To Manny and all who read,

First of all I absolutely love playing the horn, but sometimes I just need a break from music in general. So my question to Manny and the rest of yall out there, Apart from trumpet playing, what do you do to get away from it? Maybe a hobby or second interest or whatever...

I'm a huge sports fan; mainly NBA. Watching and playing basketball is a good way for me to clear my head. But the one thing I love to do most is to lift. I lift 5 days a week at school after my days are over and after rehearsals, and not only does it get me away from trumpet and chop rest for a little while, it's definatley a stress reliever. If I'm frustrated with playing, I take it out in the weight room, if I'm stressed because of to muych school work, weightroom. It's awesome and rewarding for those of you who lift or end up starting to. It's just really good to have an extra hobby to run to every once in a while so you can free your mind from the areas in your life that take the majority of your time.

Just a little change of subject for one post....

JT

I am the same way. Trumpet may be a major part of my life, but it is not the only part. I need to get away once in a while, both mentally and physically. I do a lot of excercising, hiking, target shooting, and I have just started practicing Kundalini Yoga.

All these things help clear my mind, so that when I do go back to the horn, I am refreshed. My mind tends to tire way before my chops do.

Mike

I love to golf, but this has been the slowest golf year for me in about 10-years. My main interests are the computer (building web pages), travel, religion, and politics!

I also love to bodybuild...and play golf. I agree, lifting is the best stress killer that i have ever found. Its so great to get that endorphin rush.

I find that the range really helps me get my anger/stress/whatever out. Shoot some clays or targets and it's all good.

I love the wilderness, but I live in Boston so its hard to get there without devoting some time to travel, when I can I go to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to hike and camp, but thats only in the late spring to early fall season, during the winter I spend alot of time indoors reading and get my exercise by taking the dogs for walks, yoga is something I've done on occasion and want to start doing regularly, it really seems to help with every aspect of life

jpkaminga,

Check out The Fells

http://www.fells.org/fells.html

Not far from Boston at all. I used to ride my Mountain Bike there sometimes.

Mike

Originally Posted by jpkaminga

I love the wilderness, but I live in Boston so its hard to get there without devoting some time to travel, when I can I go to the White Mountains in New Hampshire to hike and camp, but thats only in the late spring to early fall season, during the winter I spend alot of time indoors reading and get my exercise by taking the dogs for walks, yoga is something I've done on occasion and want to start doing regularly, it really seems to help with every aspect of life

thanks mike
I'll check it out, and you can get there by mbta, sweet, I go to the Arboretum in Jamaica Plain alot, its really nice there and pretty big and hilly too, there's also some woods that are pretty close to where i live where i take the dogs, the Arboretum requires them to be leashed, and you know Boston has a law that requires all pitbulls (and in practice anything that looks like a pitbull) to be muzzled whenever they're outside, I don't have any pitbulls but I know a few and they are the sweetest animals, its a dumb law, you also can't adopt a pitbull (or anything supposedly related to one) if you live in Boston,

about wilderness though, there's some feeling that I get when I'm far away from civilization, maybe knowing that I have to watch every step or I might really be screwd (why that should appeal to me I don't know, cause I'm often kind of timid), but its also the raw beauty of a huge expanse of uninterrupted scenery, well i crave this feeling sometimes, and nothing close to Boston will do

Hi

I get frustrated sometimes too...LOL dont we all. I love to spend time with my wife and family doing family stuff. Sometimes I might study something regarding trumpet that I am not naturally studying IE really tech stuff on mouthpieces for example, backbore, rims, sizes from different manufactures etc. Just a different aspect of horn playing to break my frustration and boredom...you know?

Rick AKA Trumpet Man