Classical music field is competitive. It is very hard to get a job in this field. A music student has to be good enough to enter to the professional world.
I had a bad lesson yesterday. I did not perform well. My teacher always ask me to play a single line of rhythm accurately and repeat it for 3 times. If I can play it perfectly in a row for 3 times, I can move forward to another line of rhythm. This is to nurture my consistency of playing the same rhythm over and over. Since percussion is the inner engine and heart beat of an orchestra, the scoring for percussion section is always repetitive. I need to upgrade my consistency of playing to play well in an orchestra. Honestly, I really follow his way to practice. But, according to him, I am being too good to myself. I let myself go on to practice another line without achieving perfection in the previous line of rhythm. Althought I repeated the same rhythm for 3 times without a rhythm mistake, I did not focus on the dynamics markings. In that 3 times, I did 3 different levels of dynamics instead of playing them all same.
I found out that I am not good in doing something repetitive since very young. As I'm quite an emotional person, I always act according to my emotion. From today onwards, I want myself to be more aware on my own playing especially when I am practicing. I know that my concentration is good. I will use full concentration in my practice to achieve CONSISTENCY! The battle between Consistency and Emotional has started!
14 years ago
Yes Siu Yan! The battle between Consistency and Emotional is always happen in my mind. Sometimes I feel that I will better without too much emotion. My teacher told me that I make music like instinc and I need to be more accurate and strict to your self when practicing.
ReplyDeleteSiu Yan
ReplyDeleteYour final post is possibly your best. You really have expressed yourself well and I empathize with how you feel. If I may I would like to suggest you re-frame how you are looking at this situation it is not a battle. In a battle one side dies. I think you need to achieve emotional consistency. Without emotion your playing will simply be robotic - a machine could do it. Maybe you are like me sometimes very happy sometimes a little sad. We need balance in our lives which means a little less of both ... the middle ground which is where emotional consistency is found. Good luck with your musical journey - been great to meet you. Chris