[Trombone-l] Improv with a disability (of sorts)

[Steve Cordingley]

I'm a psychotherapist. ADHD has, as part of the challenge, difficulty
focusing long enough to do anything requiring sustained effirt, and memory
(my hinch is that this is caused by poor sleep). However, once absorbed in
something, the individual can be difficult to communicate with, because
they are now so completely absorbed, that they can't stay in touch with
their surroundings. That all sounds pretty final, yet many very successful
people have this condition - often undiagnosed.

So, when I'm working with such individuals in therapy, I encourage them to
understand their nature enough to be able to maximise what they do better
than anyone else befire trying to mitigate the downside of their condition.

My experience is that a key to their understanding is that the distance
between the thought/idea and the reward for it must be short. Have the idea
and do it. That's what neuro-typical folk would see as being impulsive. The
individual might struggle with impatience for the same reason. That makes
working with others a challenge, especially if they have to await their
turn.

In practice, exercises will be best if short, and learning a quick riff
easier than the modal system, for example. Pentatonic scales might be
okay,  triplets even more so.

Having said all of that, one of my boys is on the cusp of ADHD, yet his
progress on keyboards has been faster than his brother on guitar. We
acknowledge that he may finish up on drums :-D

And all the more meditative work (e.g. long tones), on his horn will help
him focus in his lesson.

If amenable to supplement ideas, magnesium (citrate seems to work better
than oxide), seems to help with GABA (think grounding and focus), vitamin D
status should be checked (plays a role in concentration) and we've had good
results with saffron extract with our son, as it seems to support cignitive
processing. Evidence for these and other supplements can be found on
examine.com

Hope that helps.

Steve



On Fri, 16 Aug 2019, 22:21 Ervin, Thomas R - (ervint) via Trombone-l, <
trombone-l at trombonelist.org> wrote:

> Jon,
> I wonder if your student can echo short easy things you play. Or can he
> play parts/passages of tunes?  3-4 notes? Can he sing a little? Does he
> know ANY piano? Does he listen to plenty of jazz; does he have any
> favorites? Does he have any routines memorized? Can he replay a short
> passage he has just read? Can he repeat things you play on One Note, and
> get the rhythms right?  sometimes?
>
> No I haven’t taught such a student, but those questions imply where I
> might start.  Best to you both.  Tom Ervin
>
>
> >
> >   1. Helping students with learning issues improvise (Jon Studer)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2019 21:18:10 +0000
> > From: Jon Studer <studer_je at hotmail.com>
> >
> > Anyone have suggestions for helping students that have dyslexia and or
> ADHD?
> > For instance, student has great tone, intonation, timing, etc, and can
> sight read and play music put in front of him, but wants to learn to
> improvise in Jazz.
> > However, due to learning disability issues, he can?t seem to commit
> scales/keys to memory. Hence, there is a mental disconnect between scales,
> keys, and improvising.
> > Repetition doesn?t seem to be working.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jon
> >
> >
>
> Tom Ervin
> ervint at email.arizona.edu
> Prof of trombone, Univ Arizona (Emeritus)
> ...now a recovering trombone player... ; >)
> (520) 743-5062
> website:    tom-ervin.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at trombonelist.org
> http://trombonelist.org/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l_trombonelist.org
>