Becoming semi-pro later in life

[Rebuild4259]

I'm curious if anyone here has picked up the trombone after a long hiatus and rebuilt their skills to participate in some of the more competitive ensembles like local "volunteer" orchestras. These orchestras usually tend to consist mostly of music performance/education majors or people who play professionally in several different groups. I have neither of those but would like to do something more challenging than the local community band which I already play in.

[BGuttman]

I did.

First thing was to take a couple of years of lessons with a top notch teacher to hone what skills I had. Then do lots of free gigs to get known. I joined my local of AFM and got MPTF gigs (sadly, not very common now). If you play well enough you will get the calls.

[JTeagarden]

On the positive side, laying off for a prolonged period does great things for breaking habits, good and bad...

I honestly think that the key to improvement in almost anything is understanding exactly what it is you are even doing, i.e., what your habits are.

I play in a local wind orchestra where one of the older trombonists tongues between his teeth, in all registers! I was explaining how I approached a particular run he was having trouble with, and I asked him where the tip of his tongue hit when he tongued, and he didn't even know until he had to think about it.

While this might work for some, and definitely for some in the lower register, in his case, it's preventing him from developing any kind of embouchure strength.

It's a very deeply ingrained habit, and in his case, an extremely bad one! You have the advantage of nothing being very deeply ingrained.

[tbdana]

I did that.

I took 30 years off of playing, had a whole career, retired from that career, moved to the country, got snowed in, and then my spouse bought me a horn and told me to start playing again.

That was 22 months ago. I practiced a bunch, and was surprised at how quickly I became a functional player again. I continued to practice and have gotten pretty good for an old lady.

Today I'm kind of a "big fish/small pond" player who does a little bit of everything. I still play in community groups, but I'm mostly playing for money with the best musicians in the region, now. I get paid to play in local orchestras, and to play freelance jazz and commercial gigs. Plus, I play with a local rock/funk/soul band that is filled with older pros (who can still play their asses off) who were in some of the big name bands.

I, too, have found that these local orchestras are filled either with pros from out of town (at least for the local philharmonic and opera), or with the educators you mentioned. I've also been paid to be a "ringer" in college orchestras when they have demanding trombone parts.

So, from where I'm standing, at least, it can certainly be done. It takes a certain level of insanity, though.

[JTeagarden]

I would also add that you should be happy with your playing, but never fully satisfied: listen to yourself critically, and appreciate that working on your weaknesses isn't fun, but ignoring them doesn't make them better.

I am friends with James Markey (he played at my father's funeral back in the dark ages when he was playing principal trombone in Pittsburgh), and he told me about him practicing a couple measures of Mathis der Maler for such a prolonged period of time that a neighbor came over to complain! I know from his playing that every single time he ran through the excerpt it would have sounded great. But it was not quite what he was aiming for, he set such a high standard for himself!

[tbdana]

I would also add that you should be happy with your playing, but never fully satisfied: listen to yourself critically, and appreciate that working on your weaknesses isn't fun, but ignoring them doesn't make them better.

This.

Practicing things you're already good at is fun, but it isn't productive. Practicing things you suck at isn't fun, but makes you a better player, which in the end is a lot more fun.

But I'll tell ya, after 30 years off of playing, I'm now having the time of my life, and am grateful and happy for every opportunity to play with anyone, and especially with very good pros, which is the easiest playing you can do.