Author: JC Heisler

If you feel you need to play the trumpet, then you must. Don’t worry about a career, or success, or failure. The musicians who are most fulfilled never stop working at their craft. There is no finish line, so don’t compare yourself to others talent, situations, and perceived circumstances; work on what you know YOU…

Long tones are for getting the body to physically feel Tonic, inhabit Tonic, rest in Tonic, move through, with, and around Tonic; color Tonic, shade Tonic, lumen Tonic, darken Tonic, lighten Tonic, heavy Tonic, shallow Tonic, deepen Tonic, sharpen Tonic, soften Tonic, roughen Tonic, heat Tonic, cool Tonic, spin Tonic, loosen Ton, tighten Tonic, feather…

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.” “The proper function of man is to live,…

Let perfection speak for itself as it will. Relax and aim aimlessly through the annealing flame of clarity. Let it burn to cleanse. Let it burn it to purify. Let it burn it to a blistering, annealing, glowing purity. Give it! Give it all! Give it all away! Do not flinch. Do not doubt. Keep…

Hearing is when the mind stops. The ear’s generosity is singular. Editions

Don’t think about the performance. Let the performance help you concentrate. Editions

A “teacher” must be humble and articulate enough to share in the process. Editions

Nobody knows how big your mountain will be. Nobody can tell you how big your mountain is, nobody. Only you can keep climbing YOUR OWN mountain. Justification and approval will leave you tired, hungry, stranded, angry, confused, scared, and disillusioned. Just keep going; YOUR mountain has what YOU need. Editions

Is it possible to see without looking? Is it possible to hear without listening? Observation without desire, brings the homeostatic resonance of wonder, the poignant vitality of peace, and the enveloping purity of joy. Attention means giving all your energy to observation. Observation without analysis implies total concentration. Experience. Editions

The thinker is the thought. The hearer is the sound The seer is the vision. The toucher is the feel The smeller is the aroma. The taster is the flavor. The healer is the healed. The singer is the song. The teller is the story. The laughter is the humor. The miraculous is the miracle.…

“We all feel the riddle of the earth without anyone to point it out. The mystery of life is the plainest part of it.” – GK Chesterton “One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night, or deep in sloping…

Have No Fears Do Not Force Feel No Shame Editions

You can only give away what you have. You are not the music. The music is The Music. You have to be made in The Music, in order to share The Music. I know nothing of what I can share that equals the experience of what Music Gives. Editions

Lessons for Transcription. Listen Again, with Respect. Who’s Ride Cymbal? Who’s bass? Where? When? Don’t be shallow or deep…..always consider how the players make music together. Perform your own content with the record as if you were live with the group. Editions

Pick Up Your Horn. Pick a Note. Pick a Song. Now, Play. The Point is, to Connect. Play with intelligible intensity and absolute acceptance. Editions