I've been playing for over 3 decades, but my musical activity is rather manic and muse-driven. I work like a dog for a few months and then burn out and veg for weeks at a time.
How do some of you more experienced players keep fresh and consistent in your practice? How do you keep your enthusiasm from flagging?
Don't be afraid to take a break now and then, and come back with renewed vigor. Whatever works for you is good. I try to spend at least 15 minutes practicing 3-4 times a week, and attend at least 2 sessions per month as a minimum, however, to keep myself from getting stale, losing abilities, losing callouses on my fingers, etc.
“How do some of you more experienced players keep fresh and consistent in your practice?”
Ha! I don’t. But I have accidentally learned a few things that work when I do them. I agree with Al about taking a break. If I’ve been working hard at it for a while and it starts feeling like a rut, taking a break for several days is usually refreshing. If I lay off for weeks, I lose ground.
Start a practice session with easy, simple moves. When I’m in my right mind, I start out just playing slow notes and enjoying the tone and the feeling, then noodle around with little phrases. This naturally draws me into playing tunes or exercises. If I charge into a practice session expecting to mount a serious tune and ride it into glory, it usually turns out to be counterproductive. There’s a biological analogy that could be made.
I agree with those who say you should practice at least a little bit every day, unless physical problems or truly serious life priorities prevent it. If you just are not in the mood, it's better to do a short practice session than to skip it entirely.
And Bob is right about big expectations. Don't look for mighty leaps, just try to play a little bit better than you did yesterday. There's an old saying (happens to be Japanese, but these things are universal, I think): "Step by step, walk the thousand-mile road."
You know, like all those famous players who worked hard for years in order to become an "overnight success".... ;>}
Oops, I forgot that you have been playing for 30 years. (Sounded like a younger player's complaint.)
But then, I've been playing about that long too. And when I asked a friend who has been a practicing black belt for 70 years how he keeps going (at age 87) that's what he told me. Seems to work pretty well for him.
If you want an Irish example, I read that Paddy Fahey has been doing daily farm chores and writing tunes for many many years--seems to have worked for him too.
I dont do anything! Laziness I suppose. The only thing that I do DO is to play with as many different musicians as I can as regularily as I can. You get different sets of tunes with each session and different styles as well. It stops me from getting stale. Although sometimes, I get fed up and cant be a*sed playing even when I get to the sessions.
Well, I've long ago passed the stage of my playing where big gains are likely or perhaps even possible. I've often heard and espoused that the difference between good and great lies in tiny minutae of playing that are frankly fatiguing to pay enough attention to to notice and hefty in the workload required to correct.
My regimen for most of my years of playing has been: study a concept, try it out in practice until you've internalized it; incorperate it into your arrangements. This regimen results in frequent plateaus of significant length.
Perhaps I'm looking externally for something that has to come from within. In order to put in the work required to be a great player, you need to want to BE a great player badly enough to obsess to the level required to achieve the goal.
Or maybe I'm so used to STUDY-PRACTICE-PLAY-PLATEAU routine that I just can't fathom making the smaller, intense, consistent and not immediately obvious steps that would bridge that gap to the next level.
The listening to other musicians comment is appropos. I often get so tangled up in the work of it that I forget what I liked about the music in the first place.
Weird, but just be able to hash this out "on paper" is of some value.
And Blas - I feel ya on the fed up. The playing at sessions is easy. The human relationship management is fatiguing and often tiresome.
A new recording always helps me, also; fiddle camp!!!
Major incentive to practice my butt off for the rest of the year....
I dunno, I'm never bored w/ practicing, there's always somthing new to be tried, a tune to be learned,
I like tuning my fiddle down to 'c'...I play all my same old
tunes and they sound fresh and interesting again!
Old Scraper - thanks for the concern. Career pressures have been intense these past few months, leaving me pretty much too dragged out to muster much enthusiasm for anything. But I guess what I was after with this thread is a check with other senior players on whether their practice is BOOM-BUST like mine or more "Every day at precisely 7 PM I take out the instrument and do yada for X# minutes."
My playing doesn't particularly regress during my "bust" periods, as I spend a lot of time reading up on techniques and "background processing" new ideas. It's more like my inspiration flags. Then practicing, reading, or working on my technique become herculean tasks comparable to ascending Everest.
Fair play to ya if you wake up every morning anxious to pick up the instrument after 30 years+. Maybe I should get a transfusion of YOUR blood.
What keeps my enthusiasm up is thinking of each and everytime I play as *playing,* not "practicing." After 25+ years on fiddle, I'm more and more convinced that further technique improvements are mostly derived from improving my attitude about playing. The more relaxed and happy I am, the more I discover new ideas and techniques and incorporate them into my playing.
I find this mindset easier to sustain if I use the tunes themselves to improve technique, rather than doing drills and exercises. Everything you need to learn and woodshed on is in the tunes.
So I play when I feel like it, and play whatever comes to mind, and just go with the flow. I'm sure to most people it would look very unstructured and undisciplined. But I find I incoporate new skills more quickly this way than isolating them and drilling on them. Funny--the more patient I am, the quicker I pick up new stuff.
New blood for old players
New blood for old players
I've been playing for over 3 decades, but my musical activity is rather manic and muse-driven. I work like a dog for a few months and then burn out and veg for weeks at a time.
How do some of you more experienced players keep fresh and consistent in your practice? How do you keep your enthusiasm from flagging?
...searching for musical viagra.
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by KC Gross
Re: New blood for old players
Don't be afraid to take a break now and then, and come back with renewed vigor. Whatever works for you is good. I try to spend at least 15 minutes practicing 3-4 times a week, and attend at least 2 sessions per month as a minimum, however, to keep myself from getting stale, losing abilities, losing callouses on my fingers, etc.
