The ZEN of watching TV while practicing tuba

[tubanews]

When I was in college, a good friend of mine used to practice tuba while watching the yankees play, or (at the time) the People's Court on TV.

He was a bit older than me and wiser (he eventually went pro). I thought it was funny. But I did find a use for this. Since I dont play regularly anymore, I am more or less always stuck in the morass of dealing with a lack of chops. This can be frustrating when you in a previous life were professional or played at a high level, because you have expectations. Your brain does anyway. You also have an ego somewhere in there.

So when Im out of shape, I know I have to play every day for a bit to get some chop strength, find the center, start playing in tune. 30 mins at first, then 45 mins, then an hour and so on. The way I keep expectations in check during this fragile time (rebuilding chops), is to only listen with one ear, and watch TV while Im practicing.

The lack of TOTAL attention to myself allows me to not over focus on flaws (why would you when you havent played in months or years?), and takes the ego sting away from how bad (value judgement) one can sound when you haven't played in a very long time. For me it imbues a bit of patience and trust into the process. Also chop rebuilding after you do it more than a couple times, is incredibly *boring*, the TV helps with that.

If you have ever stopped for long periods of time years and tried to fire it back up again at a decent level, you may be able to relate.

Anyway I find this useful, and sort of zen like.

[bloke]

Quite a few years ago, I did this. It was sort of like making noise so you couldn’t hear the TV, and distracting from concentrating on practicing the tuba at the same time.

Before the type of televisions we have now, some frequencies would distort the horizontal lines...
“grooovy”

[groovlow]

I practise at times with distractions..
I think it can be an additional skill set to keep the music rolling
when surprises interrupt a performance.
Joe H

[matt g]

I used to practice in high school like this while watching the Cubs play (even though I was in Florida).

Those lines used to show up around low Bb, but after a while, I somehow got used to it because I stopped seeing them.

[BopEuph]

I do it all the time.

My daily routines are almost always done in front of Netflix. Usually I stop videos to work out any literature I need to work on; but as soon as I find a trouble spot that's going to take massive repetition, the videos come back on.

I try to make a game of it. By the end of a 30 (or 22) minute episode, I will gauge my progress on a passage. If I'm happy with the improvement, I'll move on to the next thing to work on. If not, I'll work on that phrase for another episode's worth.

It absolutely helps with effortless playing. And now, I'm working on singing/playing bass, and this approach to practicing has helped me to be able to split my attention to 2+ tasks, making this whole singing/playing thing MUCH easier.

If you haven't done this before, you should start with long tones while watching something completely mindless and plot isn't important to follow, like a sitcom. It's a skill to learn, so you need to start easy. Then you can add your lip slurs, articulation, etc.

But seriously, it's a great practice tool!

[bloke]

...yeah...

Intonation and musical expression (with TV) are - pretty much - out the window, but drills (etc.) can be executed.

[BopEuph]

...yeah...

Intonation and musical expression (with TV) are - pretty much - out the window, but drills (etc.) can be executed.

It depends on the amount of concentration; though my daily routine includes about 20 homemade play-along tracks for intonation purposes, especially for long tones and lip slurs, I have drones playing in time with what I'm playing. So if you were listening to me, you'd hear, say, a sitcom with laugh track, loud sine drones, a metronome, and a tuba playing long tones. This is probably why my girlfriend hates hearing me practice.

Musical expression...when that's going on, I lose focus on the video. This is why I prefer mindless television rather than something like a documentary or a mystery. Too much mental investment in the show, you lose some chops while playing.

[bloke]

yeah...

I can type complex paragraphs when the TV is on, but NOT when a real person is talking to me...so I guess I "get it".

[BopEuph]

Ha! When I'm reading or writing complex paragraphs, I have to pause or mute the video. Instead of both going on at the same time, it feels like my brain is A/B-ing channels back and forth.

[jtm]

So when Im out of shape, I know I have to play every day for a bit to get some chop strength, find the center, start playing in tune. 30 mins at first, then 45 mins, then an hour and so on. The way I keep expectations in check during this fragile time (rebuilding chops), is to only listen with one ear, and watch TV while Im practicing.

How long does that usually take you, when you've stopped for a long time?

[the elephant]

I find practicing with the TV on talk-only programming to be very helpful. I get into what I am doing with background noise much easier than in silence. I have serious difficulty focusing in silence because I have tinnitus. Silence makes the pitches (many) in my ears all that more present. Talk in the background sort of helps me de-focus on the tinnitus sounds. I get much more work done with the TV on. This only became necessary after permanent hearing damage suffered while in the Army. Before that and the TV would drive me nuts; I needed not only silence but an empty house. Now that would make me quit after about 30 minutes because after that long I would cease to make any sort of progress due to the constant ringing in my ears. I would want to tune to them, and stay in the same key as them, etc. It is very frustrating, and the TV helps a lot with this.

