Has anyone ever found themselves, for whatever reasons, struggling to find the will to play? You know, you just have very little heart to do things like practice, learn new tunes, even listen to it. I don't want to take a break from it -- I just had a break from it as I was traveling -- but I want to find my love and passion, which all feels very flat right now, for the tunes again. Is it just a matter of dragging the instrument out of its case and forcing yourself to play and cramming a tune into your head? Has anyone else ever been here?
Dunno if there's an equivalent of string-changing for the pipes!
Some air-freshener in the bag?
Sometimes if you force yourself to play/practice when you don't feel like it, you find you're in really good shape when the inspiration strikes again. You just need to get your fingers and brain (and elbow) working together again.
Also the feeling is not uncommon when people are recovering from weeks of night-shift or jetlag. It takes longer than you might think
I find it the same for anything I get really absorbed in and take a break from. Particlarly if it is something where a bit of obsession helps or is needed* and especially if the break involves a lot of new experiences.
I used to give up years ago when that happened to me, but now I motor on through. I wont go to a session, but I will still listen to old recordings and practise my old sets, it can be a bit demoralising to have lost the will AND the ability because you`re out of practise.
Best to keep at it even if you do hate the sound of yourself. Your mojo hasnt gone, he`s just on a xmas break!
Get together with a good musical friend - let their enthusiasm be your motivation. Get a tune or two from them, play some sets together, go to sessions together. If you hate the sound of your playing when you're alone, don't torture yourself - it's probably just your perception, rather than any real diminishment of your playing ability.
Don't do anything. Don't ever ever play unless you want to. What's the point of forcing yourself to play? It just seems so silly to me. Just lay off it. It's not like you're an athlete who has to keep fit whether they like it or not.
A break - as long as you want, a few days or weeks or even years - will undoubtedly make your playing better after it. Spend the time just thinking about the music. Spend the time getting rid of habits ... any and every habit. There's only one thing worse in this music than when people play on autopilot, and that's when people habitually play on autopilot. Lay off the music altogether until you kick that habit.
I'm with Llig on this. Don't force the will. Don't play if you don't want to.
But there is a sort of halfway house which I have had occasionally where you're not quite sure - it's not so much a clearly defined "dont want to" - more a sort of uncertainty. I bet this is what MixO is describing.
If that happens then give it a little try, because sometimes you'll find yourself playing and thinking - "hey that sounds great" - mojo restored. If you don't get this outcome, then don't force it, just drop it for a while (onto a soft surface).
Like it or not, some of us just need to keep our fingers and brain moving together, or we find that they atrophy. It's not exactly like an athlete, more like a pensioner doing yoga or going for walks - even when they don't feel like it.
I have more than enough time to "just think" about the music, due to work and family considerations. When I *feel* like playing doesn't always coincide with when I *can* play. I'd be surprised if most people aren't in a similar position
One reason wine is a preferred drink with a nice meal is because it cleanses the palate after each bite making the next one taste fresh and delicious. When I get into a musical rut, I let my mind drift and listen to all sorts of other styles of music. After a bit of time, I find myself wanting to listen to, and play, Irish music again with a sense of renewed enthusiasm. Palate cleansed.
I agree with all that's been said. for me, its often a fine line between allowing and/or waiting for the passion for the music to move me to play, and then occasionally disciplining myself to get the darn flute out and just play it.
I have found that now that I have set a firm goal of polishing my skills, building my repetoire of tunes, and working towards getting some small local live gigs, it is much easier to be more routine about the practice. so I guess it boils down to what it is you wish to accomplish through your playing, Occassional relaxation or daily preparing for a gig (no matter what the mood is). Both are good scenarios. Its okay to pick your purpose and don't beat yourself up about it.
Take a break from playing for a bit and then try finding a session you've never been to before, if that is within your means and distance, not to play, just to have a couple of drinks, a meal maybe, and listen. Not necessarily even intently. Try being a punter, for whom the music is part of the setting, not the setting itself. This may help to change your focus and appreciate the music more.
As for taking time off from playing, a student learning their instrument will find that it is necessary to play through plateaus and temporary flaggings of enthusiasm. There's a point, though, when you have put in enough time with the instrument that you don't lose any significant degree of physical capacity to play after even an extended break. At that point, you have the luxury of letting it go for a while, knowing you can pick it up more or less where you left off.
I've been playing guitar for twenty years now - recently I started flatpicking again after about a year's break in which I focused my attention on the box. It took about a week for my triplets to get back to full strength, but that was all.
On the original question, I find that if your drive to play goes for a wander, it's best to let it go. It'll be back. In the mean time, you can get some reading done, or something.
If you are a piper or fluter, seriously, keep practising. learn new tunes , or do something, but dont give up entirely. I disagree that having a break for too long, will help. All it will do is make sure you have lost the agility in your hands.
Hmm, see what travelling to New Zealand can do!
I play tunes only when I feel like playing, then only play or learn tunes that I like (rather than what I think I should expected to play or like), don’t go to sessions unless I really want to, and periodically review why I am listening to/playing this music.
Travelling to Ireland when/if possible is helpful and seems to add some dimension to the music for me.
Then again, New Zealand is very nice. There are loads of options in life.
Only play when you want to; if you don’t want to, that’s ok too. You don’t owe it to anyone to keep playing or learning.
I should add, in fairness, that the music in a really really good session (whether you are playing or not) literally soars. It is an experience just to hear that happen; when the music takes on a life of its own and seems to transcend the players. Hard to explain, but I think you know what I mean.
I find live music is the best motivator for me. Whether it's an artist I like coming through town to perform, or some good local musician at a session---seeing other people who are so creative is inspiring to me.
