it’s jury season :-)
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it’s jury season :-)
You ever get those days when you’re practicing and everything is going perfect? Like your tone is crystal clear, you’re full of energy, you’re making loads of progress and you’re confident about your musical career?
Yeah me neither.
I had an epiphany yesterday.
I read something about how we need to learn to practice for ourselves before anyone else. And it wasn’t until yesterday that I realized that, ever since I started studying at a conservatory, I haven’t been doing that. I stopped playing for my own benefit. It’s so easy to do this, especially when music is no longer just a hobby or something you did in high school; it is now your career and you have so many people you want to impress. And it’s stressful, frustrating, destructive even. I push myself too much, even when it isn’t doing anything helpful for my playing, and my body hurts.
A short recording of Barret melody #30. My professor and I work through one of these per week for fundamental practice. Oftentimes the small nuances of our playing go away when we think something is too easy. My goal when playing any etude is to fight that and make the exercise sound as beautiful as possible. This means using my best tone, vibrato, phrasing, and a constant stream of air. I always make sure to remind myself that etudes aren’t an exception and should sound just as polished and sophisticated as anything else I play.
happy new year folks :) i had a refreshing and successful reed session tonight
planning my week of practicing tonight; thanksgiving break starts on wednesday (thank god, currently being suffocated by life) but I still have a lesson on Friday so I have no excuse not to be at least semi-productive. barret, bach cantatas, excerpts from Bartok’s concerto for orchestra, and the first two movements of the Strauss concerto are currently on my plate
though I’ve always known I need to practice more, I think I just had the official moral realization, so we’ll see where this takes me.
oh boy do I love what I do ❤️
review before my second theory midterm tomorrow, plus a little Brahms 3 in the background to keep me company