100 days of practice - week 8
This week was an example of when I’m busy and motivated and just work as hard as I possibly can. This post doesn’t offer many thoughts or insights, instead it’s more of a practice log. Looking back at this week, I can see that I really adapted my practice to my schedule and energy levels, and everything was pretty successful.
Monday - day 48
When I got to my phone I had an email from my teacher asking me to prepare scales, studies, and two more movements of my sonata for my lesson on Friday, on top of an already busy week. I tossed up how to respond - just say yes okay I’ll do it, or email to say it’s a busy week and I might not have time for all of that. I think in different circumstances (energy levels, level of health, etc) both are fine options, but this week I was already feeling motivated so I decided to just really really hustle this week. This weeks practice blog is much more of a blow by blow of how my day is divided.
Into a practice room at 8:40 - time efficiency on my mind which made me super focussed and efficient. Mo time for mindless practice! I love being busy for this reason.
Study 1 - octaves - practiced up to speed with metronome in chunks, playing octaves as double stops. Tomorrow come back to this with string crossings - find what makes that so hard and fix.
Study 2 - thinking about big right arm movements in saltando - up and down and string crossings. Tomorrow try and find more quality in sound - right now the notes are strangled because of the bounce
Hindemith Sonata - do 10 minutes multiple times a day of movement 4. Movement 5 need to listen much more before starting learning the notes.
String ensemble piece - listen, and mark cues in to part. - finish before 11 rehearsal.
Walton - listen to piano part - play along with YouTube. Mental run through (went so well! I can hear way more of the piano/orchestra part! My musical imagination is growing stronger!)
Back to Hindemith for another 10 mins
Practiced spots on Berlioz Symphonie Fan that I found I couldn’t ply the other day.
Back to practice after rehearsal and lunch at 1pm. Couldn’t find practice room so listened in library.
Played in performance class - frustratingly effected by nerves which came out by struggling to keep my cool playing with piano, an old problem coming up again. I did not feel good about this performance, and then people gave me really nice feedback, I felt better, then I listened to the recording and agreed with my past self that it was not a very good performance. But! Lots of things I’ve been practicing came out well, too, and I always managed to find my focus again.
Left school to escape to the gym.
Tuesday - day 49
Started the day with a wounded ego after yesterday’s performance. Got into a practice room at 8:20 am to practice before my two hours in the recording studio - recording 3 movements of my Hindemith Sonata and the first movement of Walton Concerto. Tried to incorporate technical issues from yesterday’s performance into my scales - vibrato in high positions, and in double stops.
Already feeling shattered by 10 am, so I switched it up and went to library to listen to my performance class recording again - with great reluctance - to identify exactly what went wrong. I was glad I did though, listening a second time I was much more objective - it wasn’t the total train wreck it felt like (it also wasn’t my best performance) I’m still disappointed but I could find exactly what went wrong at every moment, super super helpful.
Actually felt really great after the recording sessions - got 3 decent takes of each piece, and fixed so many of the ensemble problems in the Walton - and had fun! Had a lovely lunch at home with friends and then went back to uni for my friend’s Romanian trad ensemble rehearsal (learning trad tunes by ear with friends is like, so much of why I wanted to do a Master’s) then had a viola sectional for Symphonie Fantastique, and finished the day with a call with my quartet to plan the next few weeks. I felt so accomplished at the end of the day. Relieved to finish the recordings and be able to move on to the next thing, and very pleased that the bad performance of Walton served its purpose in the end.
Wednesday - day 50 (halfway !)
Treated myself to a very small sleep in and morning run, rather than hustle to school to practice. I ate lemon meringue pie for breakfast, in the spirit of having little moments of joy since it’s a busy week, and continues to be busy into the foreseeable future. I spent the morning observing an RSNO rehearsal for Mahler 9. My main thought the whole time was that the standout string players (mostly the section principals, with some exceptions) were the ones who looked engaged and like they really felt the misic - and you could hear it too! They made like, half the sound of the section and played SO musically and you could just tell that they thought the music was the coolest thing ever. Going into 5 hours of symphony rehearsal later today, I was inspired to be that person, ALWAYS. While I’m studying and I have the luxury of spending 2 weeks on one symphony, I’m trying to think about how I can use that time as practice - I know my part so can free up brain room for technique, finding colour, thinking about the music, really listening, etc.
Spent the rest of the day in strings sectionals - did lots of listening in the breaks
Thursday - day 51
Woke up feeling tired, uninspired, but dragged myself to school nonetheless. Today only a short symphony rehearsal and the rest of the day is mine to practice and do my research project. Which meant getting stuck into scales in my practice, doing some great creative work on a piece that I’m trying to very quickly get to performance standard for performance class next week, and preparing the things my teacher asked for. Had time for the gym and sat in a cafe to romanticising doing my research project. One short rehearsal for symphony, which I really enjoyed!
I was supposed to go to a gig with Clarke in the evening but we bailed and I got a night at home to finish my book :)
Friday - day 52
Actually felt well rested in the morning! In the practice by 8:20 am, working on scales. My big revelation was that my left and right hand struggle with coordination more than I thought they did.
Had my lesson, which was good but I didn’t end up even playing the things I had worked so hard on all week. But it was still good to have that push, I think. String ensemble rehearsal, then some work on my research project, lunch, and gym. Came back for viola class, played a not very well prepared piece as practice for performance class on Monday, and then did more practice, played through some cross-genre stuff for class with friends and went for a pint. Came back again for our 7pm Friday night cross genre class.
Saturday - day 53
Research project day! Started working on the project at 8:30am. Took breaks for a run, a little bit of practice, quartet rehearsal, and eating, and I was working on it until 10:30 pm. Quartet rehearsal was good - we’re regrouping to keep working on our Beethoven and we had a big planning sesh - organising rehearsals and how we’re going to tackle it - setting boundaries and goals so we aren’t disappointed in any way. We did lots of nice slow intonation work.
Sunday - day 54
Submitted my research project in the morning, had another quartet rehearsal, break for lunch and a little practice, then was rehearsing and performing Bach cantatas for the rest of the day. Went to bed pretty exhausted and feeling the Sunday Scaries. Next week is pretty much just as busy, so back to work again tomorrow morning. BUT - this schedule ain’t sustainable for me, and as I have no days off for the foreseeable future I’m committing to taking time off when I can. Tuesday morning is blocked out for a sleep in and brunch with Clarke.