Making yourself do something is not going to increase your desire to do it, and may have the opposite effect...unless you’re one of those rigid, authority loving disciplinarians, but we’re all musicians, right? Some weeks I only play at sessions. Other weeks, I pick it up nearly every day. No big deal.
Kennedy was furthering my earlier post. Be a punter/spectator for a bit. Just enjoy the music. At some point in our lives, most of us started as listeners, unless you were forced into playing, that is. Being a listener is what turned most of us on to music and wanting to play in the first place. I think it's sound advice.
This is supposed to be one of my copyrighted questions. Since I have multiple musical personalities, this hits me in one of them at some point in the year.
I go back to the one or two tunes and the original players who got me interested in taking up this avocation (being a relative late comer to ITM) and listen.
Like a lot of people have already said-go with the break-it's only detrimental if you're a beginer.
This happens to me sometimes after slaving extra hard for them that wear suits. I get stressed and don't feel like doing anything except sleeping and drinking. That goes away and my playing comes back with renewed energy.
It also helps to own a concertina. After fffking around with it for a couple of days in utter frustration during these down times you will be over joyed to pick up a real musical instrument again!
Sidle up close to Mr Love & Passion himself tonight at the OM. You never know, something might just rub off on you
Alternatively, and more seriously, come along tonight and think of it as a night out with some mates with no pressure to play. A chance to forget about anything else that may be troubling you.
Away from sessions just play when you feel like it. And play what you want. There are no deadlines to meet, no one to answer to. If you don't feel like playing do something else, I'm sure you'll feel like playing some time soon, but no point in making yourself play if your not in the mood and aren't going to enjoy it. Meantime I could drown you in book recommendations, but you'll need to go elsewhere for the films, I'm not much of a film buff.
See you tonight (hopefully)
- chris
*unless it's just the two of us turn up, in which case games a bogey.
I don't lose the will to play so much as I get distracted by other things sometimes, which keep me away from it. I disagree with those that say 'don't force it." I find that learning a new tune or two can be just the trick to get me motivated again. Unless I put my mind to it, I can go for weeks without learning new tunes. I don't force myself to play for hours, but I pick a tune or two that I have been meaning to learn, and spend ten minutes or so every evening until I have mastered them. And then I look forward to bringing it to the pub, and I am back in the swing of things.
No-one has yet posted that it never happens to them. Tends to encourage my feeling that it is normal. Perhaps a little feedback loop, playing tunes drives a need for more tunes, that maybe *needs* to get broken once in a while for other stuff to happen. Not the same thing but often with a new tune I just have to keep working on it every day for a few days, when it might more efficient to mix it with other tunes. Then one day I just don't feel like playing it at all. I reckon something is happening inside my head that needs to happen. Tough if that sort of thing happens with something that is for work and there is a deadline, maybe its why some people don't want to be professionals, and one of the downsides of being able to do ones hobby for a living. I'm in the "don't force it (unless it really must be done now) do something" else camp. It usually works.
haha @ lazyhound, true enough. There's nothing more inspiring than being able to play what you want as opposed to playing what you're getting paid for.
Em
I think intensity can be a good and bad thing when it comes to this music...or perhaps any music, or anything else for that matter. You need some discipline and 'intensity' I suppose to create that stick with it ness to master an instrument. But intensity is a double edged sword.
I think when the music becomes WORK, rather than fun it's time for a rest. Personally speaking a while back I had little to no motivation to play and pretty much hardly eked out a tune for a good month or so.Who knows why? Probably a combination of bad sessions, being musically underresourced, or taking it all too seriously. I mean, sure the music matters, but things like having fun or, say, your kids' lives and joys are so much more important. Don't get me wrong. This music is great, but it isn't everything.
Then one day for an equally unexplained reason I let all that bull s--it "striving" go and voila, I felt like playing again AND, I think, my playing and perhaps more importantly my attitude towards irish music improved. I gave up the striving and kidding myself and just relaxed and didn't push. It became an adventure again. Fun. My agenda dissolved like smoke. I realized I wouldn't be Kevin Burke. But more importantly i realized I didn't want to be, and never would want to be.
I was just a person playing tunes with a few friends a few times a month and if we got one or two or three nice little sets played at a nice pace so that we were all smiling by the end of it....well....that, for me, I realized, was what it was all about. It felt great. Take a step back. Take a break and have faith that the tunes will call when ready.
I crossed with lazyhound. But his comment strikes me as apt, and one of the things I was getting at . I do my (non-musical !) hobby for a living. This effect is something that has to be factored in. Doesn't stop you being good.
As mtodd said : "Take a step back. Take a break and have faith that the [insert your previous enthusiasm/obsession/thing you-were-determned-about here] will call when ready."
Go ahead and take your head out of the music for a while. Can't hurt. It would only be a shame if you neglected your piping muscles, while you're on sabatical. Gals have a harder time gaing back muscle tone than guys have.
I have been married for 32 years, and during those years, I have learned that sustaining passion takes some work from time to time. If you simply go with your emotions, your life will be rudderless.
By all means take a break if that's what you feel you need but don't let it go to long. I took one which ended up stretching to twenty years. That's an awful lot of wasted time.
As others have said here, a change of scene or focus can be the shake up you need. Get with a singing group if you don't already do that, or experiment with a different instrument.
I agree with New Pure Drops. Simply force yourself to endure a few days worth of Banarama, Human League, Kajagoogoo, and other 80's pop hits, and you will come running back to your pipes yearning for some meaningful reels and jigs.
.....And you loose hard-won muscle tone. But, this isn't about marriage, Al. A musician's relationship with their instrument is something more tempestuous, over the years, than marriage. Can be, anyway.
