Klarinet Archive - Posting 000357.txt from 2004/04

From: "Keith" <100012.1302@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] motivation
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 04:22:03 -0400

Susan,

I do know the feeling! But I heard an incredible piece of advice from a
professional at a recent workshop, which casts some light on attitudes (mine
anyway) and how they can be trained.

"Amateurs practice a piece till they get it right. Professionals practice
till they can't get it wrong".

My (and others) first reaction to this was "OMG I can't do that!". The more
reflective reaction was that it makes sense and can raise one's attitude.

As an example, I recently performed the basset horn obbligato in the Mozart
aria "Non Piu di Fiori", in Las Vegas, in the concert that Forest, Dan and
Ben have written about here. I had great coaching from Dan and Forest. I'd
agreed with the soprano that the fast bit should go about 110. Forest (who
last played it with Cecilia Bartoli) warned me "you'd better believe she
will go at least 120 on the night" (and of course she did). So I sweated
away till I could play it at 126. I was not overly nervous, and the
performance was pretty decent. But I still slipped up on a couple of the
runs, one of which I'd hardly ever got wrong before. When I later heard the
above remark I began to understand that the practice that a pro puts in is
at another level. I was thinking "yes, I've got it right now" rather than "I
am so secure that I can't get it wrong now". I will try to achieve that next
time; I am unlikely to do so without the stimulus (fear?) of a performance.

Keith Bowen

<snip>
> As a consequence, I have a lot of wonderful pieces that are "almost" in my
> repertoire. And I thus I remain an "almost" excellent instrumentalist.
> There is really something self-defeating about this. I almost always do
> well, but I never do quite as well as I COULD do. Often a bridesmaid,
> never a bride.
>
> So I have come to believe about myself that there is some reason (deep-
> seated and neurotic) that I continually fail to live up to my own
> expectations for myself -- and I'm wondering if this might not go to the
> heart of what Tracy is worried about in her (his?) own playing.
>
> Susan Kundert
> Coshocton, OH

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