The Skill Room

Yesterday our Sr. Jazz band got up early like usual, and began rehearsal like any other day.  Only one thing... one of our trumpet players couldn't play for a strange reason.  He could barely make music let alone organized noise, and it was like he went back to clumsily playing trumpet for the first time like in grade 7.  Since he couldn't do it, he just sat down, and didn't play.  So while everyone else played, he decided to pass time on his iPad.  Whether what he was doing was important or not, I don't know.  The teacher called him out on it about halfway through the rehearsal.  I could see it took a toll on him.  After he silently put the tablet away, he stared down at the ground obviously frustrated.  And then he started holding back tears.  I could feel it... he was not just frustrated, but confused, mad at himself, and embarrassed.  It seemed to me that the iPad was a good distraction from his frustration and other emotions.  But once that was taken away, there was no hiding it.  And the fact that he was starting to shed tears was all the more humiliating.  As his friend, I whisper-yelled his name and threw my water bottle to him, motioning for him to drink.  After all, drinking water when you're crying helps you stop.  Seriously, it works well.

Why was he feeling all those emotions on a day like any other?  I believe he has hit something not a lot of musicians see or experience... I've asked musicians about this experience that are four (maybe five) times my age and they have never experienced something like the one I described above.
I call this experience the Skill Room (not the best title I know).  Why?  This experience feels like your skills as a musician has been blocked off for a strange reason... like you are locked in a room with no access to your skills.  You don't feel it until you actually try to play.  You just start, expecting to make music like usual.  Then you realize that your playing/practice is under par.  Very under par.  It feels like a few years of experience, skills, and motor memory have been sucked out just as you picked up/turned on/sat down to play your instrument.  You can't buzz, set a proper embouchure, get your fingers to move right, and your focus level seems normal, yet somehow harder to conjure.  It is the one of the most frustrating things I have so far experienced, knowing I could full well play grade 9 (ten grades in my country's system) piano songs with ease but for that day I was limited to a grade 5 level.  It's frustrating enough to draw tears, which was what happened to my friend.

The Skill Room is something I've only encountered twice for the thirteen years I have been learning/creating music.  Both experiences in the same year.  Both of those days started just fine, but after that it was pretty depressing.  When all your skill just seemed locked out of you, you kind of just want to stop for the day.  And that's what I did.
I don't really know how to break out.  It kind of goes away after a night's sleep.  The next day, everything is back to the usual.

I didn't get to talk to him after rehearsal, but it seemed rough.  I hope he's doing okay right now.

I then began to think if other musicians see this room everyday, and if the room would be the reason of why they quit music.  I can only wish that those stuck in this terrible place would somehow either break out, or have someone help them.