I agree with Llig up to a point. When you take some time off,
you forget some of the bad habits and ruts you may have
fallen into and tunes get fresher. That assumes you've made
it up to a decent technical level. If not, then taking months or
years off could mean starting over again from scratch.
I find it also helps to be a multi-instrumentalist, but more than
anything else there has to be a decent group of people
you can play with or at least play for.
Its winter.
Its january and we're all in the middle of a big freeze.
(Well some (alot) of us).
Christmas has gone, tunes are thin for the moment, but remember every other year, come the first signs of spring, tunes start popping into your head.
A new enthusiasm emerges, and we go crazy learning tunes.
Lets face it,
It is kind of seasonal.
Don't worry,
Be happy.
Seems to me that playing good music requires the passion to do it. So, breaks are indicated if the passion is gone. Of course, you need to be far enough along so you don't lose all technical facility if you break.
For me, changing repertoires usually breaks the "don't want to" problem. Today I tried some once mastered movements from Bach unaccompanied cello suites. I've totally forgotten them. So, for a few days the Irish Trad tunes will get short shrift. That almost always works for me.
I agree with banjoburger. And it is not only psychological: breath condenses, metal refuses to vibrate, wood doesn't resonate, fingers stiffen, muscles become sluggish {especially if you are a slug}. This is especially true if you play an instrument that spends all night in a box, which keeps the cold air in.
Hup is also right: if you have another instrument or two you can swap around until you find one that fits your mood. Also it is a bit difficult to pick up the pipes for a second or two. A whistle or banjo or fiddle next to where you spend most of your time can be played for a minute and put down again. The thought of getting up and dragging your case from under the bed or on top of the wardrobe is enough to kill off any little twinge of desire.
I stopped playing guitar for about nine or ten years for personal reasons, and was mortified to discover later that everything had vanished utterly. I had to start again from scratch. Keep playing, even if it is only a couple of scales on a whistle every day or so.
Except that if your fingers dont move right after your `sabbatical` you might be inclined to give up. And whats all that about muscle tone? Thats good one! 23 yrs playing and thats a first for me!
Konichiwa Emily, well I've never lost the will to listen to Irish trad, as I listen to other stuff such as blues, rock, jazz, soul music on a daily basis, so it's always a kick when Noel Hill, Conal O'Grada or Johnny Doran appears on my iPod.
Sometimes there can be other things going on in one's life that affects the passion to play. One of my daughters has been extremely ill these last few years, and that certainly affected my will to play the pipes, but at the same time when I did get it together to play, the music was a big help.
As regards playing the pipes I find these days I'm playing the flute more, just about each day, mostly because it's easier to put together and just start playing, while the pipes get played two or three times a week, or sometimes a couple of weeks can go by without the case being opened. However when I do get the pipes out it's a blast to hear them, and to go over old tunes and occasionally try out a new tune. The enthusiasm comes back at once, especially if the pipes are going well.
Don't force yourself to play the pipes if you're not in the mood. The pipes take a lot of energy, especially if they are in a cranky mood. It can be very discouraging if the will/passion isn't there and the back d, is flat ,or the bass drone just won't come into tune, and you have to start messing wih them, and after 30 minutes they still don't sound right. Better to have a whistle laying about on the kitchen table that you can just pick up and play a couple of tunes, just when the mood hits you. The passion will come back when the time is right.
I think Willie Clancy went a few months sometimes without touching his pipes, but he probably played the whistle to keep his repertoire alive. Keep on keeping on - prehaps buy a flute?
The longest I've gone without playing was about 8 months. And yes, my fingers didn't work right when I eventually picked up the fiddle again. But it only it only lasted about an hour.
I agree with the posters who warned against losing muscle tone. I would have said dexterity myself but it boils down to the same thing. I agree that your playing is at it's best when it's effortless but physically a major part of that is the dexterity achieved by simply playing.
The pipes are attention seekers. if you neglect them they don't like it. If I don't play pipes for a couple of weeks, even if I've been playing a different type of pipes then I feel a reaction, most notably sore thumb joints. It's very difficult to be relaxed if you're not comfortable.
I think short breaks can be very beneficial but it differs from instrument to instrument. You lose ground much, much quicker on pipes than you do on a physically easier instrument like whistle.
After I'd been playing for about 10 years I virtually stopped for about a year at the age of about 18. It is my biggest regret. TSS, I know you've been a bit frustrated with the beasts lately and by all means have a break but don't leave it too long. Maybe set a date in two weeks when you can play again and resist all temptation to pick them up in the meantime. If you still don't feel like it add of couple more weeks, if that doesn't work panic
In my 20s I didn't get to play my cello for about 7 years - or any other instrument for that matter - because of work and professional training commitments. I had been playing the cello a lot from the age of 11 in school and youth orchestras, and did have serious thoughts at one time of a professional career.
In my late 20s I was able to return to music - I took my cello out of its case, replaced the strings and had the bow rehaired. A week later it was like I'd never got off the bus, and a couple of weeks after that I found myself in the first desk of the cellos in a local symphony orchestra.
So, if you have decent technique and experience "in the bank" as it were, I shouldn't worry too much about being away from the instrument for even a few years, provided, of course that physical disability hasn't occurred during the period.
To complete the story, it was many years later, when I took early retirement, that I took up the fiddle and got into folk music. My cello playing is still active.
For the people who took Mr Quigley's quips about muscle tone seriously - let me offer this advice;
Pipers: Ab work should be done with the drones and bag held over the head. 50 crunches each in three sets. Yell "hup" between each set.
Banjo players: holding the neck firmly, rotate side to side at the hips to work obliques and lower abs. Bend at knees to pick up pint glass between sets of 25 reps.
My personal regimen consists of at least one hundred pint glass curls every session day. I change hands with each curl to provide an even exercising.
