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It was 4:30am on a Saturday, I time I was only barely certain existed. Long before sunrise, Sarah and I were driving over to UCLA’s Drake Stadium. I was there to participate in the CrossFit Games qualifier, something I’d wanted to do since I first heard about it a year and a half ago. When people ask me what the CrossFit Games are, I have a hard to describing it. Usually I tell them it’s the olympics of cross training. A way to test your overall fitness through weight lifting, running, and gymnastic style movements like pull-ups and pushups. Ostensibly, the CrossFit Games claims to crown the winners “Fittest Man/Woman Alive”.
So why would I be participating?
After all, I have basically no chance of winning. I’m too light, not strong enough, and not fast enough. Plenty of folks there have been training much longer than I have. There were plenty of powerlifters, triathletes, and everything in between.
The main reason was a phrase I’d heard recently that deserves repeating “To be good at something, you have to be willing to first be bad at it.” It applies to basically everything. We usually take being bad at something as meaning we shouldn’t do it, when it all too often means we should do it more. There is a lot of ego deflation involved in being bad at something, but I’ve found it goes away quickly if I focus on the fun of the task instead of the outcome.
At the end of the two day event I finished 120th (out of 180). I like to say I beat out sixty other people, and everyone who didn’t show up. Not bad for now. Time to keep training.
Just finished a rehearsal with my septet “The Contemporarium” for this upcoming gig. The band sounds absolutely fantastic. This is the first time in over a year I’ve performed my septet music, and it’s made me wonder why I haven’t been doing this all the time. Here is a clip from our rehearsal to give you a sneak listen.
Wednesday, April 28th*, 8pm
Cafe 322
322 Sierra Madre Blvd
Sierra Madre, CA 91024
If you can’t see the audio file, please click on the original post
*This date was originally scheduled for March 24th, but has been postponed to the date above.
Take a second and think about how much time is spent each day with the following activies:
Watching TV
Surfing the Internet
Reading magazines, books, blogs, etc.
Listening to the radio
Playing video games
Got an idea of how much time that is? Probably more than you’d like to admit. It is for me. I know I should do less of each of these activities. But it always creeps back in. So here is the solution:
Take one week and completely eliminate all of the above. Two of my favorite author-gurus, Tim Ferriss and Julia Cameron, recommend this exercise to show you how much time gets wasted on these activities. But more importantly, it will help you get to the more pertinent activities that there never seems to be enough time for.
It’s only for one week. After you’re done, you can resume whatever activities you want. Or not. But it must be done over an entire week. No cheating, and no days off. I’ve done this exercise on two different occasions and was amazed at what I got done. Wrote several big band charts, got tons of sleep, cleaned my apartment, and went out a lot more often.
You’ll find that increasing output is a lot easier when you decrease the amount of input you accept. You’ll also notice how little you’re missing out on by doing this.
I’ve been working out a few new concepts in Logic lately, and wanted you to hear my latest thing. This one is meant to be more underscore-like and use more strings. I haven’t written a lot for strings, so I wanted to try some new voicings I’d been thinking about. Hope you enjoy. And feedback is appreciated.
If you don’t see the linked audio file please click on the original post.
A few months ago I was asked to write some music for an iPhone application that unfortunately never made it to production. I wrote a catchy theme, and since the game isn’t coming out, I thought you guys might enjoy it.
If audio does not appear please click on the original post
I’ve been experimenting with a virtual orchestra sample library recently, and the results are very impressive. They don’t sound exactly real, but they’re getting very close. For this one I used a few tricks that make it sound less mechanical.
I wrote this cue in Sibelius before doing anything in Logic. I wanted to make sure the orchestration was lush and had moving lines in the inner parts. Then I played each of them into Logic using a keyboard and the appropriate sample patch. Finally, I edited each part’s keystroke volume and timing to make the phrasing a little more realistic. One hour after I started, here’s what I ended up with:
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Nearly everyone I know is suffering in one way or another from the down economy. Sales are slumping, and employees are being laid off in record numbers. You can’t pick up a newspaper or watch the news without hearing a steady stream of gloom and doom.
