| As long as I have been playing trumpet, I have always tried to keep in mind that there is always someone better and that I can always learn something new. It can't be helped. All we can do is accept it and try to use it to push ourselves to the next level. When I played with an Army band over in Germany, the trumpet section was amazing. We had lead players, a great jazz soloist and quintet specialists. You name it and we had it. I was so intimidated at times that it was affecting my playing. No matter how much I practiced and learned it was never enough to be better than these guys. During this time, one of these guys commented to me that I was becoming a great utility player(jack of all trades, master of none). As it turns out, I was my own worst critic. I was being used to fill in for guys regularly because I became dependable as a player. I was no Jarrett or Gary but I could handle the part on short notice.
My point is that maybe you just need to find your niche(sp?). It is probably not that you are a bad player. It is more than likely that you are just a smaller fish in a much larger pond now. Accept it, because you will one day be the bigger fish if you continue to practice and learn from the others. I wish you all the best as a player and a person.
Hope this made some sense.
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Mike
Eclipse MHY Bell
1949 Olds Ambassador
Listening has nothing to do with moving your mouth! |