Seriously though, the mental image of The SS and Mr. AQ at the gym in their Hanz and Franz suits working on their piping muscles makes me wish I was good at PhotoShop.
...and while The SS may not be fully inspired by all of our ramblings, hopefully she's at least chuckling and well on her way back to the warm embrace of the nyah.
Oh no, wait, that's just the warm embrace of my coffee which I have spilled in my lap. For crying out loud...
Cheers, guys. Failing all else, could at least count on a couple funny, smart-arse responses.
More seriously, for once it's not my own ability or lack thereof which is suffocating my will to play. I'm not minding too much how I sound (I know! A sign something is wrong right there). It's all that other sh*te in life, more or less extraneous to the music, which makes it hard to find the energy to drag out the pipes. In five years of playing I have never had my desire to play vitiated quite so harshly by external circumstances. I'm not a fan. But that's why I said in my first post that I don't really want to take a break from the music, as I'm not sure how much good that would do.
@bogman
I clearly wasn't trying to compare one instrument against another - the idea never even entered my head - I was just making a general point that a sufficiently skilled and experienced musician shouldn't be too concerned about an absence, enforced or otherwise, from the instrument, provided there hasn't been a disabling injury or disease in the interim.
The time taken in acquiring skill in playing an instrument involves setting up and reinforcing neural pathways in the brain that enable the fingers to coordinate with each other and with eyes and ears - and perhaps I should include the muscles in the arms, as well as in the hand, that control the fingers. These pathways, once set up, remain for the rest of one's life. If certain muscles lose tone through a long period of not being used, then it is no big deal to re-acquire that muscle tone by normal practice and playing. It shouldn't take too long.
I should perhaps mention that a trained cellist's finger and hand dexterity is there up with that of any other instrumentalist.
Music -- especially piping -- is a telekinetic thing! Whaddayaknow?!! Pipers have only to think the tune, and hey presto: pipe music. All this time, I'd been going at it all wrong, what with the pumping, and the squeezing, and the grip, and the truckly howl thing .
Cheers Emily! I've kept half an ear (eye?) out on this thread & I'm just not on top of my banter skills lately. Not that I have ever been on top . . . of that one. At least you know there's one pub open 24/7 ~ Thanks, Jeremy et. al. I've got nothing for you, really! Just wanted to say, "hello"
You were in New Zealand? That is more interesting to me than the fact you actually know how to coordinate your elbow, fingers, wrist, & a drink.
Each time I watch a movie filmed in New Zealand I think, "It is greater than the Great Plains (I'm reading the Wizard of Oz) & not the least bit flat.
Hope you had a good time with chris & all your other session mates the other night; even if the piper sucked.
Love ya',
Ben
I don't remember ever having any trouble getting my head back into (or out of) this music or any other genre of music which I like to play.
I always look forward to playing music again after taking a break from it for one reason or another (such as a vacation or trip).
If this means I am beyond psychiatric help because I have multiple musical personalities, I am not going to worry about it. Instead, I intend to do my best to enjoy each and every one of my musical personalities no matter what others may think. Some of the other musicians at the local Irish sessions don't seem to think I am good enough to perform with them outside of the sessions and will never be good enough to perform with them outside of the local sessions.
I quit participating in the local sessions for a year or two because I no longer seemed to be wanted or needed. When I let two of the musicians from the local sessions talk me into participating in the local sessions again, I was glad to find out that my piano playing skills were still just as sharp as ever.
" "and if we got one or two or three nice little sets played at a nice pace so that we were all smiling by the end of it....well....that, for me, I realized, was what it was all about." "
Yes that about sums it up nicely for me.
There is peaks and troughs and that's why viewing it as a journey is so much more helpful, and stops you getting stuck in moments.The odd time I get spare time but feel too knackered to play I usually listen to a tasty player and it's not long before I get a second wind,so like a poster above I too seem to get inspired by other players.
Getting your head back into the music
Getting your head back into the music
Has anyone ever found themselves, for whatever reasons, struggling to find the will to play? You know, you just have very little heart to do things like practice, learn new tunes, even listen to it. I don't want to take a break from it -- I just had a break from it as I was traveling -- but I want to find my love and passion, which all feels very flat right now, for the tunes again. Is it just a matter of dragging the instrument out of its case and forcing yourself to play and cramming a tune into your head? Has anyone else ever been here?
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Yes.
It somtimes happens after a bad session, or after a bad gig. But it can also happen at other times - for no apparent reason.
It doesn't usually last more than a day or to - not in my case, anyway.
Assuming that you play a stringed instrument and the strings have been on for a while, re-stringing it can help.
That bright sparkling tone that you get from fresh srtings is sometimes all the inspiration you need in such circumstances ...
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Dunno if there's an equivalent of string-changing for the pipes!
Some air-freshener in the bag?
Sometimes if you force yourself to play/practice when you don't feel like it, you find you're in really good shape when the inspiration strikes again. You just need to get your fingers and brain (and elbow) working together again.
Also the feeling is not uncommon when people are recovering from weeks of night-shift or jetlag. It takes longer than you might think
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Bren
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I find it the same for anything I get really absorbed in and take a break from. Particlarly if it is something where a bit of obsession helps or is needed* and especially if the break involves a lot of new experiences.
* writing up maybe ?
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by David50
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I used to give up years ago when that happened to me, but now I motor on through. I wont go to a session, but I will still listen to old recordings and practise my old sets, it can be a bit demoralising to have lost the will AND the ability because you`re out of practise.
Best to keep at it even if you do hate the sound of yourself. Your mojo hasnt gone, he`s just on a xmas break!
