Musical Mind Mastery: Strategies for Awareness of and Overcoming Focal Dystonia feat. Greg Spence and Julie Baxes

Brass Mastery

**Please be sure to catch the link to a powerful testimonial about Greg's practice below! JN

In this episode, Greg Spence of Mystery to Mastery and Denver-based amateur trumpeter Julie Baxes discuss experiences and strategies for overcoming focal dystonia.

Recorded at the recent ITG conference in Anaheim, Julie shares her near-recovery journey from dystonia, while Greg explains how his Mystery to Mastery program unintentionally became a beacon for dystonia sufferers.

Julie candidly describes her initial focal dystonia symptoms, her reconnection with Greg during COVID, and the intensive process of understanding and managing the condition. She recounts her personal struggles, including a misinterpretation of feedback from a conductor,which led to a great deal of personal shame. Ultimately this led to a loss of control of her physical abilities, and even a sense of isolation from the music community.

Listen to Julie recount her determined comeback into the ranks of performing artists through patience, a conscientious mindset re: music and finding her place in her local scene given her experiences.

Emphasized throughout the interview is the importance of stillness, error detection, and a step-by-step approach to remapping neural pathways.

Julie and Greg both stress the need for open conversations about focal dystonia in the musician community and the importance of catching early signs. The episode closes with advice for those potentially facing the condition and a call to action for orchestras and universities to support affected musicians.

Episode highlights

01:46 Julie's Journey with Focal Dystonia

02:07 Greg's Teaching Approach

04:00 The Mystery to Mastery Program

05:50 Understanding Stillness and Anxiety

14:00 Julie's Personal Struggles

34:23 The Challenge of Achieving Stillness

35:35 The Importance of Closing Your Eyes

37:16 Understanding Focal Dystonia

39:47 The Error Trilogy: Detection, Rejection, Correction

40:40 Personal Experiences and Techniques

41:52 The Role of Psychological Factors

43:22 The Journey to Recovery

49:12 The Importance of Open Communication

53:59 Distinguishing Focal Dystonia from Performance Anxiety

56:07 Advice for Musicians to Prevent Focal Dystonia

01:04:39 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Resources mentioned:

Mystery to Mastery

"Greg Spence Changed My Life" video

About the guests:

Julie Baxes is an amateur trumpet player who began her music journey as a pianist, performing with church choirs, in small ensembles and for weddings and other special occasions. She picked up trumpet in her mid 40s and has studied with a variety of teachers over the years, most recently working exclusively with Greg Spence for the past 4 years.

Julie has performed with the Jeffco Community Band, Jeffco Brass (for wedding receptions, civic events, church services and retirement communities), university jazz and concert bands, and the Rocky Mountain Brassworks, a British-style brass band that performs in Denver metro area venues.

Julie has worked in the marketing communications and public affairs field for more than 30 years as a writer, editor, public speaker, staff manager, marketing and public affairs strategist, and special events manager. She holds a BA in journalism and a marketing minor from Arizona State University.

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Greg Spence

From a struggling cornet player in a small town in Australia to helping 10's of 1000's of brass and wind players worldwide.

Combined, Greg's two books and now the WindWorks course have helped more than 30,000 brass players worldwide and his youtube channel has had over 1,000,000 views. Greg has performed with the world's most elite performers and has performed internationally at the most famous venues including Carnegie Hall in NYC.

He has presented masterclasses at colleges, universities and music conferences across the globe including The University of North Texas, The Berlin Jazz Academy, MidWest Clinic in Chicago and The International Trumpet Guild Conference. Greg is rapidly becoming the most sought-after brass educator on the planet.

Mentioned in this episode:

CTA

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