What's going on in your head when you're playing?

[tubanh84]

Slightly more philosophical question, but it very much affects the music that comes out of my bell.

I said before I have synesthesia, which causes me to visualize music in a very specific way, as I'm listening to it and playing it. I have always used this in my ensemble playing (unconsciously until I recently discovered that not everyone "sees" music the way I do). The best way I can describe how I experience orchestral playing is that the music is happening around me, and I am throwing the tuba part into it to be part of it. I'm not playing with the ensemble, I'm playing with the sound.

As a specific example, In Gliere's 3rd Symphony, 4th movement, Rehearsal 104-111 - The orchestra is stating the main theme. Loudly. And the tuba lays down long, low B naturals and punctuates each phrase with Fs, then Es, and ultimately descending to D# and then D.

Speaking from experience. This is what I experience as I play it: The orchestra's music is brown - It is a group of brown standing on an abstract gray cliff screaming into a void. The tuba punctuations are blindingly bright beams of red (F) then orange/yellow (E), then yellow (D#) then blue (D) light. At the end, when it finally resolves, it is a mess of flashing colors, like every firework you've ever seen at once. So. That's what I'm playing, and that's what I'm playing into.

As a result, I have never (ever) gotten a complaint about my musicality, and I've never gotten a complaint about much of anything from a group that I've played with. Personally, I've always struggled with consistency and accuracy, because as you can imagine, what I described above is not a great recipe for remaining physically calm and producing repeatable results.

So these days, with the new horn, I'm working on old etudes and really focusing on accuracy. The depressing part is that, for me, the imagery and musicality suffers (at least in my head) because I'm not playing "into" anything the way I like. I can't lose myself into the ether. My hope is that with enough work, I can develop the consistency and move back into the ether with it. But we shall see.

Question for everyone: What do you have going on in your head when you're playing? Where does your musicality come from?

[bort2.0]

To be honest, I'm usually thinking about anything and everything else. It's usually the only time where my brain can STOP thinking about the other stuff happening in life long enough to get a few clear thoughts. The entire rest of the day (at work, in class, at home...), I'm "on call" to be distracted or bothered or asked anything any time. There is zero "off limits" time where I can't be bothered at a second's notice, except for when I'm at a rehearsal and unavailable. It's exhausting... so at a rehearsal or when I'm finally off-limits and playing, that's where my brain kind of catches up on everything else.

And even then, I'd mostly classify it as "I think about the stuff that guys usually think about."

[tubanh84]

And even then, I'd mostly classify it as "I think about the stuff that guys usually think about."

Flute section. Got it.

[donn]

Feels like kind of an obvious answer to a philosophical question, but as best I can, I try to have notes going on in my head. I don't see any colors or other associated phenomena, but notes can be there, and kind of have to be there for acceptable results. For improvising / playing by ear, on any instrument; for just about any playing on the tuba.

It's an area where I don't always execute perfectly. Maybe you have the advantage of a sort of indicator light that comes on when you're making it happen.

[MN_TimTuba]

When I'm sight-reading, sight-singing, transposing, attempting to improvise, or often when playing bass guitar, I often have this piano keyboard running in my head. I think it helps me with intervals when I can visualize the keyboard. FWIW, I never purposely tried to see a mental keyboard, it just is there on it's own.

I never purposely tried to visualize the flute section, either, but it's just there, too.

Tim

[Mary Ann]

I don't have synesthesia but I do have perfect pitch, and from what I understand, I "do" music differently because of that (but like everyone else I've heard of with PP.) So I hear the group doing particular pitches and they are recognizable in the same way that colors are recognizable to others. So the notes on the page are pitches to me, not fingerings or intervals (unless I'm being forced to read a horn transposition I don't have memorized yet,) and I know before I play them what they are going to add to the mix going on around me. My first instinct is always to blend with what is around me, tonally, rhythmically, and musically, and that actually makes it hard for me to do solos, so I much prefer "blending parts." I can do solos but don't like them. I just found a way-back recording of when I was still a baby tuba and the orchestra I was in did Pictures. Tuba solo is a bit blatty tone-wise but the pitches and music were pretty good. I wonder how your synesthesia colors correspond to PPitch people's pitches.

[tubanh84]

I wonder how your synesthesia colors correspond to PPitch people's pitches.

That's really interesting - seems like sort of(?) an audio version of the visual images I get.

As for the colors, I have stable colors for each key that I "think in" when I'm playing. Examples:
C= White
D=Blue
Eb=Yellow
E=Orange

There's more. Shades are involved. But I don't have perfect pitch, so it's not like listening to a piece gives me the color. It's when I'm playing. However, once I've played a piece and know the key, the color is coded into hearing it. For what it's worth. I have the same thing with states, some cities, letters, and numbers. They are coded to colors when I think about them.