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by bagfed
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Get together with a good musical friend - let their enthusiasm be your motivation. Get a tune or two from them, play some sets together, go to sessions together. If you hate the sound of your playing when you're alone, don't torture yourself - it's probably just your perception, rather than any real diminishment of your playing ability.
It will pass.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Dragut Reis
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Don't do anything. Don't ever ever play unless you want to. What's the point of forcing yourself to play? It just seems so silly to me. Just lay off it. It's not like you're an athlete who has to keep fit whether they like it or not.
A break - as long as you want, a few days or weeks or even years - will undoubtedly make your playing better after it. Spend the time just thinking about the music. Spend the time getting rid of habits ... any and every habit. There's only one thing worse in this music than when people play on autopilot, and that's when people habitually play on autopilot. Lay off the music altogether until you kick that habit.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by ...
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I'm with Llig on this. Don't force the will. Don't play if you don't want to.
But there is a sort of halfway house which I have had occasionally where you're not quite sure - it's not so much a clearly defined "dont want to" - more a sort of uncertainty. I bet this is what MixO is describing.
If that happens then give it a little try, because sometimes you'll find yourself playing and thinking - "hey that sounds great" - mojo restored. If you don't get this outcome, then don't force it, just drop it for a while (onto a soft surface).
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by showaddydadito
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Like it or not, some of us just need to keep our fingers and brain moving together, or we find that they atrophy. It's not exactly like an athlete, more like a pensioner doing yoga or going for walks - even when they don't feel like it.
I have more than enough time to "just think" about the music, due to work and family considerations. When I *feel* like playing doesn't always coincide with when I *can* play. I'd be surprised if most people aren't in a similar position
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Bren
Re: Getting your head back into the music
One reason wine is a preferred drink with a nice meal is because it cleanses the palate after each bite making the next one taste fresh and delicious. When I get into a musical rut, I let my mind drift and listen to all sorts of other styles of music. After a bit of time, I find myself wanting to listen to, and play, Irish music again with a sense of renewed enthusiasm. Palate cleansed.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I agree with all that's been said. for me, its often a fine line between allowing and/or waiting for the passion for the music to move me to play, and then occasionally disciplining myself to get the darn flute out and just play it.
I have found that now that I have set a firm goal of polishing my skills, building my repetoire of tunes, and working towards getting some small local live gigs, it is much easier to be more routine about the practice. so I guess it boils down to what it is you wish to accomplish through your playing, Occassional relaxation or daily preparing for a gig (no matter what the mood is). Both are good scenarios. Its okay to pick your purpose and don't beat yourself up about it.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by ancientfifer
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Take a break from playing for a bit and then try finding a session you've never been to before, if that is within your means and distance, not to play, just to have a couple of drinks, a meal maybe, and listen. Not necessarily even intently. Try being a punter, for whom the music is part of the setting, not the setting itself. This may help to change your focus and appreciate the music more.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Jimmy B
Re: Getting your head back into the music
As for taking time off from playing, a student learning their instrument will find that it is necessary to play through plateaus and temporary flaggings of enthusiasm. There's a point, though, when you have put in enough time with the instrument that you don't lose any significant degree of physical capacity to play after even an extended break. At that point, you have the luxury of letting it go for a while, knowing you can pick it up more or less where you left off.
I've been playing guitar for twenty years now - recently I started flatpicking again after about a year's break in which I focused my attention on the box. It took about a week for my triplets to get back to full strength, but that was all.
On the original question, I find that if your drive to play goes for a wander, it's best to let it go. It'll be back. In the mean time, you can get some reading done, or something.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Getting your head back into the music
If you are a piper or fluter, seriously, keep practising. learn new tunes , or do something, but dont give up entirely. I disagree that having a break for too long, will help. All it will do is make sure you have lost the agility in your hands.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by bagfed
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Hmm, see what travelling to New Zealand can do!
I play tunes only when I feel like playing, then only play or learn tunes that I like (rather than what I think I should expected to play or like), don’t go to sessions unless I really want to, and periodically review why I am listening to/playing this music.
Travelling to Ireland when/if possible is helpful and seems to add some dimension to the music for me.
Then again, New Zealand is very nice. There are loads of options in life.
Only play when you want to; if you don’t want to, that’s ok too. You don’t owe it to anyone to keep playing or learning.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I should add, in fairness, that the music in a really really good session (whether you are playing or not) literally soars. It is an experience just to hear that happen; when the music takes on a life of its own and seems to transcend the players. Hard to explain, but I think you know what I mean.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I find live music is the best motivator for me. Whether it's an artist I like coming through town to perform, or some good local musician at a session---seeing other people who are so creative is inspiring to me.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by kennedy
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Making yourself do something is not going to increase your desire to do it, and may have the opposite effect...unless you’re one of those rigid, authority loving disciplinarians, but we’re all musicians, right? Some weeks I only play at sessions. Other weeks, I pick it up nearly every day. No big deal.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Getting your head back into the music
...and I find that sharing a tune with a friend is the best way to inspire me. Keep it simple. A tune and a friend.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Kennedy was furthering my earlier post. Be a punter/spectator for a bit. Just enjoy the music. At some point in our lives, most of us started as listeners, unless you were forced into playing, that is. Being a listener is what turned most of us on to music and wanting to play in the first place. I think it's sound advice.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Jimmy B
Re: Getting your head back into the music
This is supposed to be one of my copyrighted questions. Since I have multiple musical personalities, this hits me in one of them at some point in the year.
I go back to the one or two tunes and the original players who got me interested in taking up this avocation (being a relative late comer to ITM) and listen.
It passes.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by zippydw
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Like a lot of people have already said-go with the break-it's only detrimental if you're a beginer.
