Monday, February 10, 2020

Patient Practice

There's so much music to learn, I want to tear through each piece and get on to the next.
The warm-up exercises I do take so long. When will I ever get through them and reach the music?
My flute playing is still inconsistent.
How long can I work on boring long tones, vibrato, scales and arpeggios?
When will I be able to play sixteenth notes with sufficient speed?
How long will it take for the exercises in musical theory that I do (playing chord progressions, etc.) to sink in and become second nature?
I'm already an old man. It's a race against time. My chances of improving as a musician are probably lower than my chances of declining into decrepitude.
What's the solution?
Only patience.
If it takes me a month to learn a piece, and, even after that month, I can't play it well, I have to understand that the month wasn't wasted.  I have to derive satisfaction from the process, from the effort, from slight improvement. And I have to avoid frustration and disappointment when the improvement doesn't happen.

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