One Minute Per Day - The French Horn Way

by Lucas Huffman

Playing the French horn is a maddening experience. When it was handed to me on the
first day of band in 5th grade, I regarded it as one may regard a smelly sock or a freshly pulled ET
tube; something that might have purpose but must be handled with caution. Now, 17ish years
later – after performing hundreds of concerts, completing a degree in horn performance, and
traveling internationally with orchestras – I hold the same opinion.

As it goes with most hobbies, the early days were blissfully naive. The passion was high,
the stakes low, the rewards rich; but as I started to care more, the door opened to disappointment.
I experienced this most acutely in music conservatory, as playing the horn semi-professionally
was still fun, but came with the demand that I perform at a level to put bread on the table.
Thankfully, that pressure and angst subsided after shifting from a career in performance to one in
medicine, though the struggle now is keeping my love for music alive. Out of preservation for
my love of music, I combat the demands of medicine with the 1-minute-per-day method.

In many ways, my time in music school prepared me well for a career in medicine. I
learned to collaborate at a high level, my communication skills are strong, and my skin is thick
when it comes to criticism. If you’ve ever seen Whiplash, you might imagine how such an
environment may lend itself well to shouldering an average day with a general surgeon. But
more importantly, it set me up extremely well to take care of patients in the ORs and ICUs as a
future anesthesiologist. Dedicating thousands of hours in French horn playing may not impact
patients on the surface, but demanding a high level of fine motor skill, collaboration, and general
artistry will absolutely impact patients in a positive way.

My purpose of this small exposé is not to convince everyone to pick up the French horn
(though if you did, I’d recommend being prepared for high highs and low lows). Rather, I want
to strongly advocate for dedicating more time and energy to whatever your hobby is. The options
are limitless, but basically anything that you’re physically passionate about can be such a helpful
escape from medicine and simultaneously serve as a great tool to treat your future patients.

From pickleball to painting to underwater basket weaving, your personal skill outside of
medicine is vitally important. I believe that if you dedicate yourself to it even slightly more than
you are now, your patients will have stronger outcomes. You’ll likely gain additional skill in fine
motor control and endurance – qualities that make anesthesiologists shine. I hear often from my
peers and mentors that they no longer spend much time in their past hobbies; however, I’m a
huge advocate for the 1-minute-per-day method. Though UWorld and Anki have replaced my
French horn practice sessions, I try my utmost to play for 1 minute every day. Some days I can
swing more, some days less, but 1 minute is the average. This practice has kept my skills sharp
and my passion alive, allowing me to grow in this area despite the demands of medical school.

If you can allocate 1 more minute per day working on a skill outside of medicine that
brings you joy, I can almost promise you won’t regret it. Nor will your patients you meet in
anesthesia; they’ll need you to be focused, dexterous, and gritty – all things that can be honed in just a minute.