Are you playing offense or defense, First name / friend?
We don't claim to be the world's greatest sports experts, BUT, it seems there's quite a difference between trying to get points and trying to keep someone else from getting them.
Let's talk about how this is related to playing your instrument.
When you're playing defensively, you're trying to avoid mistakes. You're trying to predict what will happen and avoid sounding bad. You're thinking about how you messed up here last time - therefore, you need to be careful you don't mess up there again.
When you're playing offensively, you're trying to get points. You're focused on what you're bringing to the table. You're focused on phrasing, on resonance, on filling the room. You're focused on contributing to the music. You have a mindset of, I can do this. I'm going for this. Go for the 3 pointer? YAS!
It's weird.
Sometimes a simple mental shift like this is like magic. 🪄
It makes us sound better immediately.
We talked about something similar to this last year on the blog in “Improvement = Mindset”. Check it out! 👇