Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-05-03 22:05
... well, do the very best you can, you don't really know what you can actually achieve until you've worked hard at it for an intensive period of time
think this very simple thought with full conviction "I can work at this" and tackle the project in small sections, one difficult bit at a time -- divide and conquer! you've got 9 weeks, so this divides into 3 x 3-week periods
first decide how much intensive practice you can * reasonably * do every single day for the next 3 weeks solid, schedule it, tell your family to let you get on with it, and then by golly you do it, it's not something wanna do, it's HAFTA do
for example, for an intensive period only, i could put in 20-30m silent fingering reps first thing in the morning, and ditto again just before bedtime, doing only the toughest sections over & over again, completely note accurate, slow as necessary, get into rhythm, build up speed, etc, and also 1 hr actual blowing practice daily 7x on exercises and easier passages in the early evenings to make sure lip and air are kept in shape -- you figure out what intensive practice shedule will work best for you
identify the passages that need multiple reps for silent fingering exercises, and leave the easy parts for blowing practice -- when blowing, play through everything, once only, as if it were a performance; then, circle the troublesome bits in pencil, work them through several times for as many days as necessary -- this makes your copy messy -- then erase the pencilled circles when you've got it, makes your copy clean again :-)
tell your teacher that's what you're doing, give her your 3 week target date, and after 3 weeks hard work (by late May) you'll both be able to see where you've arrived compared to where you started -- i think you'll be quite pleased with the progressive and cumulative results of your efforts by then -- you may not be 'perfect' by then, but you'll certainly be a lot better than you are today, it's very encouraging to see that happen in yourself, makes practice seem more like a friend than a baneful chore
then take a week's complete rest from all that material, play something else that's easy and you feel very comfortable with, and then repeat intensive for another 3 weeks (late June)
By 10 days prior, both you and your teacher will see if the July 8th concert really is doable or must be modified a bit -- and then the last two weeks can be spent polishing the best you're able to do by then
it's very important to realise that frequent daily practice builds *cumulative* results, and what seems really difficult now will be a lot easier after an intensive period of work at it -- just think "I can work at this" and then do just that
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