What is it about me and journalists? It seems like every time I am involved in a newspaper article — whether it is a review, a feature article, or if I am just being interviewed for a related story — they get it wrong.

I just read an article, which I had been interviewed for, that is published in the Sacramento Bee about Matt Muckey (Associate Principal Trumpet in the New York Philharmonic). You can see the article here. Overall, the piece is well done, yet, once again, when my name is mentioned, something gets screwed up:

“Some trumpet players spend 15 to 20 years of their adult life trying to land such a position,” said Craig Morris, who played trumpet alongside Muckey in the highly regarded San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.”

Well… almost. I did coach his trumpet section in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra during my time as a member of the San Francisco Symphony! What’s even worse is that I distinctly remember talking to the writer about my background. I think his quotes from me would have had a lot more meaning and power if he had mentioned that I was a professional trumpet player on some level! To me it reads like, “Oh, and here is what this other guy who used to play in youth orchestra has to say about Matt Muckey.”

Fortunately, I think the story is good, and it will give a non-musician reader some idea of the incredible accomplishment it is for Matt to have won this job at such a young age. But I still have to wonder… why does my name always appear in the newspaper right next to a mistake?

If my experience is any indication, we should all be very wary about what we read in the newspaper.

Today I had a student who was feeling rather dramatic about the opening of Bernstein’s Rondo for Lifey. I have found this to be a common problem, so I have devised a cure. If you should ever find yourself in this situation, remember this:

Yes, that would be Lifey! Of course, this is not the actual Lifey, but it is a sky terrier nonetheless. Look at the picture again. I think it is safe to say that this is not the subject of a Mahler Symphony or a Wagner Opera. Something to keep in mind the next time you perform this wonderfully charming little piece.

Here is how my practice has been structured today:

I. Lip bends and brief scales and arpeggios. After that, I did a strength building routine (as outlined in Dueling with Pinchas) — 30 minutes

**Rest approx. 2 hours**

II. Work on three movements from Claude Boling’s Toot Suite (to be performed with our new Dean, Shelly Berg, this coming Thursday) — 1 hour

**Rest approx. 3 hours**

III. Bai Lin Lip Flexibilities — 40 minutes

**Rest approx. 2 hours

IV. Etudes (including some piccolo playing, probably from the Maurice Andre etude book). Maybe some articulation studies: Gekker, etc. (40 minute to an hour depending on how I feel)

** ** **

After reading that you may be wondering, “Where is the Stamp routine? Where is the balanced skill set touching on every trumpet skill? After all, you have written articles singing the praises of all those things. Why aren’t they in your routine?” Those questions are understandable and certainly justified. Let’s take a closer look at my practice day and the decisions that led to it.

You can see that I am covering skill set material (flexibility and likely articulation), and the primary focus of the morning session was on foundation material, only it was specifically oriented toward strength. Why, you ask? Very simple. I felt like that was what I needed. I have a demanding concert coming up this Thursday and I know that I need to make strength a priority as I prepare for it. Today’s practice schedule is simply a reflection of that. What does that mean for you? It means that you don’t have to be a slave to a routine, especially if there is a more relevant way to spend your time. Always use your mind to determine if you are doing what is best for you. This may sound obvious, but it always amazes me how rare it actually is. It is a key ingredient to achieving your maximum potential, and it is a key factor in separating the good from the great.

If I asked 1,000 trumpet players to give me the reason that they stopped practicing at the end of the day, I bet at least 900 would say it was because they were too tired to continue. In fact, I bet the same statistic would be true for any given practice session, regardless of when it occurred in the day. At first glance, that may seem like a reasonable plan. After all, the goal is to practice as much as you can, right? So surely, in order to maximize the most playing time any given day has to offer, we would need to play until we were too tired to continue. Yes, one would think that would make sense, but one would be wrong. Here’s why…

One of a trumpet player’s biggest inhibitors is endurance. In order to improve endurance we need to have some idea of how the muscles respond to training or, in our case, practicing. If you read any respected source for building strength of any kind, whether it be weightlifting, bicycling, or any one of a thousand endurance/strength based activities, you will see that recovery is not only an important element, but a vital one. The muscles must have time to recover from a training load in order to adapt and grow stronger. If the rest period isn’t there, then the muscles will simply continue to break down and they will not have the opportunity to rebuild in a stronger manner. Since we don’t ever have many extended periods of rest to allow for recovery, we must be very careful about when and to what extent we break the embouchure muscles down. You could certainly draw up a very detail oriented training program about how to do this, but for now, keep it simple.

Throw in some easy days in your playing week: days where you just don’t allow yourself to get fatigued at all. How many of these days you have in a given week is up to you, and it certainly could vary from week to week. You should definitely play and practice on these light days, but just don’t ever let yourself get tired. If you start to feel a little burn, then put the horn down and rest. Wait for longer than you think you should, then continue playing. Many short (15-20 minute) practice sessions spread across the day would be ideal. Even on heavy days you should work to avoid feeling fatigued at the end of every session. Remember, the embouchure is made up of many small muscles and we are asking a lot of them. Treat them with care and they will return the favor many times over.

Tonight I gave a lecture to an area youth orchestra entitled “The Art of Auditioning”. I carried on with a lot of, what I consider to be, useful information outlining many of the most important aspects of my approach to auditions. When I was done, I opened the floor up for questions. A nice looking young boy who is probably only 12 or 13 years old sheepishly raised his hand and asked, “Have you ever thought about doing anything else for a living?” Zing! It wasn’t how he meant it, but when viewed in the right (or wrong) light, I found it freakin’ hilarious.

It reminded me of one night in San Francisco after a concert, several of us got to joking about things people had said that felt like veiled insults. Some of my favorites were:

“Tonight’s concert. I mean… wow.”

“I was out in the hall tonight. You should have been there!”

“You played that almost as beautifully as I imagined it.”

“Man, you are somethin’ else.”

“You know, I’ve never heard anything like that!”

“Wow, that piece sounded hard!”

Call me a masochist, but I actually really enjoy these and I’m sure I’m not alone. If you have any zingers you’d like to share, please add them in the comments.