This happens to me sometimes after slaving extra hard for them that wear suits. I get stressed and don't feel like doing anything except sleeping and drinking. That goes away and my playing comes back with renewed energy.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by shanty
Re: Getting your head back into the music
It also helps to own a concertina. After fffking around with it for a couple of days in utter frustration during these down times you will be over joyed to pick up a real musical instrument again!
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by shanty
Re: Getting your head back into the music
>but I want to find my love and passion,
Sidle up close to Mr Love & Passion himself tonight at the OM. You never know, something might just rub off on you
Alternatively, and more seriously, come along tonight and think of it as a night out with some mates with no pressure to play. A chance to forget about anything else that may be troubling you.
Away from sessions just play when you feel like it. And play what you want. There are no deadlines to meet, no one to answer to. If you don't feel like playing do something else, I'm sure you'll feel like playing some time soon, but no point in making yourself play if your not in the mood and aren't going to enjoy it. Meantime I could drown you in book recommendations, but you'll need to go elsewhere for the films, I'm not much of a film buff.
See you tonight (hopefully)
- chris
*unless it's just the two of us turn up, in which case games a bogey.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I don't lose the will to play so much as I get distracted by other things sometimes, which keep me away from it. I disagree with those that say 'don't force it." I find that learning a new tune or two can be just the trick to get me motivated again. Unless I put my mind to it, I can go for weeks without learning new tunes. I don't force myself to play for hours, but I pick a tune or two that I have been meaning to learn, and spend ten minutes or so every evening until I have mastered them. And then I look forward to bringing it to the pub, and I am back in the swing of things.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by AlBrown
Re: Getting your head back into the music
There's nothing like a paid gig to get your head back into gear
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Getting your head back into the music
No-one has yet posted that it never happens to them. Tends to encourage my feeling that it is normal. Perhaps a little feedback loop, playing tunes drives a need for more tunes, that maybe *needs* to get broken once in a while for other stuff to happen. Not the same thing but often with a new tune I just have to keep working on it every day for a few days, when it might more efficient to mix it with other tunes. Then one day I just don't feel like playing it at all. I reckon something is happening inside my head that needs to happen. Tough if that sort of thing happens with something that is for work and there is a deadline, maybe its why some people don't want to be professionals, and one of the downsides of being able to do ones hobby for a living. I'm in the "don't force it (unless it really must be done now) do something" else camp. It usually works.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by David50
Re: Getting your head back into the music
haha @ lazyhound, true enough. There's nothing more inspiring than being able to play what you want as opposed to playing what you're getting paid for.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Em
I think intensity can be a good and bad thing when it comes to this music...or perhaps any music, or anything else for that matter. You need some discipline and 'intensity' I suppose to create that stick with it ness to master an instrument. But intensity is a double edged sword.
I think when the music becomes WORK, rather than fun it's time for a rest. Personally speaking a while back I had little to no motivation to play and pretty much hardly eked out a tune for a good month or so.Who knows why? Probably a combination of bad sessions, being musically underresourced, or taking it all too seriously. I mean, sure the music matters, but things like having fun or, say, your kids' lives and joys are so much more important. Don't get me wrong. This music is great, but it isn't everything.
Then one day for an equally unexplained reason I let all that bull s--it "striving" go and voila, I felt like playing again AND, I think, my playing and perhaps more importantly my attitude towards irish music improved. I gave up the striving and kidding myself and just relaxed and didn't push. It became an adventure again. Fun. My agenda dissolved like smoke. I realized I wouldn't be Kevin Burke. But more importantly i realized I didn't want to be, and never would want to be.
I was just a person playing tunes with a few friends a few times a month and if we got one or two or three nice little sets played at a nice pace so that we were all smiling by the end of it....well....that, for me, I realized, was what it was all about. It felt great. Take a step back. Take a break and have faith that the tunes will call when ready.
For they surely will.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by skin&bow
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I crossed with lazyhound. But his comment strikes me as apt, and one of the things I was getting at . I do my (non-musical !) hobby for a living. This effect is something that has to be factored in. Doesn't stop you being good.
As mtodd said : "Take a step back. Take a break and have faith that the [insert your previous enthusiasm/obsession/thing you-were-determned-about here] will call when ready."
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by David50
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Go ahead and take your head out of the music for a while. Can't hurt. It would only be a shame if you neglected your piping muscles, while you're on sabatical. Gals have a harder time gaing back muscle tone than guys have.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Getting your head back into the music
GAINING
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I just got this mental image of pipers at the gym working on their lats, speaking with an Austrian accent about 'pumping up' and whatnot.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Only cure: switch genres for awhile.
If that fails: genders.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I have been married for 32 years, and during those years, I have learned that sustaining passion takes some work from time to time. If you simply go with your emotions, your life will be rudderless.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by AlBrown
Re: Getting your head back into the music
By all means take a break if that's what you feel you need but don't let it go to long. I took one which ended up stretching to twenty years. That's an awful lot of wasted time.
As others have said here, a change of scene or focus can be the shake up you need. Get with a singing group if you don't already do that, or experiment with a different instrument.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by All Moldy
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I agree with New Pure Drops. Simply force yourself to endure a few days worth of Banarama, Human League, Kajagoogoo, and other 80's pop hits, and you will come running back to your pipes yearning for some meaningful reels and jigs.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Getting your head back into the music
.....And you loose hard-won muscle tone. But, this isn't about marriage, Al. A musician's relationship with their instrument is something more tempestuous, over the years, than marriage. Can be, anyway.
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Getting your head back into the music
LOSE
# Posted on January 6th 2010 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I agree with Llig up to a point. When you take some time off,
you forget some of the bad habits and ruts you may have
fallen into and tunes get fresher. That assumes you've made
it up to a decent technical level. If not, then taking months or
years off could mean starting over again from scratch.