[bloke]

Nothing visual.
If it’s a really great group, I’m able to concentrate on what sorts of things I can add to my part (beyond the “paint-by-number” stuff on the page) to make everyone else sound even better than they already do. This might include a particular type of articulation…and possibly one that isn’t one of the two or three types that our beginner band directors taught us, and it also probably would include dynamics within dynamics - as well as where to subtly reinforce to assist the solo line in making their “points“.
If it’s a pretty good group - with a few occasional issues, I might be making decisions on how I can minimize issues that I’m being presented with.
(I’m commenting as a sole tuba player in a symphony orchestra, as your original post seems to refer to that type of playing situation.)
We rarely are playing a solo line in that particular type of ensemble, so I tend to continuously concentrate on what I can do to make everyone else sound even better than they do. As the written parts are often not particularly complex, this also helps keep me “in the game”, and to keep my mind on my business.

[Three Valves]

During a performance I’m all business.

Practice/rehearsal anything goes.

Especially the flute section.

[Dan Tuba]

I'm usually wondering if I can get away with playing this passage down the octave, or wondering how long the conductor is going to hold the last note so as to place a double pedal just before he cuts off.

Aside from that, what I am going to eat after rehearsal, and yeah, the flute section... just kidding

Seriously though, "the music", and how I can best support the other musicians so that they feel comfortable and sound great.

[bloke]

If there's a tacet piece or movement, I'm either texting Mrs. bloke with all sorts of fascistic orders (which she ignores), answering business inquiries, or screwing around here...provided the hall has wifi...because I have an amazingly cheap (I won't tell you just how cheap, because you won't believe it anyway) family phone plan, but we only choose to pay for a gig/mo (between all of us)...which is actually plenty, as there's so much wifi around.

[non sequitur: Insert one of the "If it's too cold for your animal" jokes, here.]

[kingrob76]

I usually focus on three things:

- where are we in the music?
- whats the general music effect going on around me?
- producing the best possible and appropriate sound, which is already in my head so I just need to imitate it

[tclements]

An image of Jeri Ryan in a bikini!

[Three Valves]

I usually focus on three things:

- where are we in the music?
- whats the general music effect going on around me?
- producing the best possible and appropriate sound, which is already in my head so I just need to imitate it

The singularly focused performance mode zen I get reminds me of when we sailed.

My mind rarely shuts down or stays focused otherwise.

When sailing, my mind was stuck on getting the vessel safely from one destination to the next. Setting and trimming the sail, coordinating the rudder, preparing for a tack and what have you.

When I put away the boat, now tuba, I’m right back to stream of consciousness!!

[windshieldbug]

Who let those violas in here!?
How can I crack up the Trombone section without seeming to be the cause?
Why do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

[Casca Grossa]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... n+thinking

[bloke]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... n+thinking

DOUGH !!!

[GC]

When counting rests, I have to really concentrate because I'm EXTREMELY distractable. And I still get off count too much.

When playing, it's tone production first, because the best possible tone makes intonation and other aspects of playing easier. I'm also extremely picky about intonation.

I make every effort to know exactly where beat one is in every measure, watching the conductor rather than depending on listening to the band. I have a tendency to drag, so I make a conscious effort to be a touch ahead of the beat because of the delay in response that comes from playing a long instrument.

[bloke]

GC,
It’s pretty boring, but - if you can play a piece well enough to play along with a YouTube recording - you’re not going to get lost in it… and – when you screw up playing along with YouTube – the only person that hears the screwing up is you.
The tuba is pretty loud, so you might need some fairly serious amplification coming out of your phone or computer.
I am handed some pretty kooky stuff more often than once or twice a year, and thank goodness most everything has been played at least a few times before, recorded, and uploaded to YouTube.

[Casca Grossa]

GC,
It’s pretty boring, but - if you can play a piece well enough to play along with a YouTube recording - you’re not going to get lost in it… and – when you screw up playing along with YouTube – the only person that hears the screwing up is you.
The tuba is pretty loud, so you might need some fairly serious amplification coming out of your phone or computer.
I am handed some pretty kooky stuff more often than once or twice a year, and thank goodness most everything has been played at least a few times before, recorded, and uploaded to YouTube.

This past summer, I was asked to sub on a traditional jazz gig. No rehersal, no charts. I was given a list of tunes and key signatures. My first traditional jazz gig in 20 years. I was able to find all of the recordings on YouTube and practiced for days until I had them down. My built in speakers were just fine on my laptop. Doing this saved my life on this gig. YouTube is a great resource.