Stepping Outside the Box - Benjamin Zander

  I feel that while we might spend so much time working on the technical aspects of our instruments sometimes it's necessary to step back and take a look at our minds too. Our mind is the most important element in everything we do. If you don't continuously challenge the mind and try to expand what it's capable of you'll have an even harder time of reaching your dream as a performer, or whatever else that dream is.


  We spend most of our life thinking in one way or another, but I'm pretty sure that everyone that reads this has had one or two life-changing moments that gave your mind a certain "surge" when you learned that something could be thought of in a completely different way. Probably the first one was when you first found the horn, or whatever you're instrument is, and then for most people another was whenever you made the decision to dedicate yourself to that instrument.
  Not every time that you have one of these moments it'll be groundbreaking and change your life, but just opening your mind up to different possibilities more often will do great things for you. I want to share a few videos that I've found that challenge what the common perception of something is. This opens the mind to new possibilities and gets you thinking about yourself, what you've been doing, and what you could be doing differently.

Benjamin Zander: Classical Music with Shining Eyes

--Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic, talks about appreciating classical music. He demonstrates the development of a young musician and presents a thorough idea in terms of how a professional learns to phrase music. One point that he brings up that challenged my thinking is when he talks about the statistic that only 3% of people are involved in classical music. I don't want to spoil the video for you too much so sit back and enjoy!