The Body

The body is the instrument our brain tries to control.

The fact that a brass player can be exceptional while being large, small, medium, burly, thin, fat or muscular proves that the "shell" is not important. Far more important, on the other hand, are:

• the quality of the muscle tissue
• the quality of the blood supply to the tissue (limitations in terms of fatigue and swelling caused by the mouthpiece, for example)
• metabolism
• the quality of sleep (recuperation)

The key to effective control consists in being able to recognise the qualities and faults of one's own organism, of being sensitive to alarms (internal messages), first with the help of a teacher, then increasingly by oneself. This goes a long way towards enabling one's talent to flower harmoniously and progressively.

In this connection the brass player will do well to study the behaviour of sportsmen and women (good ones!) and to find a pattern of bodily hygiene appropriate to his ambitions.

I do not mean to preach, to offer easy answers or to moralise but simply to point out that we all survive thanks to the food we eat and to the rest we take daily so that our body can renew itself. It then becomes clear that these two points are essential and that it is in everyone's interest to think about them — not just in order to live, but also in order to learn to draw from them the special energy necessary to practise one's art in a controlled way.²

Food

Food supplies us with what we need but our internal organs must sort it and eliminate the surplus, waste and toxins. Some people eliminate these better than others; it is in the interest of the latter group to find out what causes them problems.