Voila! Viola!
I'm sitting here listening to Norah Jones, and musing on a day well spent:
I practiced viola today, something that has been occurring with more and more frequency. Honestly, it feels like it is unfolding organically, not too unlike watching a flower open little by little, day by day. As I have not had the luxury of having a private teacher (funds have not allowed it to be so), I have been forced into a situation of, "Violist, teach thyself".
For the first time ... ever ... I have taken responsibility for my own practice schedule. I had always been able to "fake it till I make it", since I was playing so often in orchestras/quartets/private lessons. I didn't really apply myself outside of those structured situations. I didn't hit the practice rooms on campus for "wood shedding" as often as I should have. But I still made progress (go figure).
During my sabbatical (see also: dropping out of college for reasons of mental and emotional health; and also: not playing viola for a very very long time), I would occasionally pick up Heinrich (my viola) and "fiddle around", but never consistently. I'd tell myself, "Oh, I need to be in private lessons so I can be held accountable, to keep me practicing".
It wasn't until recently that it finally hit home that, first and foremost, if I really want to play with any amount of seriousness, I need to be accountable to me. I have to be in it up to my elbows, willing to get messy with the mundane details.
And I have been.
Slowly but surely, I have been building a practice.
Incidentally, I've been so focussed on wanting to build a regular meditation practice, that this developed almost unbeknownst to me. I've been getting frustrated because "traditional" meditation is very difficult for me to do.
My viola is meditation. It transcends time and place. I lose myself in it so much that when I come to, I find that I have just spent the afternoon in another dimension, floating through the cosmos, having my say in the Grand Scheme Of Things through my music.
I revel in the progress I've been making.
I take from what I've learned through my yoga practice and apply it to my posture. Any time I feel tension in my shoulders or hands now, I pause to make a minor adjustment, and voila! Problem solved. I take from what I feel in my gut, or hear in my head, and translate it into musicality and tone. I have patience with myself and my progress so that my time is well spent and very enjoyable, even if it is only 15 minutes long.
Life makes sense with music in it. Life makes more sense when I make it.
I practiced viola today, something that has been occurring with more and more frequency. Honestly, it feels like it is unfolding organically, not too unlike watching a flower open little by little, day by day. As I have not had the luxury of having a private teacher (funds have not allowed it to be so), I have been forced into a situation of, "Violist, teach thyself".
For the first time ... ever ... I have taken responsibility for my own practice schedule. I had always been able to "fake it till I make it", since I was playing so often in orchestras/quartets/private lessons. I didn't really apply myself outside of those structured situations. I didn't hit the practice rooms on campus for "wood shedding" as often as I should have. But I still made progress (go figure).
During my sabbatical (see also: dropping out of college for reasons of mental and emotional health; and also: not playing viola for a very very long time), I would occasionally pick up Heinrich (my viola) and "fiddle around", but never consistently. I'd tell myself, "Oh, I need to be in private lessons so I can be held accountable, to keep me practicing".
It wasn't until recently that it finally hit home that, first and foremost, if I really want to play with any amount of seriousness, I need to be accountable to me. I have to be in it up to my elbows, willing to get messy with the mundane details.
And I have been.
Slowly but surely, I have been building a practice.
Incidentally, I've been so focussed on wanting to build a regular meditation practice, that this developed almost unbeknownst to me. I've been getting frustrated because "traditional" meditation is very difficult for me to do.
My viola is meditation. It transcends time and place. I lose myself in it so much that when I come to, I find that I have just spent the afternoon in another dimension, floating through the cosmos, having my say in the Grand Scheme Of Things through my music.
I revel in the progress I've been making.
I take from what I've learned through my yoga practice and apply it to my posture. Any time I feel tension in my shoulders or hands now, I pause to make a minor adjustment, and voila! Problem solved. I take from what I feel in my gut, or hear in my head, and translate it into musicality and tone. I have patience with myself and my progress so that my time is well spent and very enjoyable, even if it is only 15 minutes long.
Life makes sense with music in it. Life makes more sense when I make it.