Perhaps I’m too much of an optimist, but scenarios like these always scream opportunity to me. The old is being thrown out, making room for the new. The loss of an old job can lead to a newer, much more fulfilling one. All those old dreams and projects that have been forgotten can now be pursued with vigor. A lack of other options is sometimes the kick that we need to get started.
A friend of mine recently lost his main gig, working IT, only to pick up a ton of new work doing what he really loves, recording and engineering. Another friend wasn’t rehired as a teacher, only to go on tour with a reggae band. As for me, some sources of work are drying up, forcing me to pursue the kinds of work I really enjoy. There are no guarantees of success, but isn’t that the fun part?
In my career I try to be as professional as possible. It’s difficult at times because in music we are often doing work that we’re very passionate about, so it is easy to blur the lines between fun and work.
Something I credit for helping get more gigs this year than last year is something I’ve dubbed the “No Complaining Rule.” During a gig I make a point to never complain. I’ll ask questions if needed, or try to fix problems, but I’ll never make negative comments about things I don’t intend to correct. In line with that, I usually make a point to thank the bandleader for hiring me.
I don’t do this to be manipulative, I just want to make sure I’m always bringing positive energy to the situation, and in my experience contracting bands, I know the guys in charge appreciate this. And in an uncertain economy, every little bit helps.
In the second year of my music degree at Central Washington University I learned a valuable lesson about how to acquire new skills. I was enrolled in my second year of music theory, a course which so far had been rather easy. My new professor was in charge of the composition department, and was known for his rather unorthodox music. I wondered if his teaching might be different as well.
He opened the class by explaining his concept for how it would be taught. Everything we learned would come through “Failure Based Learning.” You must attempt something new, analyze your errors and correct them. You are not expected to succeed on the first try. In fact, if you succeed on the first try it means you are not being challenged enough. Failure in your endeavor is an essential part of the learning process.
Every day we had to write new exercises with new concepts. Sometimes it was painfully slow as we went over the same concepts for days. Others went fast because after mastering the basic concepts it was easy to add new rules and ideas. We never glossed over our work. We always had to contribute every day and analyze our mistakes and successes. At the end of the course we were all very confident in our abilities.
The same holds true for our other endeavors. There are two extremes to which we react to our failures. The first is to avoid all similar situations and pretend it doesn’t matter. This is the route taken by most of us. It is the easy road, and will ensure that you never overcome your problems. The second is to take honest stock of yourself, correct, and try again. Very few of us do the latter. It requires us to own up to our fallibility. It requires us to see ourselves clearly. But if you want to improve, it is the only option.
I’ve had many friends and acquaintances over the last year who’ve gone through some failures. Nearly all of them have chosen to take stock and improve. I credit them with reminding me about this old anecdote. I plan to keep improving as well.
The Japanese TV show Sasuke (”Ninja Warrior”) has recently become my favorite show on TV. They take 100 competitors and put them through a brutal four stage obstacle course. The competition has been done twenty times, and only two people have ever completed all four stages. It’s refreshing to watch amateur athletes, often with wife and kids on the sidelines, throw themselves into it so fully.
One of the competitors that keeps coming back year after year is Katsumi Yamada. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this guy at first. He takes the show more seriously than anyone else. His family disapproves of him “wasting” so much time on it. And despite his best efforts, he has never won. Yet he continues to train relentlessly. Is he just being foolish? His failures have certainly earned him some derision from fans of the show.
The day he became my favorite was when my internal monologue was interrupted clearly as a bell with the thought “even if he fails every time, he’s still accomplished more than any of us have by sitting on the couch in judgment.” In addition to that, isn’t single minded dedication to the achievement of an immense goal the source of contentment we are told to pursue? And aren’t we always told that the journey is more important than the destination?
On one of my previous trips to Japan, an older Japanese man once encouraged me to “choose a goal and work hard to achieve it.” This is not the kind of encouragement we are usually given here in America, but it may be a wiser way of living rather than pursuing fame or fortune. And in that respect, Yamada may be way ahead of most of us.
