I just started a book last week titled "Practicing A Musician's Return to Music"
http://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Musicians-Return-Glenn-Kurtz/dp/030726615X The experience of the author has some striking similarities to your comments Mike. Practicing with a real ear towards tone and clarity. Paying careful attention to all the details. I highly recommend it. Although, I'm not finished with it, so I don't know how it turns out. Keep at it Mike. Bud > Okay, I've decided to go back to the drawing board. It's been looming > on the horizon for some time, bugging me, nagging at me in the back of > my mind, one of those things that I know needs doing. So here goes... > > While it's true that I've taken some flack of late from uneducated > n'er-do-wells with snappy comments regarding the "slop" I play and how > I'm apparently luckier than Kenny G in my musical success based upon > my apparent lack of ability to be an actual musician, this is not the > basis for my conclusion that things need to change. There's a lot of > things that need changing around here really, and the musical aspect > is only one of the pieces of the puzzle. I'm getting fed up with > feeling like the weak link in so many chains, not all of them musical. > Call it a delayed New Year's Resolution list, if you will. > > As middle age comes and settles in more firmly I find myself wanting > to play better, to understand more, to feel a connection with what I'm > doing that's not been there in quite some time. Yes, I've been winging > it. But then I suppose I've not fooled everybody judging by the latest > flurry of comments and my own personal feelings of musical unrest. I > need a feeling of belonging to what I'm doing, I need to feel I'm > doing it well, that it's a part of me. So far, no cigar. > > I sat here today and played "Black Joke w/Variations" as I do every > couple days(or so...there's part of the problem right there; lack of > consistency and regularity) and made a greater effort to play the > notes cleanly and with character. Egad. You'd think I never saw this > exercise before. I used to play at it every day, every morning first > thing, out on the porch with the mando and the 'dola to do my ritual, > my mando-meditation. But now I'm playing it and paying attention to > detail in a different way. I am reworking my right hand some due to > feeling some wear and tear over the last 38 years and it's hard, REAL > hard. I'm working on making it work smoothly and relaxed, but feeling > strong and sure. I'm watching my pick angle. I'm watching how much > motion I use to make the strokes, how I cross over strings to get to > the next, listening to the sound of the notes, the evenness of the > tremolo(or not, in this case), watching my pick angle, etc. Everything > I can think of. And I know that the more I work, the more things will > turn up that need attention. > > Truth is, I spend a lot of time working, but not efficiently. I waste > 30 minutes here, an hour there not focused on anything. Now I don't > mean to say that putting one's brain out of gear now and again is not > a good idea, but being on auto-pilot all the time, not filtering what > goes in and comes out, is not really a good idea. So, the tune books > are out, the paper is out, the iTunes list is open, lyrics are at easy > reach. I'm not sure I even know how to accomplish what I want to get > done. If I sit and ponder it too hard the task will just seem like too > much of a mountain to climb. Maybe in pieces small enough to chew is > the way to go, but I feel like now I have to chew all the time to get > ahead and see real success, real progress. Real progress will instill > passion for success. > > I find I've got a lot more things I want to get done, and feeling I'm > playing at the level I think I should be is high on the list. I have > raised my standards for myself. I have quite a collection of material > I want to learn and explore. The list grows and I just sit and watch > it without whittling any of it away. I know myself well enough to know > that this will all nag me in the back of my mind until I do something > about it. Here I go... > > mistertaterbug > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Taterbugmando" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en. > > >
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