Well, basically my flute’s been broken for the past four days or so. It’s been hell trying to get the loaner and all that jazz. I finally got a chance to practice with it today. It was so odd. I wasn’t used to it at all, so I spent my whole practice session just doing scales, trying to get the feel of the keys under my fingers. I did long tones to get the intonation in check again…I don’t like getting used to a new instrument. At the same time though, it was good because I found myself surprised at the quality. It was so much easier to play than my instrument. I love my flute dearly, but the more I play other flutes, the more I realize that my poor Danny (that’s my flute’s name…teehee) is not the flute for me anymore. It doesn’t play professionally very well. Luckily, I’m getting a new flute this summer…oh boy…I can’t wait!

Have a good one,
Meg

I got the jazz grotto. It was a little awkward, bc at one point, a couple of girls just stood outside the door for a while and stared at me. But other than that, it was good.

It felt nice to sound good again. I loved it, and I had fun today. I like having fun when I practice, it makes me want to practice more. I’ve found that time goes much slowly than I think. I need to work on getting into the nitty gritty more though.

MEG

This practice was just as any other practice was. I played for a while, got bored…then played some more. I corrected some, but not all, of my mistakes. I wasn’t as energized as tuesday, or wednesday for that matter. But I got the job done.

I think I’m getting over my fear of the practice room.

Meg

She sat me down and she picked. my. BRAIN. She uncannily knew something was wrong (thank you facebook) and she sat me down and wouldn’t leave me alone until I told her. So, I told her. I was having issues practicing. Mainly, because I’m not a performer. I don’t perform, I don’t want to perform, and I never will, unless absolutely necessary (aka juries). Because of this, I dont’ ever really see the point of practicing because it won’t matter anyway. I’m not doing anything with it. So, she gave me new assignments and new repertoire to do, and it kind of re-motivated my soul.

So her first assingment, sit in a practice room for five minutes each day in silence. So I did, and my practice that day was ten times better than it has been in a while. I don’t know what happened, I just finally found my groove. So I think I’m going to do that now. Most of the time. But it really helped, it got my  mind focused and ready to ROCK!

MEG

First day of classes, first day of real work in a while. I’m really tired already, so practice was again…unproductive. I’ve been in a funk and I don’t know why. I just can’t get my mind back to where it needs to be, and I want it get there soon so I can actually focus. and be productive again. Practicing with an unproductive and unfocused mind is rough.

I tried the five minute thing to maybe help, and it didn’t. I couldn’t even focus for five freaking minutes. I’m like a child with a pixie stick at a carnival’s toy store. It’s ridiculous. So basically, practice was worthless today.

I’m not used to the grind anymore, which made practice today rather unproductive. I had to get my tone back because it was just unfocused and unhappy today. My mouth didn’t like me for making it do something it hasn’t had to do in a week.

I’ve found that not practicing for a week sets you back much farther than I anticipated. Argh. Today’s practice was pretty  much just frustrating for that reason. I’ll get back in the swing of things soon enough. I just spent a lot of time doing long tones and whistle tones today.

Unfortunately, I have a band sectional until 5:30…it doesn’t matter, my dad can’t be here until 6:30 anyway.

So my practice was actually kinda fun today. One of my solos is very contemporary, which isn’t my thing. Therefore, I’m learning how to have fun with music. So, I practiced that…having fun. It brought a lot to mind about why I’m playing music in the first place.

I GOT MY LETTER TODAY! My letter confirming my internship!

Meg

This little countdown I have up isn’t really helping my case of pushing through until the end.

For flute lessons, I have to read this book “The Craftsman” by Richard Sennett.  I don’t quite understand why I have to read the whole thing….I’m supposed to make connections from it to myself. A task which has proven to be quite more difficult than i expected. THe first part is all just the history and his trangressions through society. I have managed a few connections though.

Due to this reading, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future as a musician. It’s definitely not going to be easy. I’ve decided that I can’t let things like fall breaks get in the way of me making this my life.

Meg

I must push through. My practices are getting less productive as fall break draws nearer. Yesterday, I didn’t get everything done I wanted to. and Today….well today was almost disappointing. I couldn’t concentrate on my music, the small chunks I needed to focus on weren’t taken care of. For this reason, I hate breaks. They draw near and everyone just goes into auto pilot. Especially me…I need to get out of this funk

Meg

I practiced for about an hour and half today. I did my normal routine…minus the fact that I added in the five-minute goals goal….That really didn’t help. If anything, it hurt me. The five minutes felt rushed and non-productive. I already have a set way of practicing….a routine if you will. This routine has breaks already set in it. However, these breaks don’t break my concentration. I found if I go for a walk or check Facebook or something, I’ll just get even more distracted and it’s even harder to walk back into the dismal practice room. So, I’m not trying to diss Holly, it’s just his methods don’t really work for me.

On the other hand, I’ve been trying to incorporate much more mental practice into my practice routine. That has helped a tad. Specially in runs….my high register technique is my biggest weakness right now as a player. So, when I have a difficult passage in that register, I try to imagine my fingers doing exactly what I want them to do.

Meg