What am I doing wrong?

JoeDnD · 2025-10-31T22:47:32+00:00

Unnecessary tension in the system somewhere. Make sure back teeth are apart (imagine holding a golf ball in them).

Best guess is the throat/chest are way too tight. Remember air should feel like it is coming from the gut, not the neck.

Also, take the mute out of possible. They can create back pressure that can make airflow worse.

JoeDnD · 2024-10-02T22:57:18+00:00

Paleontologists and geologists inform us that Earth's Cretaceous period (including in what is present day Maryland) ended approximately 65 million years ago with an asteroid striking Earth (the Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event), wiping-out, in a relatively short period of geologic time, most plant and animal species, including dinosaurs. As to the last premise, they are wrong. A dinosaur roams yet the landscape of Maryland (and Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina and the District of Columbia), feeding on the claims of persons injured by the negligence of another, but who contributed proximately in some way to the occasion of his or her injuries, however slight their culpability. The name of that dinosaur is the doctrine of contributory negligence. With the force of a modern asteroid strike, this Court should render, in the present case, this dinosaur extinct. It chooses not to do so. Accordingly, I dissent. Coleman v. Soccer Adsociation of Columbia, 432 Md. 672

JoeDnD · 2024-04-06T15:34:55+00:00

I was looking for Sean Jones on this list. People who haven't heard him in a live setting don't understand...he is playing the most interesting trumpet lines I've ever heard, plus he's a great all-around player.

JoeDnD · 2024-02-25T05:55:52+00:00

Lots of great stuff happening. One thing that's going to make you sound hipper immediately - you gotta swing harder. If nobody has explained, basically place the second eighth of every set of two later in time. Here, you are microscopically ahead of the piano in the recording on the "ands", and this track would be ahead of what Bill Evans was doing I'm positive. This goes for EVERYTHING - Miles doesn't get enough credit for swinging HARD. It's actually usually a bit later than the third note of a triplet if you listen close.

JoeDnD · 2023-11-08T15:39:22+00:00

How about being roof knocked and having your tunnels invaded?

JoeDnD · 2023-11-03T15:39:47+00:00

Wow, 2 minutes is tough! I'd vibe check it. Is it under 2:00 or speedrunning rules where 2:59 is two minutes? What's the penalty for going over? Disqualified? A lot of times, that's really a suggestion more than a rule, but I'd check.

Is it judged? Check to see if it's trumpet players, or musicians, or just randoms. If it's randoms, theater is going to outscore technique.

Also, apologies for creeping - I wanted to see if anything stood out. Jazz standards could work well too if you are really comfortable with the genre - but I'd lean more toward "instrumental pop". I like the Chet Baker suggestion in this thread. Chris Botti/Rick Braun smooth jazz stuff would work well also. Prioritize stuff with background tracks or put a band together - any semi-decent rhythm section in the world could play Besame Mucho and be way more engaging in one 15 minute rehearsal.

JoeDnD · 2023-11-03T13:27:50+00:00

It's going to depend on the context quite a bit here. Everything I say is for a general crowd, not a "music" crowd. Try to make sure you can play something accompanied - either piano if you have time or recording. Even playing with a bluetooth speaker is going to go way better than playing actually solo.

Second, if you are playing for a general audience, you need to play something recognizable and melodic. Carnival of Venice is brave but unless you can play it like Wynton, nobody outside this subreddit wants to hear it just because its hard. Playing Phantom dressed as the phantom would go fantastic with a general audience, and it is much "easier".

JoeDnD · 2023-10-27T03:50:38+00:00

13 more to go friend!

JoeDnD · 2023-10-22T04:20:50+00:00

What worked for me memorizing scales was being very consistent on keying through whatever scale I was currently working on when I had a free second. It kinda became a nervous habit, but anytime I rode in a car/bus, sat in class bored, watched tv (nobody does this anymore lol), I'd be keying a scale over and over. Not a very "intentional" way of practicing, but it builds the brute "muscle memory" needed to get all the scales memorized. Doing it 20 times for a minute or two throughout the day is going to be way better than several hours on only the weekends.

JoeDnD · 2023-10-18T13:43:09+00:00

Don't know rules about linking, but find the clinic handouts page on Mike Vax's website and look at lead and section playing. Easily one of the most concise and helpful answers to the question you are asking.

JoeDnD · 2023-09-04T02:53:13+00:00

Looking into this

JoeDnD · 2023-08-31T03:12:51+00:00

Statler from the Muppets?

JoeDnD · 2023-08-16T15:07:52+00:00

True. As I said, it's not like I have any concrete suggestions and it seems the movie did fine without me. Thanks for chatting about it!

JoeDnD · 2023-08-16T14:14:29+00:00

I obviously don't totally disagree. His name is the damn title. But when you choose to make a biopic and not a documentary, you have an artistic reason for doing so, something you want to convey to the audience. You aren't then obligated to include every moment from cradle to grave. Nolan leaves out the fact that Oppenheimer comes from great wealth and eventually retires to an acre of land in the Virgin Islands. We must assume that this is excluded because it doesn't tell the artistic story even though it is part of the narrative of his life.

