 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rapidcif
Date: 2012-01-18 01:19
Hey lately i have been very sluggish in practicing and starting to really not want to do it. This is a similar situation to athletic workouts, where when you push your body excessively you start to become very stressed and start to detest working out. That would be called overtraining, but i don't think i am "overpracticing" because i don't force myself to practice an excessive amount of hours. Rather it's a bad mental state where i have very high expectations to get better, and every practice session where i don't get the improvements i want, i feel needlessly stressed and even pessimistic in my outlook. Everyday i practice and every day that practice session is looked at as an object of stress rather than enjoyment. Of course, this in turn leads to further frustration and bad results. And of course, this is not why we practice. Practice is supposed to be fun, and i definitely love music.
So some questions i want to ask.
1. For a lack of better phrasing, how do you have " fun" while practicing?
2. How do you fight "laziness" and maintain motivation to practice?
As always, thanks alot!
Post Edited (2012-01-18 01:21)
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Author: Pastor Rob
Date: 2012-01-18 01:39
When I get that feeling I like to play some of my favorite easier songs for a couple of hours. It reminds me why I love clarinet. Then I listen to Emma Johnson while I ride my bike.
Pastor Rob Oetman
Leblanc LL (today)
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Author: Bb R13 greenline
Date: 2012-01-18 02:25
Set up a schedule and make sure You stick to it, usually it's just the getting up from the couch that's the hard part once u get started its fun, at least for me it is. Also seeing good players near my age always motivates me
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2012-01-18 03:11
Not exactly answering your question, but a suggestion if you're hitting that "overtrained" malaise...
Find something about the clarinet that you like... anything at all... and do that for a while. For me, it tends to be cricket noises, vomit sounds, and ear-piercing shrieks. Or learning the tune the ice cream truck plays. Or improvising over some Beatles tunes. Or having a friend over and trying to figure out the bass line to some 80s song, entirely by memory. Or playing a really long note and listening to the overtones. Or setting up a spectrograph on the computer so I can see the overtones and try to make some come out more than others. Or getting a tuner out, seeing just how many partials I can hit on contra, and logging them all.
If you're in a rut, play. Really play. Not in the sense of playing an instrument, but like playing with a puppy. Find some joy that may seem unproductive on the surface, and fully immerse yourself within it. You may find some new impetus in this, or at the very least you may shed the sneaky hate spiral you've gotten yourself into and once again have a friendly relationship with the horn.
And if you're in such a rut that you can't play, perhaps set the thing aside for a while.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Justin Willsey ★2017
Date: 2012-01-18 03:32
There's a lot of truth in Alex's comments. I recently found myself needing to making playing fun again. It has helped to do things out of love, expression and playfulness, rather than a sense of obligation or a fear-based quest to get better.
Of course, approaching it from those angles HAS made my playing better. I find myself more flexible in my approach, and listening on a deeper level now, as opposed to subjecting myself to musical boot camp. Playing along with rock and jazz records and keeping a musical sense of humor helped me with this. A friend of mine likes to talk about 'honoring the inner voice' musically; to me, this includes playing what's in my head (be it an interval, scale, phrase, etc.), rather than constantly jumping through musical hoops.
At any rate, good luck and have fun!
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Author: Trevor M
Date: 2012-01-18 04:49
Whenever I'm having a bad practice session, I glower petulantly and remind myself – as one would remind a very stupid child – that some practice sessions are going to be better than others. Then I just try to play all my stuff without getting down on myself. It's easy to create all sorts of weird mental hangups and blocks when you learn an instrument, especially when it comes to managing your expectations.
If you're in a really terrible funk, take a day off. Even a week off. Oh, and here are some other possible answers:
1. To maintain 'fun' make a point of departing from your routine. If what you're doing bores you, you're probably not making much progress. I often find myself getting into this rut where I am working on X and Y and Z technique areas and then I practice whatever music needs to be practiced... it gets to feel like 'groundhog day' after a few weeks of it. Work on something else, like memorization or trying a double lip embouchure or something.
