It's the end of the week, and the beginning of the next. Some big exciting things happened. One being two earthquakes within 24 hours of each other in my home state of OK. This would happen to me; as soon as I leave, something exciting happens. Story of my life.
In the next week, there are three, count them 3, viola recitals. Looking forward to each one. Also, no school this Friday. So since I have no classes on Thursday, I essentially get a Fall Break. Awesome Opossum.
This week in practice wasn't the greatest for me. I had to get my cable/internet fixed, and that took a huge chunk out of my time, plus I had extra errands to run this week which cut into my practice time considerable, and I'm feeling I want Thanksgiving to get here, so I might have been a little loose on finding alternative practice times. But don't take this to mean I slacked off in any way. I still got some good work done!
Some observations I made about my playing and practice :
-I have a bad habit of relying on watching myself in a mirror or reflective surface while I practice. I like seeing my progression and what I look like when I play, but I've come to rely on that while practicing too much. It's gotten to the point that I think it's affecting my overall playing in front of others when no reflective surface is around. It's become my security blanket. Solution--I don't look at the reflective surfaces anymore and I try to figure out problems by using tactile memory. I ask myself, "How does this feel, what muscles am I using?" I also listen closer for pitch and other funny sounds that I might make. If I'm having trouble resisting the urge to look, or if I'm just have trouble focusing, I close my eyes and practice. I've already noticed a lot of improvement in my consistency by doing this. I'm excited for this "regular" week so I can really see/hear real progress. I also hypothesize that by relying on external forces for my own comfort in playing this only adds to my performance anxiety.
-I have a bad habit of walking while playing. I walk, and I don't practice proper stance and posture. This again, will only encourage trust in myself and my ability. So what is "good posture?" I think of it as feet shoulder width apart with the knees slightly bent. Feet should be mostly flat with 80% of your weight on the backs of your heels. What this does is it lifts your body up and opens it allowing more sound to move through you and the instrument thus increasing resonance and tone. Also, something I'm trying to keep myself from doing is leaning forward, point the scroll of my instrument towards the floor. This is bad posture, and I've been known to do it. It creates tension, inconsistent intonation, and a repulsive tone. It's impossible to work on any of these posture habits if I keep walking in circles playing my rep.
-I'm getting more consistent with finding first finger on any of the strings and have it be in tune. First position mind you. I've learned that if you can't find where to put your first finger, in any position, you're sunk. Making sure your LH frame is set up correctly with proper first finger placement will improve intonation consistency by 90%. I've been working on first position, mainly because I'm working scales and want them to be in tune, and when you start scales you start in first position, duh, lol. By-the-by, for those who might be reading and have no idea what I mean by positions, here's a rough description: on string instruments, there's more than one way to play almost any note. we do this by playing farther away from the scroll in different "positions." When you see a string player moving "up" the finger board, they're changing positions. The lower one is on the finger board, the lower the position, the higher one is, you get the point. Anyways, first finger in first position. I've been working on this by tuning the first finger to the string up above it (E on d-string tuned to open A = Perfect 4th ("Here Comes the Bride")) I might try to find a video to post next time to better explain this. But for now, know I'm making progress!!
Now on to other matters.
I finished writing ch. 25 of my book, "Incarnations: Vol. 0 of the Avatar Chronicles." I'm almost there. I'm almost finished with the first draft. It's been so long, this story going through my head since 5th grade. To see it come to fruition is most exciting.
Some might be wandering why it's vol. 0 and not 1. Well, It's a pseudo-prequel. It's part of the main story, but it's not at the same time. It takes place 20 years before the other books' events. But in order to understand the others, you must read this one first. See my problem? So the solution I came up with was to call it vol. 0, and I think it's appropriate.
Unfortunately, with "Inheritance" coming out this week, my writing will be put on hold.
I was able to finish this book called "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. I recommend it to any young man looking to find his wild-side or looking to get reacquainted with that side of yourself. It is considered "Christian Lit." but it doesn't make too many references to the Bible in and off itself, but the information and lessons found within are based upon Eldrege's understanding of the Bible. He also uses a lot of movie quotes, referencing "Gladiator" and "Brave Heart." He uses all of this to challenge the reader to be a true man. Read it!
Final thought:
"Remember remember,
The 5th of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
I Know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot."
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