Category Archives: Practicing

Food, Practicing, Running

“Cheat” night

Tonight we went to Pi in the Central West End for some (long awaited) pizza.  Chris and I split a deep dish pizza…I love the crust there.  It’s corn meal based, and is just uniquely delicious and crunchy.  When we go we usually split a pizza and a salad–the salads come in a large size, perfect for sharing.  Tonight we had the Bada Bing, and the pizza was a mix of the South Side Classico and the Western Addition (half and half, not some odd combination).  We left feeling completely stuffed and happy!

The rest of the week should be okay, especially with such an easy Monday (thanks again Columbus Day!).  I’m most excited about my first 5k race on Saturday and my chamber music rehearsals (for the Chamber Project Concert) on Sunday.  I’ve been working hard for both–I ran 2 miles STRAIGHT today (NO walk breaks), and of course I’ve been practicing.  We are playing three pieces:  Beethoven Trio for Flute, Violin, and Viola; Ravel Introduction and Allegro; and Mozart Clarinet Quintet.  (I feel like there is just too much punctuation in that sentence, but I’m currently quite tired and don’t feel like looking it up.  The Beethoven is the only one I haven’t played before and is therefore most difficult.  There is a really neat variation movement I am looking forward to, among other parts.  I just love Beethoven variation movements (I’m sure my readers can think of many–Eroica, Op 18 #5 for starters).

 

Practicing, Running, Teaching

Sunday night blues

Okay, I’m ready for Monday morning now.  I was moping around a few hours ago feeling that “end of weekend” blues, but now I’ve packed my lunch, prepared the coffee maker, reviewed my lesson plans, and decided (mostly) what to wear tomorrow.  I’m ready to face the children!

A few weeks ago I was SO excited to start my new jobs, now I’m working hard to get energized for tomorrow.  I have a list of activities I want to do, and I’m hoping to get through at least some of them…there is one student in particular who tries to derail the class, and I am having difficulty figuring out how to deal with him.

I suppose I’m actually pretty stressed due to my upcoming half marathon (will be walking half or so!)–it’s one week from today.  I’ve never run in a race before, so I’m a bit nervous about all the actual race details in addition to the actual running of the race.  I hope I do okay and make it through!

I’m also stressed because Chris is taking an audition tomorrow.  He’s been working hard for it, but auditions are always such a crapshoot (trying to be in an orchestra is the most difficult thing to do).  I hate that I am really busy all day tomorrow and won’t have a chance to talk to him until evening.  Not that it would be better to sit around stressing and having nothing to do, but I would feel more supportive somehow!  I know I’m being ridiculous.

Usually writing my blog entry makes me feel better and organizes my head, but not tonight.  I guess my brain is just a jumble due to the stress–this is actually my third try tonight.   They say third time’s the charm?

Readers:  I always welcome more ideas on how to encourage/make students practice.  I need to communicate with the parents (these are my class students, not my private) more about the importance of home practice.  I made the mistake of assuming that the returning students had a practice routine, and that was a big mistake on my part.  When will I learn?

Practicing, Teaching

Practicing

Thursday is a long day for me–I have 12 scheduled students in two locations.  Today I finished my second student and I thought I was going to just fall asleep.  I didn’t know HOW I would make it through the rest.   After the next two, things were even worse.  Then I realized why today was so bad (in addition to still being a little sick, and having slept poorly…).  None of my students had done even CLOSE to the practicing I had asked for.  In fact, several had done NO practicing at all.  It’s sad how quickly I can go from being hopeful and excited about new students to being totally depressed because none of my students are practicing and I just don’t know what else to do.  Granted they are new and I haven’t tried much, but if they won’t practice right off the bat with a new teacher, when will they?

However, as the day progressed, a couple of my students really surprised me, and had done MORE than I asked for, and really done a great job.  So at least I’m not failing all of my students!!  I’ll have to figure out how to encourage the non-practicing students to do better.

Practicing

Projects?

After dinner and chatting with my friend for several hours, I have come to several conclusions: 1. Auditions are a terrible thing. 2. I need a new musical project. Ideas? I’m thinking a recital/chamber music type thing. Plus I need to organize all of my teaching materials from the year (I am running over with binders/books/notebooks from my pedagogy classes). Other ideas could include really working my way through a variety of etude books that might be effective for teaching with the added bonus of improving my own technique. Or maybe I should just buy a better mandolin and work on that? More pottery/other art projects? Write a book? Take better pictures? Make new friends?

I suppose now I’ll have more free time. Probably I’ll just end up sleeping a bit more, and maybe doing some cleaning 😉

Practicing

Audition aftermath

I played for the SLSO this afternoon. I was (most likely) more prepared than ever before for an audition, but still, things went wrong during it…enough (I suppose) that naturally I didn’t advance. Story of my life. Just fyi, the next person I meet who asks if I play with the symphony (this happens on at least a weekly basis) might get killed with my bare hands. Or at least set on fire from a distance. (I’m totally kidding…)

The good thing that comes from auditions is that you get to see friends who come in from out of town. I’m looking forward to dinner with an old friend who is a violinist with the (potentially now-defunct) Charleston Symphony.

The bad thing about auditions, or perhaps it’s just St. Louis in general, is that again I feel like a complete failure. It’s really obnoxious, how this city keeps doing that to me. In Cleveland, I was surrounded by the most obnoxious, snottiest musicians,some of whom actually WERE often far better players than me and I felt fine. Here–constant failure. Maybe it’s that I feel like I don’t know the game here yet, and the goalposts aren’t set–they are different for different people, and it doesn’t seem to matter what I do, how I play, or who I know, I still get the shaft. Maybe I just miss playing in orchestra. It was one of the things I loved most in the world, and the whole reason I went into music as a career.

At least I have my students, right? The positive, shining light here–I have TWO different recitals in the next month to prepare them for (well, only one recital for each student). I am hoping for great success from all of them, and I know they will fantastic if they work hard and keep practicing.