2. I don't know how to suggest maintaining motivation. Ultimately, playing a woodwind instrument well is a pretty nebulous payoff in our culture. Nobody has gotten girls by playing the clarinet since the late '40s.
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2012-01-18 13:47
Most people must go through this phase and I guess the advice to just play fun stuff is useful as a break in routine. I think, though, there are different types of "fun". There is instant gratification "fun" and there is the "fun" of accomplishing something. It is natural for people to go for the instant fun, but I think true "fun" is found in setting concrete goals for practicing and accomplishing them...even if they are very small goals. It does not seem to make sense that practicing something a little painful would be good, but a little pain and maybe even boredom can accomplish something if you set goals for yourself.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: allencole
Date: 2012-01-18 15:02
Can you record yourself? If so, pull out some duets. Play one part into the recorder and then play the other part along with your recording. It's fun to make the harmony and counterpoint (as well as learning about harmony and counterpoint in the most natural way) and it tells you a lot about yourself as a player. This will hopefully be both fun and productive.
Another suggestion. Play some things by ear. Turn a descending major scale into "Joy to the Word" or a major arpeggio into "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." If you can hum it, you can play it. It'll make you more intimate with your scales, and also makes a good mental exercise when you're away from your instrument and can't physically practice. Besides, I find that having to figure out the notes makes a game of it and I don't want to put the horn down until I have my conquest.
None of this is rigorous technically, but I find both activities mentally stimulating, and musically beneficial.
Someone else mentioned playing along with pop records. Also a great idea. Challenging not only for your ear, but for your sense of interpretation.
Obviously, you have goals that need to be met in the long run, but these can be good mental health activities.
Allen Cole
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-01-18 16:01
I'd encourage you to think very clearly and deeply about the instrument and what you are trying to accomplish. Depending upon who you are and what your life situation, you might be trying to acheive a high level of artistry, or just relax after a day's work. Personally, if I was trying to unwind, I wouldn't necessarily choose the clarinet as the medium to get there (though I do find it relaxing to play).
In my own experience, playing music is never really fun (and I don't mean to beg the question here, but provide a different perspective--take it for what it's worth to you). Instead, it's a quest of sorts: a very serious investigation of several things at once: the intellect, the emotions, the memory, the body, the soul even. Such investigations are rarely fun, but often profound, satisfying, and bring a type of peace or reinvigoration of their own.
The clarinet has been intertwined with my life since an early age, and because of that, what I do with it and how I investigate it takes on an almost meditative quality. If this is the same for you, I'd encourage you to consider this as an outlook for practicing. Once it becomes this sort of thing, believe me, you won't have to motivate yourself to practice: I find it so enjoyable and rewarding that I rarely get enough time in any given day, and five or six hours can easily disappear. On the occasions when I over practice, I don't hesitate to take days off.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2012-01-18 16:33
Playing music became fun for me when I started to improvise. Lately, that fun has extended to non-improvised music, but only because of aspects I've been able to carry over from improv. Before that it was, like for Eric, primarily a quest of sorts. Now it's both.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-01-18 17:10
Alex,
I've improvised since I was a kid (some of my first professional gigs were as a jazz clarinetist).
No offense meant, but I don't find that fun either, in the normal sense of the word. Of course I don't have anything against folks having 'fun' with the horn. But that's not a goal for me, nor do I miss it. I bring up my perspective because I think there are actually some people out there who think they 'should' be having 'fun' when they practice, and putting an unneccesary and unhelpful burden on themselves.
But to each his own. If it's fun for you to improvise, "like playing with a puppy", have at it.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2012-01-18 18:35
Totally agree, Eric. Elements of fun are a bonus when they happen, but expecting them all the time can make a non-fun practice seem like a drudgery.
I do have fun (puppy-style) much of the time when I improvise, and more and more as months pass. Only when I don't try to force it, though.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: RachelB4
Date: 2012-01-18 21:40
Take a day off! Just don't play any music (if you can), don't listen to any clarinet, and don't even think about it. The next day, listen to your most inspiring or favorite clarinet recording as you get out your clarinet. Don't get out the clarinet unless you are relaxed and not stressed. Start with warm-ups then play or sight-read the music you want First-- something that's fun.