[bloke]

Obviously, everyone's brain is a little bit different.

...but - before we began arguing over our differences -
we need a "monitor" to step in and "channel" this discussion, and to control its (sorry, Wade...for the sucky puns) "tone".

[the elephant]

Was something said that was argumentative? I am sorry if I gave the impression that I was mad about something. I was not. I was just being matter-of-fact. In fact, I have not actually read any of this. I was answering the title of the thread directly. I guess I need to go back in and read everything.

Sorry…

[bloke]

Was something said that was argumentative? I am sorry if I gave the impression that I was mad about something. I was not. I was just being matter-of-fact. In fact, I have not actually read any of this. I was answering the title of the thread directly. I guess I need to go back in and read everything.

Sorry…

ok...
You're not in on the joke...yet.
It's over on fb...about "the old place"...
all in fun...really...
(owner and monitor being w-a-y over-protective of someone who wasn't in the least offended when someone else cracked a joke involving them)

PM explains reference.

[tubanews]

So when Im out of shape, I know I have to play every day for a bit to get some chop strength, find the center, start playing in tune. 30 mins at first, then 45 mins, then an hour and so on. The way I keep expectations in check during this fragile time (rebuilding chops), is to only listen with one ear, and watch TV while Im practicing.

How long does that usually take you, when you've stopped for a long time?

To get control of the instrument and sound decent about a month and a half (working up from 30 mins a day). To play on stage 2-1/2 - 3 months.

[martyneilan]

One of the things I have come across while working on my Master's is that the human brain can successfully multitask only if one is visual and one is aural. With concurrent multiple visual or aural input something suffers; not everything is fully absorbed.
I have seen this firsthand with the virtual schooling. My 8th grader insists he can watch youtube, play video games, or chat with friends while on school. His recent grades haven proven that is not possible but he keeps trying anyway: it has been a struggle because we can't take away the computer or cut off the Internet since that is what me uses, then it becomes a cat and mouse game of not trying to get caught.

[matt g]

One of the things I have come across while working on my Master's is that the human brain can successfully multitask only if one is visual and one is aural. With concurrent multiple visual or aural input something suffers; not everything is fully absorbed.
I have seen this firsthand with the virtual schooling. My 8th grader insists he can watch youtube, play video games, or chat with friends while on school. His recent grades haven proven that is not possible but he keeps trying anyway: it has been a struggle because we can't take away the computer or cut off the Internet since that is what me uses, then it becomes a cat and mouse game of not trying to get caught.

Sucks to do, but I’d open an admin account on the machine and then control the domains he has access to via a whitelist.

Only problem there is that YouTube getting blocked might impede supplemental topics.

[Three Valves]

This only became necessary after permanent hearing damage suffered while in the Army.

I was just curious if you were in combat arms before you went into music or if it was damaged in basic.

I was a reserve officer (OCS after enlistment) and tanks/cavalry/machine guns/grenades and claymores get pretty noisy!!

We were pretty good about ear protection even though it was the late 70s/early 80s.

[the elephant]

This only became necessary after permanent hearing damage suffered while in the Army.

I was just curious if you were in combat arms before you went into music or if it was damaged in basic.

I was a reserve officer (OCS after enlistment) and tanks/cavalry/machine guns/grenades and claymores get pretty noisy!!

We were pretty good about ear protection even though it was the late 70s/early 80s.

My position on the parade ground for our Pass In Review pre-concerts was, unfortunatly, about ten feet from the muzzle of a 105 mm Hoitzer for too many gigs. Eventually, my hearing tests caused the post's Audiologist at the TMC to contact the Post Commander about repositioning the band during these events. Up to the time I arrived they had used the traditional 10g shotgun shell blank with a breech adapter. The new CO (who arrived about a month before I did) was a former tanker and wanted his salutes to have a proper BOOM. So without moving the band the ceremonial platoon started using full-sized 105 mm blanks. I was told to not wear my safety orange range earplugs because you could see them from the reviewing stand. And you say "Yes, SIR!" in the Army, so I did what I was told.

Keep in mind that the dipstick Post Commander, being a career tanker, was nearly deaf, so he didn't think that a bad thing for a musician, and he hated the band, too. Several of us have permanent damage to our right ears from this practice.

I also developed a persistant tinnitus in both ears that probably had its beginnings in HS with all the MANY super-loud hard rock concerts I attended, and the Howitzer did not help things. I developed this in my late twenties, just after winning my job. It is one of the reasons I have never really tried to get out of here. While never being an issue, it is, nevertheless, a confidence eroding condition. You never know when or if it will become a problem at work.

[Three Valves]

I have A LOT of experience with 105mm practice rounds in tanks. (Ours actually shot a projectile though)

It is loud enough when they are pointed AWAY from you!!