dream with trombone and other things

dream:

I am playing a game with other people, mostly kids. We start at the top of a long wooden ramp and prepare to slide down. To identify ourselves to the referees below, we first deposit a thing into a chute. The thing is like a chopstick except that it can come apart in two shorter pieces. The pieces normally fit together tightly--a small projection on one of the pieces fits tightly into a small hole on the other piece. I am worried, however, that my chopstick will come apart after I deposit it. Also, I look at it and see Chinese characters and colors that seem to distinguish it from other player's chopsticks, but I don't see anything that would identify it as "my" chopstick to the referees. So I am worried it won't identify me or distinguish me from other players.

But I deposit my chopstick (actually at this point it's two chopsticks) and dive headfirst down this wooden ramp, about the length of a children's slide (but much wider). My goal is to go underneath a cardboard structure at the bottom. It's like a box with the front and back sides and the bottom cut out. Or you could call it a cardboard "arch" except it's rectangular, like what's left of a box after cutting out the front and back sides and bottom. The box is very small and there seems no way I could fit under it. In particular I would have to turn my head to the side and keep it flat against the ramp so it doesn't stick up too much, but due to my stiff neck (my neck is stiff in real life) I can't do that. My head stays up, and I crash into the cardboard. Then I stand up and ask the referees if I was supposed to go under the box. I say, "Oh I guess you really have to get your nose down so low you could scrape it." I start to replay going down the ramp in my mind several times. At this point I imagine that I'm casting the chopsticks down ahead of me and the goal is to get the chopsticks to go through the box as well as my head and body. There are now many more than two chopsticks.

Then I start to play trombone. I really enjoy playing trombone in the dream and playing with other people in the dream. In real life, I played trombone in my youth, but gave it up 20 years ago. I was always frustrated with struggling with certain aspects of it. But in the dream I can do everything well, including difficult high notes. It's all working and coming together. My trombone is a special design, pretty elaborate compared to a normal trombone.

Then I sit down by an electronic device. This device is supposed to play accompanying notes automatically. If I play a melody on trombone, it will play the harmony automatically. This seems like the coolest thing ever. But I can't get it to work. I discuss this with several people there. We look at the circuit board and study how it works, but we can't figure out anything.

Then I somehow know it's the morning and a woman comes and invites me to play "reverie" on trombone to wake up a group of kids or soldiers or something. I don't remember who I'm waking up, but anyway I start to improvise a melody on trombone and aim it up a stairwell. There is some kind of dormitory up there. I play as loudly as I can to wake up everyone, but at this point my lips are tired from playing so much so it's not very loud. (When I woke up, I felt like I had been dreaming of playing trombone for a very long time.)

Chopsticks symbolize wanting to manipulate something in your real life
Sliding represents a loss of control
Trombone success in love

To hear harmonious music symbolizes Prosperity and pleasure.

Thanks, healingme4me. I definitely think there's a relationship between the slide and control because in this sliding competition I'm out of control most of the time. Also, in the dream I'm not using chopsticks for their intended purpose, which is to manipulate food. Instead I'm using them to identify myself with and as an object to send down the chute or slide.

The sliding game is actually a sports competition because it has rules and referees and requires physical skill. It's also a kind of "play," just as I "play" trombone.

I'll just make one analytical observation. There are four kinds of play in this dream:

• Playing a sports game and competition on a wooden slide (note that trombones have a "slide")
• Playing trombone in a solo manner purely for the love and enjoyment of it.
• Playing trombone along with an electronic device.
• Playing trombone to wake people up.

The "play" that goes the best in the dream is doing pure music for its own sake with no audience. That's when I'm functioning well and enjoying myself. In the sports on the other hand I'm at risk for injury and can't control my sliding well. In playing with an electronic device I can't get it to work. In playing to wake people up, my lips are tired.