by Mars Gelfo
June 2014. I sat on a red couch in Hong Kong, calculating hour estimates in a spreadsheet. How much had I practiced horn since the beginning? 9,980 hours was my best guess.
Seven music school rejections; degrees in cognitive science and computer science far behind me; why was I leaving my position in the Hong Kong Philharmonic after six seasons of hard-earned dreams come true?
"If anything, I've mastered being self-critical while endeavoring to play horn well," I admitted.
I decided my next 10,000 hours would be dedicated to something different.
Here is your invitation to consider: What will your next 10K hours be devoted to mastering? and how will you get there?
Because realize it or not, in every moment you are practicing something.
In my case, after a post-audition hospitalization, I knew that music needed to be a practice and path of wellness for me.
I traveled the world working not just with great brass & voice teachers but with mindset coaches, hypnotherapists, yogis, psychotherapists, bodyworkers, shamanic healers, kung fu masters, and more…
…and it worked.
Dreams came true – international tours with San Francisco Symphony, a sizzling performance playing principal horn on Mahler 5 in front of thousands…even dreams I could never have imagined…like jamming with the Costa Rican Minister of Culture on calypso music during a Caribbean surfing and permaculture immersion trip.
Transformational music practice indeed!
If you could transform your musical life, what would you choose?
I’ve always been a natural teacher. Ask me to break anything down into its component steps and operationalize a plan – it’s something I do for fun!
So when a San Francisco Symphony trombonist asked me to share some of my magic and coach him for the International Tchaikovsky Competition, a new livelihood began.
Our work together covered not just cutting-edge practice techniques and biohacking for stage charisma, it also involved exploring ancestral patterns, daily energy management, social media synergy, and much more. Unlocking a dramatically easier high register was just a side effect.
That was several years ago. I was deep in Silicon Valley tech startup culture building a music practice platform called Modacity. Could my team bring focused, well-organized deliberate practice to anyone with a phone? More than 30,000 people have since used Modacity, but eventually I saw something critical missing.
Productive practice is not very meaningful without personal transformation.
…and we aren’t meant to do it alone.
What I’m most passionate about these days is helping other musicians get past the inevitable blocks and blind spots, to live a musical life of their own design.
There are three main focus points in this work:
- Identity & inner transformation
- Radically efficient practice strategies
- Productivity & energy management
None of these succeed without the other:
It can feel amazing to resolve an emotional block or to connect with a vision of what’s possible, but without a practical path to integrate that, you’re not getting very far.
You could be learning music or techniques very effectively, but if it’s not serving your personal path forward, what’s the point?
You might be great with time management and show up consistently for hours of practice, but are you practicing bad habits into permanence?
The integration of the three focus points is where true power emerges.
When you know who you are and can be; when you walk a path of actualization by using your time and life force effectively; when your practice progressively builds skill in a healthy and cognitively optimized way – in a direction that is meaningful – that’s when we all win.
What is most beautiful is that your thriving as a musician creates a collective spiral of abundance. “A rising tide lifts all boats.” The more our musical community is filled with happy, flourishing, self-expressed musicians, the more everyone thrives.
So here’s my challenge to you:
Become a champion of your own actualization.
Do the one thing that every single Olympic athlete has in common. Get a coach, a mentor, someone who inspires and helps elevate you. Find out what’s possible!
Mars Gelfo is an artistic actualization coach and internationally performing hornist. Integrating cognitive science, peak performance, embodied spirituality, regenerative design, and other fun fancy concepts, he is passionate about turning information into transformation, for the benefit of all beings.
Learn more about Mars, watch some wonky multiphonics videos, or get in touch for a complimentary coaching consultation at https://marsgelfo.com.
