Shoot up everything except a school or a playground
Whenever we can, we try to talk to students. If I can, I'll invite kids from a school to a sound check and take questions from them. I want to show them it's cool to play the trombone. Kids are influenced by what's accessible to them. It's hard for kids to be introduced to music other than what they see on TV and video.
I think a lot of young kids at school are very conscious of trying to keep credibility in case they kind of stand out in a crowd and get bullied by trying to stay cool and stuff. And my whole thing, all the way through school, was I was just a goof... I didn't care.
I try to stay positive and keep my head up right, but I really do have a lot of anxiety.
It's just important to try to keep a cool head and stay logical rather than emotional. But then again you have to keep that balance between not becoming too logical because you need to have that passion in order to play to 100% in the game.
A lot of things are going to happen that you can't necessarily control all the time, but you can control what you do after it happens. So that's what I try to do, keep my head up, keep moving forward, stay positive and just work hard.
There are a lot of things going on that's causing a lot of these young kids to head in the wrong direction. I know a lot of kids that are cutting school. I try to give out a positive message, trying to get kids focused. If they don't then they're going to end up like every other hoodlum in the street.
Keep reading books, stay in school. I encourage kids to read as much as they can, I challenge you to read a book every two weeks, like I try to.
I'll tell you how I handle stress. I say-This too shall pass. You've got to try to stay cool and admit when you're wrong, and tell them when you're right.
Under any sort of attack, keep cool. And if you must shoot, shoot with precision.
Don't make the mistakes I made of not taking care of myself. Please, keeps your chops cool and don't overblow. If you are going to play hard, be sure to warm up. I'd get carried away trying to stay right with the momentum [of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers]. I used to try and play like Coltrane and solo for 30 or 40 choruses. It all caught up with me.
I try not to tell students where to shoot, when to shoot, or what to shoot. I feel finding the picture is the most important part of being a photographer. The actual shooting is of lesser importance.
We try to keep our heads cool and our chins up to win every weekend. Sometimes it works better than others but you have to focus on the positive side so for that next game you still have the right state of mind.
I wasn't the cool kid in school, but I wasn't the lame one. I knew I wasn't cool, so I called myself lame, and that's what made me cool in front of the cool kids.
When you're not playing your head can drop, and you can get a bit negative. I try to tell them that there are a lot of things they can't control, selection being one of them, and that they should just try to stay positive.
I try to keep myself grounded and to stay true to who I am through every experience, positive or negative.