 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Tony M
Date: 2010-12-15 04:53
Apologies upfront if this is too frivolous but it does have a core in attitudes to practice.
I am clarinet hobbyist. I practice and play alone for 99% of the time. I work at a university so I normally practice at home because I have that liberty around my working hours. But, at this time of year, the family are home for the summer break (1. my partner is a high school teacher and my kids are students; 2. this is the summer here in the southern hemisphere). That blows the practice time (no pun intended) because whilst they like the idea of me playing clarinet, they are not too keen on my practice sessions. Time for lateral thinking.
The campus has a cinema which is empty through the vacation and I have started to book it for an hour a day. I take the clarinet to work and get some practice time in during the slow afternoon in the empty cinema.
Here's the point of the post. I now find myself practicing in front of 300 empty seats and it is having an effect. Far fewer stops and starts. I read something a bit more closely before I start to play. I make sure my embouchure is set before I put the clarinet to my mouth. All the other things that I am supposed to do, I do. All the things I thought I was doing before I seem to do that much more assiduously because there are 300 empty seats in front of me. And it feels good too.
Maybe when the vacation is over I will post a photograph of these 300 empty seats in my study at home and try to continue the good work.
This is an object lesson in getting one's attitude right or I am finally, officially, a loon.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: weberfan
Date: 2010-12-15 13:19
No, you're not a loon. A very interesting post. I believe the issue of where some of us practice has come up before, and it does seem to make a difference. Once or twice a week I pay for an hour of studio time in midtown Manhattan not far from my office. Most often, the studio I end up with is the size of a telephone booth---remember telephone booths? For 60 minutes, i'm in a cocoon: just me, the clarinet, a music stand and a chair. The only other sounds around me are somehow supportive: a singer warming up, a jazz trio, a solo saxophone. In a way, I feel as if I have gone to another office, where my goal---a pleasant one, by the way---is to try to do everything correctly, to succeed.
At home, even if you're alone, there are any number of distractions---computer, TV, radio, your stuff. And when family or visitors are about, there is always that gnawing sense that they are whispering, "When will he be finished?" no matter how polite or indulgent they appear to be.
In traveling, I've arranged to practice in a church sanctuary, the empty ballroom of a small hotel, and in any number of small inns in New England, where, for some reason, no one seems to mind my addiction. A friend of mine once asked if I play at red lights.
So take the photo, enlarge it to the size of a wall in your home, and go for it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: PrincessJ
Date: 2010-12-15 13:25
I am no stranger to this effect!
I tend to have issues when practicing in my house, especially lately when I've been living temporarily in a condominium. Yes, that's right. I can't play before 9 AM or after 10 PM (or at least not in the altissimo), which is extremely uncomfortable, and I can only manage to squeeze in 3-4 hours per day of practice.
It's all about the environment for me, practicing is like a ritual. Everything (including my mindset) has to line up or it will be uncomfortable. I can still practice, but my motivation for being thorough flies out the window.
-Jenn
Circa 1940s Zebra Pan Am
1972 Noblet Paris 27
Leblanc Bliss 210
1928 Selmer Full Boehm in A
Amateur tech, amateur clarinetist, looking to learn!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-12-15 14:16
Liang Wang the principal oboist of the NY Philharmonic, says he practiced in a closet, where the dead acoustics allowed him to hear just himself, without flattering echos, and work on correcting small errors. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/arts/music/08waki.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin
I've read that Ralph McLane and David Weber used to take turns sitting a stuffed closet and have the one outside report on whether the one inside sounded good and could "nail the sound to the back wall" under the worst conditions.
I think you need to do both. If there's no convenient room, or company is downstairs, get in the closet and "make" the concert hall yourself.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: justme
Date: 2010-12-15 19:56
weberfan said: " And when family or visitors are about, there is always that gnawing sense that they are whispering, "When will he be finished?"
Haha, love it!
This would be even more apparent while practicing the violin or trumpet! ![[whoa]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie10.gif)
Justme
"A critic is like a eunuch: he knows exactly how it ought to be done."
CLARINET, n.
An instrument of torture operated by a person with cotton in his ears. There are two instruments that are worse than a clarinet -- two clarinets
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
