The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: What do you do when you are in a rut/plateau and can’t seem to progress?

Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2022-06-20 02:03

This happened to me as a violin major many years ago.
I was practicing WAY too much. My very high level university demanded three hours of practice a day, and my body simply did not do well with that much. It liked TWO hours of practice a day, and started balking when I forced more. I developed focal dystonia and had to quit altogether, because I was asking more of my body than it was able to do. Your mind can require you to progress at a rate your body can't keep up with, and trying to make it can put you in the situation you're in.
Did you start playing at a later age than your colleagues? I did; I came into that high level university with only half the years on my instrument than they had. My teacher, who was very famous, expected me to make that up in a matter of a semester, and of course I was not able to and therefore was accused of not practicing enough.
So you can see where that ended up; If I had had a caring teacher who told me I was overdoing it, instead of the opposite, I might not have dropped out. But I ended up with a wonderful career as an engineer and also have had a wonderful time playing as a very high level amateur on a variety of instruments, showing me that I really wasn't suited, in terms of personality, to life as a professional instrumentalist. At the time it felt like a horrible, horrible failure, but as I matured I realized I was simply trying to do the wrong thing and would have been miserable had I continued on that path.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics