#28: Music and Life Wisdom with Trumpeter Scott Moore

For this episode, we were joined by trumpet player Scott Moore, who has been principal trumpet of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra since 1988. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony. He has also recorded and performed with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, and with I Fiamminghi, the Orchestra of Flanders.

As a teacher, Scott has served as a Mentor with the Hot Springs Music Festival (which is where I met him) and on the faculties of the Sewanee Summer Music Center and the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts.

In the episode, we talked about his life in music and the wisdom he's acquired along the way. While we do geek out about specific aspects of trumpet playing and musician life, I think a lot of the wisdom and life advice can apply to all sorts of situations. The topics we cover include performance anxiety, audition advice, quieting the inner critic, golf, and other advice that I picked up from Scott back in 2014 when I was at the Hot Springs Music Festival. In particular, I remind him of the advice he gave me of "nobody is shooting at you" which 7 years later I still use pretty much every day.

**Click here to watch the Youtube video of this episode**

Timestamps:

• [02:18] Scott's background
• [05:22] Why do trumpets get associated as being the meatheads of the orchestra?
• [10:03] Performance mindset vs. audition mindset
• [15:23] Audition fatigue and the differences between the early music world and the modern music world
• [17:03] The Dunning–Kruger effect and why having self-awareness can be both a blessing and a curse
• [23:36] How to dial down the inner critic
• [25:20] Geeking out on trumpet sound production (finding the sweet spot of a note, letting the trumpet resonate, etc.)
• [31:53] What cocktails we're drinking!
• [35:49] Running into playing problems and what to do about it
• [42:42] Violin technique/sound production, ColourStrings violin method, and why we flinch away from difficult music
• [46:28] Golf is Not a Game of Perfect by Bob Rotella and how to achieve peak performance
• [49:33] Overcoming performance anxiety and Scott's advice of "nobody is shooting at you".
• [55:39] Bonus Questions

Links:

• Scott's Bio
• Golf is Not a Game of Perfect by Bob Rotella
• Scott's Youtube Channel
• The Dunning–Kruger effect
• Colourstrings violin method

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