|
|
Post by Zi on Dec 31, 2023 16:04:55 GMT
I like NY resolutions as a concept because it lets one draw a line under last year and start again. So my musical NY resolution is to play the recorder a lot more than I played it last year... this shouldn't be difficult as I hardly played at all last year. I haven't quite decided my measure of success... I don't think I'll go for daily as once the summer kicks in I'll have the greenhouse (if it's still here). So maybe it should be I played more days than I didn't play each week...
How about the rest of you? Sign up with your Musical NY Resolution here!
|
|
|
|
Post by keff on Dec 31, 2023 16:20:40 GMT
I guess I prefer constant review of activities. Not always a good thing as it can lead to lots of 'uming and 'arghing such as do I trade in my little upright for a grand. I have had a New Year's Eve brainwave on this subject...if I install a grand with a trolley A frame underneath it will be easier to move and can be accommodated with our existing dining room furniture much more easily.
I'm not going to make replacement of the piano a resolution but it is always on my mind.
|
|
|
|
Post by corenfa on Jan 1, 2024 10:28:31 GMT
Write more music
|
|
|
|
Post by pavane on Jan 1, 2024 11:16:41 GMT
More scales!
|
|
|
|
Post by largissimo on Jan 1, 2024 18:46:54 GMT
Edit and record some of my piano music. Practice the recorder regularly. Sing in public at least once a month.
|
|
|
|
Post by Zi on Jan 6, 2024 10:53:48 GMT
I like everyone's resolutions! Maybe we should give progress reports... Mine is so far so good...  What do you mean, it's only day 6!  |
|
|
|
Post by pavane on Jan 9, 2024 9:27:56 GMT
My progress report is brief: haven't played a note yet. Not a single mistake so far though.
|
|
|
|
Post by Zi on Jan 9, 2024 12:57:29 GMT
Not a single mistake so far though That's the spirit! It's so easy to set yourself up for 'failure' with these things. It's all about making expectations that are realistic because then you'll feel positive about it all. I haven't done beyond 30 minutes so far but I'm delighted with me... - I'm determined not to get all cross with me this year! |
|
|
|
Post by Zi on Jan 17, 2024 9:33:47 GMT
Still doing OK. They've been some things to deal with here but despite that I seem to have managed. I told Mr Z that I thought it was getting easier but it was still very ropey. He said that he thought it was coming back very quickly so I said: That's because it was always ropey... |
|
|
|
Post by pavane on Jan 17, 2024 11:18:30 GMT
I haven't been able to play for a while, not at all this year - thus continuing unblemished record on the mistakes front. Until yesterday, that is, when I was able to start again which was great, but I made up for the last couple of weeks with a veritable blizzard of mistakes. That was partly because it was so good to get back to playing that I tried out some things that were either new or that I hadn't touched for some time. Still good to re-engage! ...That's because it was always ropey... Another resolution: let's be positive! Seriously. At least we all try - even if with varying degrees of success, we're all making music, and that's a pretty good thing to be doing. |
|
|
|
Post by Zi on Jan 18, 2024 10:41:13 GMT
Actually, I am very positive. I'm trying to ignore ropey and even celebrate it. It's strange over music because I do many other things without the need to be good at them or even to improve and of course they improve because I like doing them so do them. But my recorder playing disappoints me so one of the things I want to learn this year is not to mind ropey. But I agree - negative is not good...
|
|
|
|
Post by pavane on Jan 19, 2024 11:22:04 GMT
Yes, you are - comment probably aimed at myself as much as anyone else: I had a bit of a grim Christmas and New Year for health reasons - nothing life threatening and now on the mend so not a really big deal, but not great either - but I do sometimes get a bit negative about not improving as much as I would like so trying to be more positive about it all.
Music is a weird thing to learn, in various ways. As I have said before, the time and effort it takes to get the university entrance points equivalent at, say, learning the piano as opposed to, say, geography A-level is absurd. It's also a bit all-or-nothingy, and you can't correct it. Mrs P paints and if she is unhappy with some detail or other she can go over it. There are lots of things that you can fix up, or there are things like cooking where something might come out looking a bit odd or not having risen as much as one hoped but still taste absolutely fine, but make a mistake in a performance and there it is, nothing you can do about it. I was serious about doing more scales - Mrs P says she can always hear some improvement after I've done a slug of technical exercise stuff, so I'm going to work hard at that for the next couple of months. I got started yesterday with Baerman's clarinet method. The scales are killers!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by keff on Jan 19, 2024 11:45:38 GMT
but make a mistake in a performance and there it is, nothing you can do about it. Agreed, this is the root cause of the frustration, including mistakes occurring in practice as well as performance. It erodes confidence and hence we have our ups and downs with motivation. I have made a personal conclusion that a successful performance is dependent on the amount of practise put in. However I get bored with pieces if I practise them for too long so they never get to a proper finished state but that is the way I am. I still get a great deal of enjoyment and am slowly learning to share what I can achieve with others. Sharing is good....it makes me feel I am not alone pursuing a solitary hobby. |
|
|
|
Post by Zi on Jan 19, 2024 18:56:47 GMT
I'm not sure what it is about playing the recorder that has a tendency to send me to that extremely dissatisfied with myself place. I don't find it with weaving or paper making. My first bit of paper (I made A3 which is just plain silly) was horrendous. But I loved it and I still have some of it and I still think it beautiful despite the fact that anyone else would have been disgusted by it - it was lumpy and holey. But with the recorder I find it hard not to be critical and unreasonably so. For goodness' sake, it's just kicking a ball about in the park - it's not the World Cup! But this time round I'm not having expectations, I'm not spending time being horrid to me, I just play and when I've done I tell myself how good I've been for playing!
Re the cooking analogy - it's hard to cook something that is so awful it has to be thrown... But the recorder can easily get to that place!
|
|
|
|
Post by pavane on Jan 20, 2024 10:14:43 GMT
I'm not sure what it is about playing the recorder that has a tendency to send me to that extremely dissatisfied with myself place.
I think for me it's partly (there are other things too!) about never getting it right. I can play a (non-trivial) piece through and get it almost right, just a small blunder at, say, bar 27. I try again, bar 27 goes by without a hitch, but I mess up bar 42. I do a bit of serious loin-girding, start, and make a complete mess of bar 3. I play the piece where I almost always fluff variation 6, concentrate really hard, get it right, and completely go to pieces in the much easier variation 7. And so it goes on.
I also get really frustrated with my level of brain-over-finger control. I slide from B to C but accidentally lift an extra finger off and find I have gone from B to D. I try again, same result. Sometimes I'm amazed I can walk and breathe at the same time!
|
|
