Last night the saxophone quartet I play in managed to rehearse again. We've been playing together for two years or so, but in the past six months, for one reason or another, we haven't been able to meet regularly. Now, for example, it will be more than a month before we can get together again.
Last night we played a couple of pieces we hadn't been working on regularly and were surprised at how well they went. Sometimes it's a good idea to put things aside for a while.
You can only work on something for so long, before you get bored with it and start making new mistakes. When you get to that point, you have to stop and let the work you've invested gradually sink in. The more you go over something, the less spontaneous your playing becomes. You don't sound fresh. You stop discovering new things in the music.
There's always a fine line between mastering a piece of music, so you're confident you can play it in public, and playing with too much control.
The other group I play with is a wind orchestra. Our conductor chooses difficult, challenging music for us and makes us responsible for learning how to play it. We're going to play two concerts in a couple of weeks, and the performance will be far from polished. Does it matter? We're amateurs, and everyone knows it, so no one expects the Israel Philharmonic. We'll have fun playing, and, most probably, the excitement of performing in public will raise the level of our playing.
I like the conductor's attitude. You don't improve unless you play challenging pieces that are a bit beyond your ability - but not so hard as to be frustrating.
Last night we played a couple of pieces we hadn't been working on regularly and were surprised at how well they went. Sometimes it's a good idea to put things aside for a while.
You can only work on something for so long, before you get bored with it and start making new mistakes. When you get to that point, you have to stop and let the work you've invested gradually sink in. The more you go over something, the less spontaneous your playing becomes. You don't sound fresh. You stop discovering new things in the music.
There's always a fine line between mastering a piece of music, so you're confident you can play it in public, and playing with too much control.
The other group I play with is a wind orchestra. Our conductor chooses difficult, challenging music for us and makes us responsible for learning how to play it. We're going to play two concerts in a couple of weeks, and the performance will be far from polished. Does it matter? We're amateurs, and everyone knows it, so no one expects the Israel Philharmonic. We'll have fun playing, and, most probably, the excitement of performing in public will raise the level of our playing.
I like the conductor's attitude. You don't improve unless you play challenging pieces that are a bit beyond your ability - but not so hard as to be frustrating.
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