How a Billionaire Investor Made Me a Better Musician

This isn't Charlie Munger.
It's only a model.

Charlie Munger never gave me one red cent. He never hired me for a gig. I've never even met the man, but he's given me the secret to become a better musician, and it has nothing to do with money. His real wealth is the wisdom he shares with anyone who'll listen. I listened and got a whole lot smarter about music. 

Our everyday world is complex. Mind-bogglingly so. Your head would explode if you didn't have a way to simplify the massive flow of data your mind receives. That's what mental models are for, and Charlie Munger is darn good at identifying and analyzing them. So what's a mental model? It's just a convenient way to explain to yourself how things work and anticipate what's next. The problem lies in the name. It's mental, and it's only a model, which makes only a partial reflection of reality. Relying on a badly constructed model land you in trouble, but so too will a reliance on too few models. A composite of many viewpoints will give you a better picture of reality. Remember the story of the blind men examining an elephant?

Reading and performing music is complex to say the least. We've all had the experience of being stuck. Maybe you're stumped on a weird rhythm or can't find the right phrasing. It's frustrating because you know the problem isn't physical. You're able to play it, but you haven't figured out how. The way out is to have multiple mental models at your disposal. Attack it from another viewpoint. Reframe the problem, or invert it. Consider alternatives or additional factors that might be causing the problem. Think outside the box, inside the box, or think laterally. 

Shhh!

As an example, I kept chipping a particular note on my horn. In my mind, chipped notes = bad attack, so I tried using different tonguing, faster air, slower air, etc. to fix it. Nothing worked. Turns out it was a tuning issue.  I had my slide too far in (sharp), and I unconsciously tried to lip it flatter, ruining the attack. In its correct slide position, the note came out clean every time. My real problem wasn't articulation or tuning at all. My mental model of how to make clean attacks was wrong. 

You can pick up more mental models by picking the brains of others. Find out how different people approach the same problem. Ask them directly if you can. Use books and videos if you can't. In short, use anything at your disposal. That's much better than hammering away with a familiar but unworkable approach. Or, as the saying goes in my day job, "Six months in the lab can save you an afternoon in the library." 

And don't forget to network, too. I fixed my chipped note problem by asking a fellow trombonist. He passed on the solution from his private teacher whom I've never met. Problem solved, and now have another mental model in my tool box.