Woohoo, I made it a year…Exactly one year ago today was “A Majestic Prelude”, my first post :)
Anyways, so my last post was about things to do while we’re
not playing our instruments…
Now I shall write about what to do while playing them.
If you’ve been playing long enough, you’re well aware that a
good practice session is a bonding moment between you and your instrument—and
it is magical. It is essential to the development of a musician.
But as in life, there are good days and bad days. There are
times when you feel like a natural virtuoso, and you could play absolutely
anything you wanted with perfect technique, grace, and expression. Then there
are times you feel like dirt…you don’t deserve to touch the instrument much
less have it in your house (ok, I tend to exaggerate).
Have you ever thought that maybe your method of practicing
could have to do with your performance? Pick up the instrument, tune, do scales
and arpeggios/triads/chords, practice the same assigned pieces of music over
and over, and repeat daily. That’s pretty standard.
But honestly, if we really want to improve as musicians, we
need variety.
Sometimes we need to mix things up, or even just step away
from whatever we are currently working on and try something completely
different.
A couple days ago I decided to do this—ok maybe Arsen did,
but I definitely agreed we needed a break. For the last few weeks we’ve been
primarily working on the same music, over and over. I will not lie, Vivaldi can
get quite boring after a while.
So after losing interest in our current repertoire, we
pushed away the music stand. Turning toward the window, we played the first
thing that came to us…which happened to be something we’d never played before.
And it was amazing! To just play what we felt, not trying to force things or be
strict about technicalities, was a beautiful experience. I eventually pulled up
some songs on my computer and we played along with a few tracks—which
unintentionally took up a few hours. We just couldn’t be separated. At the end
of the day, it felt like we had had three practice sessions!
So take home message: next time you sit down to practice,
and feel bored or uninterested in the monotonous routine, do something
different. Switch things up, move things around, or simply try something entirely
new. If you were trained classically, you might find this difficult. And
perhaps you are someone who prefers a solid practice routine, which is
completely fine. The bottom line is everyone
learns differently, and you need to find the way that works best for you.