Then work into the real stuff eventually once you really feel good about yourself.
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-01-18 22:56
Just a few thoughts to add to what has already been proposed. Not meant to be your "prescription", nor complete by any means:
*1. There are 2 things that you never want to see being made: hotdogs and good musicians.
Perhaps, avoid viewing a practice session as some sort of demented performance for an invisible judge. As has been suggested, maybe as a personal inquiry rather than an outwardly "egotistical" methodology.
Destroy the false chasm between "pure technique" and "musicality." (What purpose does this specific articulation I am practicing serve in a given composition? How can I physically alter it and still maintain the integrity of the music?)
*2. Short term goal practicing (i.e. "I will do this better, immediately, at the end of this practice session!") can actually be counter-productive.
(How many times have you "practiced" something one day, to satisfaction, only to come back the next day and find it lacking again?)
Do some research into the contextual-interference learning process. Many of the articles you will find are written about athletics, but the mental process/learning described is the same for any discipline.
However, and this takes a bit of faith- the immediate "technical" goal-gratification is not present; rather it comes later. The brain needs time to "formalize" the neural pathways that are being formed, much of which occurs when you do not have the instrument in your hands (during sleep for instance.)
Not being a neurologist, nor physiologist, I cannot claim to understand the complex physical interplay that is occurring. But, I can personally say that "practicing" in this manner, when confronted with a demanding passage or the like, has proven quite apt for me.
Again, it does take some blind faith, and perhaps a bit of trial by fire.
*3. As for motivation to begin practice: I read a quote of Yo-Yo Ma (and I have to paraphrase) saying that picking up the cello and actually starting to practice was like pulling teeth. But after 15 minutes all that was forgotten.
This may help you, or not, but maybe you can feel that you are not totally alone in your current malaise. There exist at least 2 people with your mind-set in the musical world.
*4. Quote:
"Practice is supposed to be fun,......"
I don't know that it is..... but,
On a totally personal level, "fun" does exist in practice/performance for me I guess, but not in the typical sense of the word.
Aesthetic performance/conveyance (We are playing for a listener ultimately, no?) are "fun" I suppose, but "fun" in knowing that I have made a statement (and any preparations) that allowed someone else to have a moving experience. From that I receive my own personal, "emotional", mana.
Perhaps the typical definition of fun actually destroys that environment and has no place in the world of the music performer. Having true fun in practice may just make this impossible? The same dichotomy exists for the term "enjoyment" I think........
Semantics, yes. But in this case a very important re-defining of the term(s) for me.
Enough preaching
I wish you luck in your journey
-Jason
Post Edited (2012-01-18 22:58)
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-01-19 12:32
Alex,
I think I get you now. You make an important point that the fun comes only when you don't force it--IMO, this speaks to your having thought (and lived) these things through with the instrument.
Anyone who can get anything like the experience of 'playing with puppies' out of their playing is doing something right. Only a jerk would boo puppies. Though I write this with a smile, I'm actually not joking. I think you're touching on a pretty important principle of playing--especially when we get to the stage of relating our emotional experiences to the act of playing the music.
Eric
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2012-01-19 13:28
Jason wrote, in part:
"However, and this takes a bit of faith- the immediate "technical" goal-gratification is not present; rather it comes later. The brain needs time to "formalize" the neural pathways that are being formed, much of which occurs when you do not have the instrument in your hands (during sleep for instance.)
Not being a neurologist, nor physiologist, I cannot claim to understand the complex physical interplay that is occurring. But, I can personally say that "practicing" in this manner, when confronted with a demanding passage or the like, has proven quite apt for me.
Again, it does take some blind faith, and perhaps a bit of trial by fire."
It was only after years of serious practing that I noticed this principle. I think it's of central importance to anyone trying to improve--so often we bumble through our practice sessions, only to find problems resolved in our sleep or away from the instrument simply because we spent the time bumbling in the first place. This knowledge alone keeps a player going through many tough times.
I encourage you to read Jason's entire post, as it's filled with good advice and comment.
