grade school watching the band come through, and we all thought it was cool.

So I finally had my chance. The 8th graders are always looking down on the 7th graders. They thought they were better, and we wanted to prove we could play too. I finally had my moment. As 7th graders, we performed a lot at various competitions and we had a really good reputation.

So I had worked up my solo. The moment of truth arrived. I stepped out of the section, to the microphone, and I played the first 6 notes or so and froze up. I forgot what I was playing. This is a big competition so there were a few hundred people in the audience. It was a short solo, maybe 16 bars, but I couldn’t remember the rest. I ended up playing the last few notes. I walk back to the section, and the band is still playing. But I felt pretty bad about it.

JN: So you just got nervous.

CD: Yes. It was my first time soloing in front of people and I had never experienced being nervous before.

JN: You’re not the first person who has told a very similar story on this podcast. But those people have not only overcome those unpleasant moments, they’ve gone on to do some real cool things. So let’s talk about some of the takeaways, how it led to good things happening for you.

CD: The reason I share this particular experience is because I think the lessons learned from it apply to everything today. I froze up because there were a lot of people looking at me. We get concerned with what other people think but we don’t know them, and we don’t really know what they’re thinking. What I discovered on the bus on the way home is that the majority of people were really supportive of me. They asked me what had happened, that I had sounded great all week.

The great thing about this group is that we performed a lot, so I had another crack at it a week or two later. This time it was the total opposite. I nailed the solo. It was because I had discovered the people around me didn’t want me to fail. They wanted me to nail the solo.

So I went back to the practice room, and put even more time into the solo.

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Jonas Haltia has been a member of Oslo Philharmonic since 1990. He also work as associate trumpet professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Between 1999 and 2008 he was main trumpet teacher at the Ingesund Music Academy. Jonas is born in Karlstad, Sweden. He studied at the music academy in Gothenburg with professor Bengt Eklund, and after receiving a scholarship from the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm he studied privately in both London, Chicago and New York.

Before Jonas got his position in Oslo he held a position as Co-Principal Trumpet in Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Jonas have been soloist with several symphony orchestras and has held numerous solo recitals. As a trumpet & organ duo together with professor Inger-Lise Ulsrud he has toured Scandinavia and also made the recording "Pebbles".

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Bria Skonberg is a New York based jazz trumpeter, singer and songwriter. She recently released With a Twist, a collection of songs arranged in her own unique style!

Recognized as one of “25 for the Future” by DownBeat magazine (Summer 2016), Skonberg is newly signed to Sony Music Masterworks’ OKeh Records, and released her debut LP, simply titled BRIA in September 2016 which won a Canadian JUNO award and made it to the top 5 on Billboard.  Her second Sony album WITH A TWIST shows another collaboration with producer Matt Pierson as well as multiple Grammy award winner Gil Goldstein.

Noted as a Millennial “Shaking Up the Jazz World,” according to Vanity Fair, Skonberg is a self-described “small town girl” from Chilliwack, British Columbia. She left for Vancouver straight out of high school and earned a degree in Jazz Trumpet Performance from Capilano University. But even as she absorbed the deep knowledge and disciplined work habits needed for a jazz career, she was also hustling hard to book her two bands. While in university she juggled working every weekend, traveling to festivals and shows, plus cramming in schoolwork - all while on the road.

When not traveling for her own gigs, she was building up her stage-show chops with Dal Richards, Vancouver’s King of Swing. Playing at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver capped off this exciting period, with Bria featured at the Paralympics opening ceremony.

 In 2012 Bria released So Is The Day (Random Act Records); her first album on a US-based label. That collection showcased a developing flair for original songs with just the right amount of standards mixed in, and also featured a duet with the legendary John Pizzarelli, So Is The Day received rave reviews from critics, drawing comparisons to Norah Jones in The New York Daily News. In 2015, a year after her second album, Into Your Own, was released, Skonberg received the Jazz At Lincoln Center Swing! Award.

To date, Bria has performed at some 100 festivals worldwide. She is the co-founder of the New York Hot Jazz Camp and New York Hot Jazz Festival. Further accolades include Best Vocal and Best Trumpet awards from Hot House Jazz Magazine (2014-15), Outstanding Jazz Artist at the New York Bistro Awards (2014), a DownBeat Rising Star (2013-15), and a nominee for Jazz Journalists' Association Up and Coming Artist (2013).