Klarinet Archive - Posting 000345.txt from 2004/04
From: "Karl Krelove" <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] motivation
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 17:47:35 -0400
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tracy Jones [mailto:tracyj_83@-----.com]
> Subject: [kl] motivation
>
>
> I am having some trouble getting motivated to practice. I am
> just wondering
> what some of you do to motivate yourself to practice or what you think to
> yourself before or while you are practicing to keep motivated.
One of the greatest motivations for me is knowing how much harder everything
will be if I *don't* find some time over the course of a few days. If it's
easier to find time now than to find the energy to clear away the barnacles
that a week's layoff can allow to form, most days that's enough.
> Do you think about listening to your sound and enjoying yourself play?
I don't worry about "enjoying myself" whether you mean having "fun" while
playing or you mean enjoying my own playing. My goal when I practice is
mostly to gain and maintain control, which goes back to my last comment -
the longer I put off practicing, the more out of control things are when I
come back. The satisfaction comes from establishing the control I need over
the equipment to be able to play in a way that gives me musical enjoyment.
But it isn't the enjoyment I'm focusing on, it's the control.
> Do you think about improving yourself musically and technically?
> Do you think about the need for preparation for recitals or concerts?
> Do you think about the sound of the final product of whatever you are
> practicing?
>
I suppose all of the above apply to an extent, but I don't so much "think
about" as I just listen for faults or flaws. I can always find them, and the
satisfaction comes from making at least a little progress toward erasing
them. One important difference between playing by myself (practicing) and
playing in an ensemble (rehearsing or performing) is that I can hear every
note I play. The feedback I get from my own ears in a practice studio is, at
least in some areas of playing, more reliable than what I can get in an
ensemble environment.
I haven't practiced for a recital in a long time. When I did, one of my
concerns was always just to build enough endurance to be able to play the
amount of uninterrupted time recital repertory requires. The only way I know
to build endurance is to practice for extended periods of time. I always
hated preparing for recitals because I tend to do things in spurts and have
trouble staying with a repetitive task, which much of practicing is, for a
long time. Symphony playing has more times when you can hide in the tutti
textures and generally more rests, hence endurance becomes less of a
priority. So part of the motivation problem for me is solved by allowing
myself the luxury of relatively short practice periods with interruptions to
do other things. Some scales and then return a phone call I need to take
care of. An etude or two, then go check my email and fire off a post or two
to Klarinet, then maybe work on a few passages from an orchestral piece I'm
playing this week, then maybe get a drink or a small snack or do some
preparation for school the next day. If the day hasn't by then run out,
maybe a little "noodling" with a new box of reeds or a mouthpiece I'm
curious about or a new piece of music I've run across - you get the idea.
For me, planning to sit down for an hour or 90 minutes straight is enough to
sour me on the whole project. I do it when I really need to, but I do it
somewhat under protest.
I don't know that practicing will ever be something you look forward to
eagerly. Even if it goes down like medicine you need to take every day, it
can be easier if you concentrate on what you want to accomplish rather than
on trying to make it consciously "enjoyable." Your goal (the hoped-for
accomplishment) is something you need to define for yourself. The
satisfaction of making progress toward achieving the goal is, in my opinion,
the most reliable source of "enjoyment" in the long run.
For what it's worth...
Karl Krelove
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