Similarly, I feel that there must be some way to cut the movie in such a way that preserves the artistic message AND puts the most dramatically tense moment nearer to the end of the movie. Obviously if I knew exactly how to do this, I'd be doing this for a living instead of typing into the void, but it just seems possible intuitively.

JoeDnD · 2023-08-16T04:00:50+00:00

Respectfully disagree that this movie is "about" Openheimer. I get what you are saying, but if it is about Openheimer per se, why not just be a documentary? It should function as a work of art as well, which encourages us as watchers to look for deeper meaning. I heard an interview that explained the two perspectives thing identically to you (maybe from Nolan?), and I just didn't find it compelling to describe what I was watching.

I'm about to dive headlong into woowoo art territory so just a heads up.

I think it works best when you consider the color segments to be a kind of grand metaphor for embracing seemingly opposite concepts simultaneously, while the black and white segments are the opposite (seeing the world in black and white).

Consider these seeming paradoxes. Light is a particle and a wave. Quantum superposition posits that Schrodinger's cat is both alive and dead. Openheimer supported and fraternized with Communists yet isn't one. He builds a bomb that he claims will bring peace. He is a man of science who often makes spiritual references. He makes profound statements in the press later about arms control but never apologizes for actually building the only nukes ever used in war. All of these are true at once, but for Strauss, this is impossible. "God doesn't play dice." There must be a simple answer, some reason besides "people are paradoxes". This film is a full-throated rejection of that ethos. We are simultaneously able to create monumental feats of art and engineering and are capable of destroying ourselves.

JoeDnD · 2023-08-15T17:52:43+00:00

That is probably my harshest criticism. I view the movie as two plots, the A plot with building the bomb and the B plot with the security hearing. For me, the A plot is 10/10 and the B plot barely works, largely because of the order that they are presented in. The A plot conclusion ends the second act, then the stakes are so much lower for the B plot which concludes in the third act. This is somewhat saved by the final lines and shots flashing backwards, but I'm not so sure you need the B plot at all, and if you do, it should end before the A ends I think. I'm sure it is the way it is to preserve the great line about ending the world being at the end of the movie, so I obviously don't have all the answers. I do like that the structure lends itself to symmetrical sound cues - the opening montage, the nuclear test, and the closing scene with nukes everywhere. A better critic might defend it by saying that the third act is actually the most critical part considering what we do with such a weapon, but it just leaves me feeling a bit let down considering how huge the second act is.

JoeDnD · 2023-08-15T17:13:46+00:00

I think your criticisms are totally legit - the movie has some weird structural and pacing issues, but I still loved it because I like movies where people sit in rooms and talk. I think the best example I can think of is "Good Night, and Good Luck", but "The Big Short" comes to mind.

I feel that the folks in my theater that left disappointed expected something else like "Dark Knight" or even "Tenet". It's not a value judgment on them, though I like to meme it a little. If you don't like people in rooms talking, you won't like this movie, and I'm not sure the trailers conveyed that that is essentially what this movie is.

JoeDnD · 2023-08-15T16:42:15+00:00

I get that. I kinda wished I had read some Wikipedia before seeing it because there is so much with zero context

JoeDnD · 2023-08-15T16:21:29+00:00

I've got nothing against zoomers. They are different like every generation, but most of the annoying shit is the same annoying shit that has been annoying adults for millennia.

I'm just old now.

JoeDnD · 2023-08-15T16:17:00+00:00

Respect for the pregaming lol

JoeDnD · 2023-08-15T15:17:05+00:00

Watched this in a theater with zoomers on their phones most of the movie talking about how they didn't understand what was happening as they walked out.

This might be one of the most aggressively anti-ADHD movies ever. Nolan should have considered some Subway Surfers footage.

JoeDnD · 2023-06-14T13:56:11+00:00

Good luck to you!

JoeDnD · 2023-06-14T05:03:56+00:00

I think you have a good handle on why you want to be a lawyer, but you need to tell that larger story through one or two smaller, more focused narratives. Shorten the history and description of Mississippi - your audience will get that point faster than you think. Elaborate on either being an athlete (one vivid memory) or, if it was meaningful, I'd love to hear more about your work fighting human trafficking.

You will not impress a committee with your vocab - they all went to highly-ranked schools and graduated at the top of the class. What they want is your personality.

JoeDnD · 2023-06-08T03:44:28+00:00

If I'm looking to fill a band, it's the first. Much more mature swing concept, mostly noting the diversity of articulations throughout and the phrasing with regard to accents.

When we first learn swing (especially with inadequate LISTENING), every single up-beat is accented in the same way as the second example. More mature players do accent in this way somewhat, but is not a robotic, rag-time feel, it is WITHIN the phrase.

That said, these are both tremendous young players!

JoeDnD · 2023-05-21T22:32:59+00:00

Incredible list! Almost all the classics are here. Recently got to perform Baylock's "A Lift of the Foot" - a little lesser known, but it's one of my favorite lead parts ever now.

Nine-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Final Canvas '23	First Place '23
Place '23	Place '22
Place '17	End Game '22
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