One more sports related tip that has helped me a great deal, from Bob Knight. Speaking about how to coach effectively, he said that it was most important to impress upon players one central fact: That winning isn't fun. The results of winning are fun, but actual winning isn't fun at all: it involves sacrifice, discomfort, and near constant difficulty. Afterwards, you gain satisfaction, that wonderful, fleeting experience.
When things are rough in a practice session, it has often helped me to say "winning isn't fun."* This principle helps in other aspects of life too, that are even more important.
Eric
* I wouldn't want to be too facile here, though. The player has to be moving in the right direction for this advice to be useful. Sometimes, the frustrations are caused by real problems of method, technique, or equipment which must be dealt with and have nothing to do with mental approach or perseverance. Anyhow, good luck!
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: Jon Shurlock
Date: 2012-01-19 15:04
Buster wrote:
*2. Short term goal practicing (i.e. "I will do this better,
> immediately, at the end of this practice session!") can
> actually be counter-productive.
>
> (How many times have you "practiced" something one day, to
> satisfaction, only to come back the next day and find it
> lacking again?)
>
> Do some research into the contextual-interference learning
> process. Many of the articles you will find are written about
> athletics, but the mental process/learning described is the
> same for any discipline.
>
> However, and this takes a bit of faith- the immediate
> "technical" goal-gratification is not present; rather it comes
> later. The brain needs time to "formalize" the neural pathways
> that are being formed, much of which occurs when you do not
> have the instrument in your hands (during sleep for instance.)
>
> Not being a neurologist, nor physiologist, I cannot claim to
> understand the complex physical interplay that is occurring.
> But, I can personally say that "practicing" in this manner,
> when confronted with a demanding passage or the like, has
> proven quite apt for me.
>
> Again, it does take some blind faith, and perhaps a bit of
> trial by fire.
Buster, I do indeed find that I practise something to perfection (relatively speaking!) in one session only to find that the next session it's as if I have never played it. What am I doing wrong? And how do long-term goals work without breaking them down into short-term goals?
I find that by repeating certain things many times I understand why I am making the mistakes - for instance by not having a finger close enough, or not tonguing light enough - and I'm not sure that I would learn this if I had a very varied practice schedule (I also only have about 1/2 hour a day to practise). When I understand why I make the mistakes I can consciously focus on them, then practise them, then hopefully make it subconcious and automatic
On the other I could be persuaded that this exactly my problem!
I'd appreciate any advice on this
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-01-20 20:21
Jon,
First, I would gently suggest (or perhaps strongly!) that you cease and desist with the thought you are doing something "wrong." That sort of mindset can be equally as dooming as any negative outside pressures; the brain is a strange beast I think.....
Secondly, I'll bookmark this and reply in a few days when I have time for a more fleshed out response. I am totally swamped for the next 4 days or so.
Just one thing to consider: I see you mentioned practicing "something" (I am assuming a passage) and specifics "skills"..... though these would appear to be one in the same thing on the surface I think they could be addressed in differing manners. Though, there would be some positive bleed-through associated...
-I will reply a bit more intelligently, and less obtusely, in a few days I do again promise.
-Jason
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-01-20 23:59
I just finished reading the very insightful "The Talent Code." It makes the point that you need three things to be a good musician:
**Motivation,
**A guide to know what to practice, (Coaching/teaching)
**Hours and hours of "Deep Practice."
You bring two of the required elements to the process.
... but don't forget the coaching --
Bob Phillips
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Author: Jon Shurlock
Date: 2012-01-30 09:14
What do people mean when they talk about deliberate practising? I understand it to mean
1. Break big things into small things - I work out which fingering or transition is at fault and practice just that
2. Practice the small things - again and again!
3. Take a step back and assess your progress - eg. I use playing in a small ensemble to see how good my sight reading skills are
4. Practice the small things more
How do you practise?
Post Edited (2012-02-02 10:29)
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Author: Phurster
Date: 2012-01-31 08:15
I agree with 'Buster's' excellent post.
A few simple ideas of my own:
1. Play with others in a group. The social aspects of learning are very important.
2. Listen to great players, give yourself something to aspire too.
3. Go to concerts.
4. Be patient and persevere.
Chris.
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