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: New blood for old players
“How do some of you more experienced players keep fresh and consistent in your practice?”
Ha! I don’t. But I have accidentally learned a few things that work when I do them. I agree with Al about taking a break. If I’ve been working hard at it for a while and it starts feeling like a rut, taking a break for several days is usually refreshing. If I lay off for weeks, I lose ground.
Start a practice session with easy, simple moves. When I’m in my right mind, I start out just playing slow notes and enjoying the tone and the feeling, then noodle around with little phrases. This naturally draws me into playing tunes or exercises. If I charge into a practice session expecting to mount a serious tune and ride it into glory, it usually turns out to be counterproductive. There’s a biological analogy that could be made.
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by Bob himself
Re: New blood for old players
I wonder what analogy that is Bob!!!
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by galway-fiddle
Re: New blood for old players
I agree with those who say you should practice at least a little bit every day, unless physical problems or truly serious life priorities prevent it. If you just are not in the mood, it's better to do a short practice session than to skip it entirely.
And Bob is right about big expectations. Don't look for mighty leaps, just try to play a little bit better than you did yesterday. There's an old saying (happens to be Japanese, but these things are universal, I think): "Step by step, walk the thousand-mile road."
You know, like all those famous players who worked hard for years in order to become an "overnight success".... ;>}
# Posted on July 26th 2006 by John Galt
Re: New blood for old players
Oops, I forgot that you have been playing for 30 years. (Sounded like a younger player's complaint.)
But then, I've been playing about that long too. And when I asked a friend who has been a practicing black belt for 70 years how he keeps going (at age 87) that's what he told me. Seems to work pretty well for him.
If you want an Irish example, I read that Paddy Fahey has been doing daily farm chores and writing tunes for many many years--seems to have worked for him too.
# Posted on July 26th 2006 by John Galt
Re: New blood for old players
I dont do anything! Laziness I suppose. The only thing that I do DO is to play with as many different musicians as I can as regularily as I can. You get different sets of tunes with each session and different styles as well. It stops me from getting stale. Although sometimes, I get fed up and cant be a*sed playing even when I get to the sessions.
# Posted on July 26th 2006 by blas
Re: New blood for old players
Listen to as many different musicians as possible - someone is bound to inspire you.
# Posted on July 26th 2006 by geoffwright
Re: New blood for old players
Well, I've long ago passed the stage of my playing where big gains are likely or perhaps even possible. I've often heard and espoused that the difference between good and great lies in tiny minutae of playing that are frankly fatiguing to pay enough attention to to notice and hefty in the workload required to correct.
My regimen for most of my years of playing has been: study a concept, try it out in practice until you've internalized it; incorperate it into your arrangements. This regimen results in frequent plateaus of significant length.
Perhaps I'm looking externally for something that has to come from within. In order to put in the work required to be a great player, you need to want to BE a great player badly enough to obsess to the level required to achieve the goal.
Or maybe I'm so used to STUDY-PRACTICE-PLAY-PLATEAU routine that I just can't fathom making the smaller, intense, consistent and not immediately obvious steps that would bridge that gap to the next level.
The listening to other musicians comment is appropos. I often get so tangled up in the work of it that I forget what I liked about the music in the first place.
Weird, but just be able to hash this out "on paper" is of some value.
And Blas - I feel ya on the fed up. The playing at sessions is easy. The human relationship management is fatiguing and often tiresome.
# Posted on July 26th 2006 by KC Gross
Re: New blood for old players
A new recording always helps me, also; fiddle camp!!!
Major incentive to practice my butt off for the rest of the year....
I dunno, I'm never bored w/ practicing, there's always somthing new to be tried, a tune to be learned,
I like tuning my fiddle down to 'c'...I play all my same old
tunes and they sound fresh and interesting again!
# Posted on July 26th 2006 by BE
Re: New blood for old players
Sad that you need 'new blood'. It's easy to be passionate about The Music when you can't get enough of it.
# Posted on July 27th 2006 by Clear Drops
Re: New blood for old players
Old Scraper - thanks for the concern. Career pressures have been intense these past few months, leaving me pretty much too dragged out to muster much enthusiasm for anything. But I guess what I was after with this thread is a check with other senior players on whether their practice is BOOM-BUST like mine or more "Every day at precisely 7 PM I take out the instrument and do yada for X# minutes."
My playing doesn't particularly regress during my "bust" periods, as I spend a lot of time reading up on techniques and "background processing" new ideas. It's more like my inspiration flags. Then practicing, reading, or working on my technique become herculean tasks comparable to ascending Everest.
Fair play to ya if you wake up every morning anxious to pick up the instrument after 30 years+. Maybe I should get a transfusion of YOUR blood.
# Posted on July 28th 2006 by KC Gross
Re: New blood for old players
What keeps my enthusiasm up is thinking of each and everytime I play as *playing,* not "practicing." After 25+ years on fiddle, I'm more and more convinced that further technique improvements are mostly derived from improving my attitude about playing. The more relaxed and happy I am, the more I discover new ideas and techniques and incorporate them into my playing.
I find this mindset easier to sustain if I use the tunes themselves to improve technique, rather than doing drills and exercises. Everything you need to learn and woodshed on is in the tunes.
So I play when I feel like it, and play whatever comes to mind, and just go with the flow. I'm sure to most people it would look very unstructured and undisciplined. But I find I incoporate new skills more quickly this way than isolating them and drilling on them. Funny--the more patient I am, the quicker I pick up new stuff.
Hope this helps.
# Posted on July 28th 2006 by Will Harmon