It's hard to maintain motivation when you're not playing with a goal in mind.
Because of the threat of Covid-19, Israel, where I live, is essentially shut down. My flute teacher is not permitted to give lessons. The wind orchestra where I play every week cannot meet for rehearsals. The sax quartet I play with has suspended operations. I occasionally play Haydn flute sonatas with my wife, but otherwise, I am on my own.
For quite a while I was mainly practicing flute, trying to achieve a satisfactory level. I'm almost there, so I've decided to practice more saxophone again. On flute I have been working on tone, articulation, and flexibility in fingering. I've started doing the same thing on sax once again. I went through all that years ago, and I more or less counted on my ensemble playing to maintain my level. But now that my ensembles are suspended, I have to practice a bit more seriously.
This morning I took out my baritone saxophone and spent about 20 minutes doing various warm-up exercises. I enjoy the warm-ups. They can be a form of meditation. Recently I watched a 2 part documentary about Jascha Heifetz, who was a stickler for very elaborate scale exercises. He never neglected them.
After the exercises I did one of the things I enjoy most of all in music. I played a bunch of standards: Someone to Watch Over You, Stars Fell on Alabama, Skylark, Stardust, Love is Here to Stay, Lover Man, and a few others. I tried to play these ballads as musically as I could. They aren't technically challenging, but the melodies are great, and you can hear yourself as you play.
On flute I have been playing baroque and classical music. Recently I've been reading through the Haydn sonatas, and the more familiar with them I become, the better I like them. I'm also working on the first Mozart duet for two flutes or for flute and violin. As I play these great composers, I am constantly amazed by their creativity. Where did they get their musical ideas?
The Haydn is not beyond my technical proficiency on the flute. However, I don't think I'll ever be able to play the Mozart as fast as it's supposed to be. Recently I listened to a performance of the W. F. Bach flute duets, something I was working on for a while. The two flutists were so great, much better than I could dream of playing, but I'm not discouraged. I'm inspired.
Occasionally I play a standard or a blues, or bossa nova on the flute, but I prefer to play that kind of music on the sax. It's as if I have a split personality - classical and jazzy - and one instrument is for one part of the personality, the other for the other.
Because of the threat of Covid-19, Israel, where I live, is essentially shut down. My flute teacher is not permitted to give lessons. The wind orchestra where I play every week cannot meet for rehearsals. The sax quartet I play with has suspended operations. I occasionally play Haydn flute sonatas with my wife, but otherwise, I am on my own.
For quite a while I was mainly practicing flute, trying to achieve a satisfactory level. I'm almost there, so I've decided to practice more saxophone again. On flute I have been working on tone, articulation, and flexibility in fingering. I've started doing the same thing on sax once again. I went through all that years ago, and I more or less counted on my ensemble playing to maintain my level. But now that my ensembles are suspended, I have to practice a bit more seriously.
This morning I took out my baritone saxophone and spent about 20 minutes doing various warm-up exercises. I enjoy the warm-ups. They can be a form of meditation. Recently I watched a 2 part documentary about Jascha Heifetz, who was a stickler for very elaborate scale exercises. He never neglected them.
After the exercises I did one of the things I enjoy most of all in music. I played a bunch of standards: Someone to Watch Over You, Stars Fell on Alabama, Skylark, Stardust, Love is Here to Stay, Lover Man, and a few others. I tried to play these ballads as musically as I could. They aren't technically challenging, but the melodies are great, and you can hear yourself as you play.
On flute I have been playing baroque and classical music. Recently I've been reading through the Haydn sonatas, and the more familiar with them I become, the better I like them. I'm also working on the first Mozart duet for two flutes or for flute and violin. As I play these great composers, I am constantly amazed by their creativity. Where did they get their musical ideas?
The Haydn is not beyond my technical proficiency on the flute. However, I don't think I'll ever be able to play the Mozart as fast as it's supposed to be. Recently I listened to a performance of the W. F. Bach flute duets, something I was working on for a while. The two flutists were so great, much better than I could dream of playing, but I'm not discouraged. I'm inspired.
Occasionally I play a standard or a blues, or bossa nova on the flute, but I prefer to play that kind of music on the sax. It's as if I have a split personality - classical and jazzy - and one instrument is for one part of the personality, the other for the other.
