for the past week or so i've been thinking "everything's been going so well!" positive post after positive post! bracing for, well, you know...the honeymoon period to wear off, shall we say. and it's definitely not totally worn off. but let me break this down for you:
wind chill in minneapolis is about -25.
up at 5:15, home by 7ish (had to finish tons of grading/entering grades/prepping at school)
7ish=very tired already
**little voice in head is back with a vengeance telling me to practice all day**
7ish: tidy up my house, including bedroom and kitchen <---what i do when i procrastinate (EVERY time!)
then finally...i did it. no big deal! pretty painless. maybe only 45 minutes.
okay, in the paragraph above, between the up at 5:15, home by 7ish, please enter: teach 7 classes and around 130 middle school and high school students. this will include the good, the bad, and the ugly.
the good=won't stop knocking on my door during lunch b/c they want to practice soooo bad, even though i taped a sign that says "sorry, no lunch time practicing today, ms light is having quiet time"
the bad=8th grader, omg, pull your pants UP, you are traumatizing your dear, dear teacher! (student responds, "it's not the 80's!" ????)
the ugly="were you sick yesterday?" "no, i am sad. i am having bad experiences right now." "your family?" "no, i don't have a family here." student is from another country, living with another family. i didn't pry more than that, but student is visibly pained. emotional toll on teacher.
okaaaaaaaaaay....all this ---->go home and practice???? aaaaaaah! I can't! I won't! Let me go to sleeeeeeeeeeep!
That was old mentality. for 2.5 years. (first years on the job!) tonight it WAS more therapeutic. just how i aimed it to be! and YES i played bach. and how AMAZING is that music? and yes, i even practiced what was on my little list for bob. heheheh!
also ordered new reeds today...another sure sign of commitment! now, i have never been an "equipment junky," as i like to call them. i don't care about the latest and greatest thing. but, now that i'm relaxing a bit with my playing, maybe i will become an EJ after all. it's kind of fun! for example, i have played blue box vandoren reeds FOREVER. no complaints from anyone (teachers, etc) so why switch? same thing with mouth pieces. my yamaha custom (refaced by old teacher) lasted me for years and years and years. so, it is really weird for me to order really freaky reeds. they are called gonzalez something reeds. they are from argentina and they have the nickname of F.O.F., or "for our friends." they do come highly recommended from trusted sources, so we'll see...i'll let ya know if it's worth the $$.
i am sharing a picture with you of a note i wrote in one of the pieces i picked up tonight. can you tell the piece? i loooooove going through old pieces/etudes and seeing what notes i wrote in, or what tips my teacher wrote to me. brings back lots of memories. this is from a moment that i particularly loved to play in one of the central works for any clarinetist. note the heart i put over the sweetest note in the phrase. just to remind myself that's the best note of the concerto.
xoxo
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ReplyDeleteDear RLD,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, let me just say that as a non-teacher, your daily school schedule is exhausting to simply read! Teachers, how on earth do you survive such long days? I have such respect for you all. If I were a student, I would love you as a teacher. You are truly committed.
Secondly, your approach to playing music is quite refreshing. Our practicing should be a release, not added stress. I think that this is sort of like going on family vacations/spending time with family in general. One of my goals for this year is to spend more time enjoying myself with my family rather than delving into highly volatile conversation topics that get all of us charged up. I mean, while there are times where we need to really discuss important issues, it also helps my family's collective peace of mind to keep things light when we're with each other. I think that I am going to try that approach with practicing, too. For example, a lot of my practicing these days is with a timer, which I found to be helpful as a solution to, among other things, daydreaming on the stand and totally mindless wood-chucking. Janet Horvath, a cellist in the Minnesota Orchestra, gave a seminar at BoCo about the healthiest ways to practice and physically approach playing (she also wrote a book on this topic), and she said that studies have shown that a 25-minute increment of practicing/playing followed by a 5-minute break is the best combination for the brain's concentration abilities. While this has helped me in terms of preparing lots of music in very little time, or simply tackling problems effectively, it can also make me feel boxed in if I practice like this too often. Sometimes, we just need to let loose and play, and your post reminded me of just that.
So thank you, my friend!
xo,
Geeta
It's the Mozart!!!
ReplyDeletegood job, anonymous person! is it mozart's phantom??? omg...REVEAL YOURSELF! ;)
ReplyDeleteRachel, I love your blog! Totally understand where you are coming from...I too went from performance to music teacher and don't practice nearly as much as I used to. Btw-it's Lauren Ruru! (and I'm not the Mozart phantom) however I knew just from a glance that it's the Mozart!
ReplyDeleteKeep it up :)