I find it also helps to be a multi-instrumentalist, but more than
anything else there has to be a decent group of people
you can play with or at least play for.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by Hup
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Its winter.
Its january and we're all in the middle of a big freeze.
(Well some (alot) of us).
Christmas has gone, tunes are thin for the moment, but remember every other year, come the first signs of spring, tunes start popping into your head.
A new enthusiasm emerges, and we go crazy learning tunes.
Lets face it,
It is kind of seasonal.
Don't worry,
Be happy.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by banjoburger
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Seems to me that playing good music requires the passion to do it. So, breaks are indicated if the passion is gone. Of course, you need to be far enough along so you don't lose all technical facility if you break.
For me, changing repertoires usually breaks the "don't want to" problem. Today I tried some once mastered movements from Bach unaccompanied cello suites. I've totally forgotten them. So, for a few days the Irish Trad tunes will get short shrift. That almost always works for me.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by cboody
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I agree with banjoburger. And it is not only psychological: breath condenses, metal refuses to vibrate, wood doesn't resonate, fingers stiffen, muscles become sluggish {especially if you are a slug}. This is especially true if you play an instrument that spends all night in a box, which keeps the cold air in.
Hup is also right: if you have another instrument or two you can swap around until you find one that fits your mood. Also it is a bit difficult to pick up the pipes for a second or two. A whistle or banjo or fiddle next to where you spend most of your time can be played for a minute and put down again. The thought of getting up and dragging your case from under the bed or on top of the wardrobe is enough to kill off any little twinge of desire.
I stopped playing guitar for about nine or ten years for personal reasons, and was mortified to discover later that everything had vanished utterly. I had to start again from scratch. Keep playing, even if it is only a couple of scales on a whistle every day or so.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by gam
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I'm aghast that people think they need muscle tone to play Irish diddley music ... on any instrument. If your music is not effortless, it's crap.
And with the word "effortless", I 'm referring to every one of its connotations. Physically, emotionally, etc
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by ...
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Except that if your fingers dont move right after your `sabbatical` you might be inclined to give up. And whats all that about muscle tone? Thats good one! 23 yrs playing and thats a first for me!
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by bagfed
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Konichiwa Emily, well I've never lost the will to listen to Irish trad, as I listen to other stuff such as blues, rock, jazz, soul music on a daily basis, so it's always a kick when Noel Hill, Conal O'Grada or Johnny Doran appears on my iPod.
Sometimes there can be other things going on in one's life that affects the passion to play. One of my daughters has been extremely ill these last few years, and that certainly affected my will to play the pipes, but at the same time when I did get it together to play, the music was a big help.
As regards playing the pipes I find these days I'm playing the flute more, just about each day, mostly because it's easier to put together and just start playing, while the pipes get played two or three times a week, or sometimes a couple of weeks can go by without the case being opened. However when I do get the pipes out it's a blast to hear them, and to go over old tunes and occasionally try out a new tune. The enthusiasm comes back at once, especially if the pipes are going well.
Don't force yourself to play the pipes if you're not in the mood. The pipes take a lot of energy, especially if they are in a cranky mood. It can be very discouraging if the will/passion isn't there and the back d, is flat ,or the bass drone just won't come into tune, and you have to start messing wih them, and after 30 minutes they still don't sound right. Better to have a whistle laying about on the kitchen table that you can just pick up and play a couple of tunes, just when the mood hits you. The passion will come back when the time is right.
I think Willie Clancy went a few months sometimes without touching his pipes, but he probably played the whistle to keep his repertoire alive. Keep on keeping on - prehaps buy a flute?
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by Steamwilkes
Re: Getting your head back into the music
The longest I've gone without playing was about 8 months. And yes, my fingers didn't work right when I eventually picked up the fiddle again. But it only it only lasted about an hour.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by ...
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I agree with the posters who warned against losing muscle tone. I would have said dexterity myself but it boils down to the same thing. I agree that your playing is at it's best when it's effortless but physically a major part of that is the dexterity achieved by simply playing.
The pipes are attention seekers. if you neglect them they don't like it. If I don't play pipes for a couple of weeks, even if I've been playing a different type of pipes then I feel a reaction, most notably sore thumb joints. It's very difficult to be relaxed if you're not comfortable.
I think short breaks can be very beneficial but it differs from instrument to instrument. You lose ground much, much quicker on pipes than you do on a physically easier instrument like whistle.
After I'd been playing for about 10 years I virtually stopped for about a year at the age of about 18. It is my biggest regret. TSS, I know you've been a bit frustrated with the beasts lately and by all means have a break but don't leave it too long. Maybe set a date in two weeks when you can play again and resist all temptation to pick them up in the meantime. If you still don't feel like it add of couple more weeks, if that doesn't work panic
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by bogman
Re: Getting your head back into the music
"biggest regret" - musically of course, I've done many more regrettable things in real life :(
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by bogman
Re: Getting your head back into the music
In my 20s I didn't get to play my cello for about 7 years - or any other instrument for that matter - because of work and professional training commitments. I had been playing the cello a lot from the age of 11 in school and youth orchestras, and did have serious thoughts at one time of a professional career.
In my late 20s I was able to return to music - I took my cello out of its case, replaced the strings and had the bow rehaired. A week later it was like I'd never got off the bus, and a couple of weeks after that I found myself in the first desk of the cellos in a local symphony orchestra.
So, if you have decent technique and experience "in the bank" as it were, I shouldn't worry too much about being away from the instrument for even a few years, provided, of course that physical disability hasn't occurred during the period.
