I've had a productive day today, making a batch of cheese, cutting back the raspberry canes and a good hour's piping, although some of that was wasted fiddling around with the recorder. (I need to get to the fan's PC before I can upload recordings: my netbook isn't keen to speak to the recorder).
It occurred to me that I'm perhaps being a bit hard on myself when it comes to progress and improvements. As I've already mentioned being able to play dotless once meant that I could scrabble through one playing, with gaps and pauses for thinking, now it means pretty much note perfect when I play the tune over and over and over.
My benchmark for a tune well played used to be a handful of tunes I could just about hold together, now it is a handful of tunes that I've been playing regularly for a year or more, that I am relaxed and easy with.
When I learn tunes I am getting fussier about timing, tempo, grace notes. I don't pick a tune and learn it, I pick three, four, five or more and learn them. I spend time going over my new tunes, repeating phrases I'm not happy with, fiddling about with gracing, and then I run through half a dozen tunes that I know well and feel comfortable with, just to enjoy playing some music. I don't play everything in my repertoire because I just don't play for long enough to fit everything in. I suppose I could make an effort with some of the tunes I'm not playing so much, but I expect their time will come.
It's not that I am getting worse; it's just that I have set my sights higher, and have bigger expectations for my myself. I suppose that's how we all learn and improve.
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