 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Roxann
Date: 2017-02-24 00:30
A couple of years ago I set a goal of auditioning for a particular band in town and making it. The first time I auditioned, I didn't make it, but did the next year when I tried again. During the two years I had that goal in mind, I found it very easy to get my clarinet out and practice an hour a day or more. Now that I've accomplished that goal, I'm struggling with motivating myself to practice. I need another goal! But I can't figure out what it will be. Any suggestions on what makes YOU keep practicing to get better and better and better?
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2017-02-24 00:47
For me, the secret is:
1. Play a music style that I love
2. Play music that is fun and challenging
3. Play music that I'd love to listen to
For me, everything else just sorta takes care of itself after that.
Fuzzy
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-02-24 01:27
I play mostly orchestral music, which exposes the clarinet players much more than playing in a band does, so my first motivation is to be able to play well at the next rehearsal or concert on my calendar. Then there's a degree of self-flagellation that happens if my playing even in my practice room gets too sloppy or out of control.
But beyond those, I hate to say it because it sounds really egotistical, going to hear great live clarinetists drives me to want to play the way they do. I'm not Ricardo Morales or Sam Caviezel, but they are the players I hear most often, and wanting to play as musically and cleanly as they do is for me a meaningful goal, even at age 70. Before those two it was my principal teacher, Anthony Gigliotti and Don Montanaro, who held the same chairs in the Philadelphia Orchestra as I was growing up and through a great deal of my years as a player. Two other models were Raoul Querze and Ron Reuben, who were the rest of the section through most of my adulthood. Sometimes my motivation comes from upcoming concerts with other players I strongly admire out of the fear of having them find playing with me unrewarding.
I don't practice as much when I have no upcoming challenges as I do when something difficult is coming up, but I find enough in these motivations to keep me in shape and steadily (I think), however slowly, building and improving.
Karl
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2017-02-25 19:42
Does a performance goal help motivate? It's sort of like a deadline. Does meeting a deadline make you better at anything besides hurrying up to meet a deadline? Or is the impetus of that stress actually beneficial to one's playing in a broader way?
Switching to Karl's point, before practice I sometimes listen to a YouTube performance by some excellent clarinetist and draw energy from it, trying to sound that beautiful, that accurate, that expressive, etc. However, one can also be energized by other musicians with remarkable attributes, whether they play sax, violin, piano, guitar, whatever - even percussion (Evelyn Glennie!) A couple years ago I rediscovered Maria Callas, whose recordings are like a masterclass in musical expression, and for weeks I kept trying to play everything like I imagined Maria Callas would sing it, which, hahaha, but still, there's a kind of enlarging effect.
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Author: RKing
Date: 2017-02-25 22:56
The first thing I'll do is offer my congratulations. You accomplished something significant and you should be proud of the effort it took to get there.
Anytime we achieve a significant goal in our lives, there is a tendency to stop and reflect on how we got there. Then we usually set new goals and start all over again.
So I guess the next question to ask yourself is, "Is making the band my only goal in music?" To me, making the band seems like the first step; not the last. After that, I would hope to improve my playing in order to become a more important piece of the band -- and that would probably motivate me to practice at least as much as I did to get there.
If that is not where you want to go, then start the question and answer process again until you discover your next goal in life.
Me? I am in my late-60s and I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. <LOL>
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