To complete the story, it was many years later, when I took early retirement, that I took up the fiddle and got into folk music. My cello playing is still active.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Getting your head back into the music
For the people who took Mr Quigley's quips about muscle tone seriously - let me offer this advice;
Pipers: Ab work should be done with the drones and bag held over the head. 50 crunches each in three sets. Yell "hup" between each set.
Banjo players: holding the neck firmly, rotate side to side at the hips to work obliques and lower abs. Bend at knees to pick up pint glass between sets of 25 reps.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Hey hey hey, this is serious stuff here people.
My personal regimen consists of at least one hundred pint glass curls every session day. I change hands with each curl to provide an even exercising.
Seriously though, the mental image of The SS and Mr. AQ at the gym in their Hanz and Franz suits working on their piping muscles makes me wish I was good at PhotoShop.
...and while The SS may not be fully inspired by all of our ramblings, hopefully she's at least chuckling and well on her way back to the warm embrace of the nyah.
Oh no, wait, that's just the warm embrace of my coffee which I have spilled in my lap. For crying out loud...
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Cheers, guys. Failing all else, could at least count on a couple funny, smart-arse responses.
More seriously, for once it's not my own ability or lack thereof which is suffocating my will to play. I'm not minding too much how I sound (I know! A sign something is wrong right there). It's all that other sh*te in life, more or less extraneous to the music, which makes it hard to find the energy to drag out the pipes. In five years of playing I have never had my desire to play vitiated quite so harshly by external circumstances. I'm not a fan. But that's why I said in my first post that I don't really want to take a break from the music, as I'm not sure how much good that would do.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I should point out that I was referring to finger dexterity above. Lazyhound, how can you possibly compare classical cello playing to piping?
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by bogman
Re: Getting your head back into the music
@bogman
I clearly wasn't trying to compare one instrument against another - the idea never even entered my head - I was just making a general point that a sufficiently skilled and experienced musician shouldn't be too concerned about an absence, enforced or otherwise, from the instrument, provided there hasn't been a disabling injury or disease in the interim.
The time taken in acquiring skill in playing an instrument involves setting up and reinforcing neural pathways in the brain that enable the fingers to coordinate with each other and with eyes and ears - and perhaps I should include the muscles in the arms, as well as in the hand, that control the fingers. These pathways, once set up, remain for the rest of one's life. If certain muscles lose tone through a long period of not being used, then it is no big deal to re-acquire that muscle tone by normal practice and playing. It shouldn't take too long.
I should perhaps mention that a trained cellist's finger and hand dexterity is there up with that of any other instrumentalist.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Well I disagree.
# Posted on January 7th 2010 by bogman
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Music -- especially piping -- is a telekinetic thing! Whaddayaknow?!! Pipers have only to think the tune, and hey presto: pipe music. All this time, I'd been going at it all wrong, what with the pumping, and the squeezing, and the grip, and the truckly howl thing .
# Posted on January 8th 2010 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Getting your head back into the music
That's been my problem. I just need to work on my telekinesis skills.
# Posted on January 8th 2010 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Getting your head back into the music
what ever you do, don't let your truckly-howl skills deteriorate.
# Posted on January 8th 2010 by Atahualpa Quigley
The good news is
things and circumstances always change...it's like the weather. Go with the flow - better days are ahead.
# Posted on January 8th 2010 by bikejen
Getting your (tin)head back in the music
Cheers Emily! I've kept half an ear (eye?) out on this thread & I'm just not on top of my banter skills lately. Not that I have ever been on top . . . of that one. At least you know there's one pub open 24/7 ~ Thanks, Jeremy et. al. I've got nothing for you, really! Just wanted to say, "hello"
You were in New Zealand? That is more interesting to me than the fact you actually know how to coordinate your elbow, fingers, wrist, & a drink.
Each time I watch a movie filmed in New Zealand I think, "It is greater than the Great Plains (I'm reading the Wizard of Oz) & not the least bit flat.
Hope you had a good time with chris & all your other session mates the other night; even if the piper sucked.
Love ya',
Ben
# Posted on January 8th 2010 by Ben Steen
Re: Getting your head back into the music
I don't remember ever having any trouble getting my head back into (or out of) this music or any other genre of music which I like to play.
I always look forward to playing music again after taking a break from it for one reason or another (such as a vacation or trip).
If this means I am beyond psychiatric help because I have multiple musical personalities, I am not going to worry about it. Instead, I intend to do my best to enjoy each and every one of my musical personalities no matter what others may think. Some of the other musicians at the local Irish sessions don't seem to think I am good enough to perform with them outside of the sessions and will never be good enough to perform with them outside of the local sessions.
I quit participating in the local sessions for a year or two because I no longer seemed to be wanted or needed. When I let two of the musicians from the local sessions talk me into participating in the local sessions again, I was glad to find out that my piano playing skills were still just as sharp as ever.
# Posted on January 9th 2010 by fauxcelt
Re: Getting your head back into the music
...by external circumstances....
It's exactly those 'external circumstances' that make me want to play. Always has. Medicine for the soul.
# Posted on January 9th 2010 by shanty
Re: Getting your head back into the music
" "and if we got one or two or three nice little sets played at a nice pace so that we were all smiling by the end of it....well....that, for me, I realized, was what it was all about." "
Yes that about sums it up nicely for me.
There is peaks and troughs and that's why viewing it as a journey is so much more helpful, and stops you getting stuck in moments.The odd time I get spare time but feel too knackered to play I usually listen to a tasty player and it's not long before I get a second wind,so like a poster above I too seem to get inspired by other players.
# Posted on January 10th 2010 by J.D.Mc
Head trips ~
spot on, shanty!
# Posted on January 10th 2010 by Ben Steen
Re: Getting your head back into the music
Yes, Shanty, those infamous external circumstances beyond our control.
# Posted on January 10th 2010 by fauxcelt