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Two posts in one day, wow!

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Changing It Up

I've been trying a new routine lately when I start my practice, inspired by a segment I heard on NPR called "The Art of Practicing," if I remember that correctly. The program features various professional musicians and how they practice. The one I heard featured a bassist with the NY Phil, and I must admit that at first I was pretty disappointed. I was going to hear a world-class bassist rip through some crazy scale routine or an etude that is nearly impossible, but no. He set a drone to a C# and played a C# minor scale slowly. Talk about a change of perspective.
I've been starting my practice like that since, and it's ready amazing how much it's helped. It's certainly improving my flute and piccolo playing, but it's even helping my clarinet and sax playing!

Moving Forward

I was trying out a yoga studio, and I've decided to sign up for regular classes. The environment is very positive, and I feel safe to challenge myself (or take it easy) without getting self-concious.

Recital preparation is going well, as is my general practicing. While it's not been as much or as regular as I'd like, I can hear and feel subtle changes and improvements.

Even though I included money and fiscal concerns in my mission statemenys of sorts for this blog, I've shyed (shied?) away from actually discussing it, mainly because I wasn't sure how to speak on the subject without revealing too much. I'm going to give it a shot now though. My original goal was (and still is) to be making my living 100% from music by the time I'm 30 (5 years from when I set the goal). I can say that, so far this year, I'm at about 40% music work and the rest from my two part-time jobs. Woo!

I think it's Quarter 3 now?

I'm probably a solid month into the third quarter, and things are going really well!

The South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble is getting ready for our second annual Youth Pride Band concert, which is coming right up (Feb 24)! There's some really challenging works on the programs (I never thought Harry Potter would ever get the best of me), but the kids are holding their own, and I'm looking forward to working with them this weekend and next. Grant writing for the group is actually a lot of fun. It's totally lame and bookish, but I'm really enjoying it!

I'm still working on solo materials, but it's a bit of a mish-mash right now. I have to find a different place to perform if I want to do a recital in the upcoming months (which I do!), and I need to have some unaccompanied works ready to go as well to perform in school masterclasses or other piano-less situations. Those unaccompanied works are kind of taking priority right now.

I've been much less self-deprecating, and that alone has had such a positive impact on my daily life. There's been an important change from a "Why can't I do this? Why do I suck so much? " mindset to one where I accept my own limits and current capabilities.  Notice though, that I'm not talking about settling for less. Instead, I'm facing the very real and acceptable fact that 2012 was just not my year for makes leaps and bounds of progress in my flute-playing. I was working too much, trying to finish my thesis, there was that whole "let's move across the country" phase, and I had surrendered myself to my "failures." What I mean instead about my current mindset is that I recognize that while, no, I can't just rattle off the Leonore excerpt or the Mendelssohn Scherzo, I've done it before, and I can do it again. It'll take some time, and it'll definitely take some dedicated work, but if I could do it then, I'll do it again.

I've really been trying to take care of my physical self as well. There's a great yoga studio not that far from where I live that has a great "new students" deal that I've been trying to take full advantage of. I'll just have to make a whole new post about the amazing benefits that two weeks of yoga has given me. 

There's a lot more to talk about, but I'll save that for another day in hopes of getting myself to post here more often!

Watching What I Eat

School is going well, I have one student each on clarinet, saxophone, and flute now. My students are doing well, I'm enjoying it, blah blah blah. Let's talk food.

In the past year, I've started making changes to my diet. Some have been more successful, some are important to me, some are convenient, and some most have been failing miserably lately. The most important change for me has been cutting out dairy and finding non-dairy replacements for foods I still really want. Another important shift for me has been the move towards a vegan diet. Without fail, any (non-vegan) person I talk to about veganism (is that a word?) says "Oh I could never do that," "It's so hard," or "I just couldn't - I love cheese (or bacon, or whatever) too much."

Which is true. But also not.

If you know me, you know that I LOVE bacon. And cheese. And meat. And ice cream. I love pretty much all food. Despite all this, eating vegan has been reasonably feasible for me. How?

First of all, I know that really I can't do cold turkey (pardon the pun). I have to work my way into a new habit or routine. If I tried to wake up one day and cut out all animal products no questions asked - I would never be able to do it. Instead, I started making smaller, feasible changes. I replaced my cow's milk with almond milk. I started increasing my veggie count, decreased the amount of meat. I tried Daiya vegan cheese (which is surprisingly amazing. You should try it sometime.) and have really enjoyed.

Along with allowing myself the time to switch, I've also given myself flexibility. I know that some days I'll be totally happy to have a tempeh sandwich with vegan everything. Other days, I really just want a burger. And that's okay! If I've been eating a standard American diet (full of meat, cheese and sugar) for some 25 years, then it's fine if it takes me a little bit of time to change my habits and cravings. 

Now, if I allow myself to slip a little whenever I "just want a burger," how do I keep myself from falling off the bandwagon? I don't stock non-vegan foods in my house. The only time I eat non-vegan is when I'm eating out. By not stocking non-vegan foods, I keep myself on track (generally). Plus, eating out is more special because I don't to do it very often.

I'd highly recommend that you try out at least a little bit of a vegan diet, even if you just try Meatless Monday. If nothing else, it's kinda fun to try these new things! Also, there are some really yummy meat substitutes.

I plan on talking more about this topic later, but let me know if you have any questions about anything I've talked about!

I'm back!

In case anyone was wondering, I did not fall off the face of the Earth - I swear! Truthfully, I just haven't been focusing my attentions like I should have...

Classes started today - my first "first day of school" NOT being the student! I'm definitely excited and looking forward to turning over a new leaf. I spent a fair amount of time wrestling with the Blackboard system and there is a glitch in the school email at the moment, but I did manage to get everything I need up for my online class.

I've missed 4 days of playing this quarter, which is not the perfect record I was aiming for, but I'm glad that I got myself back going again. I think the first day I missed was an honest mistake. It had been a really busy day and by the time I realized I hadn't played it was after 11:30 and I was already in bed. Lame excuse, but hey, it happened. I've definitely gotten back in the saddle and have been chugging along!

I am still preparing for the recital, and it has been going very well. I have to pick a date and find a pianist, which I'm going to try and do in the next week or two. I have someone in mind to ask about collaborating with me, and I'll be seeing them on Wednesday. I think I'm going to aim for mid-February, maybe the week after Valentine's day.

It was so great to be able to spend today working in music and it NOT feel like I needed to be doing other stuff. I just feel so much less stressed about my life. I have high hopes for 2013.

Recital Planning

The "Wild Party" has officially come to an end. Le sigh. It was an absolute blast. I could go on and on, such a good time.

With that show over, I'm going to get going on my first SoFla recital. I have a program picked out that I think will be pretty interesting for the audience and also provide a good amount of challenge for myself. I'm going to start contacting some pianists and possible venues soon, and hopefully I'll have a date picked out soon!

I'm not really sure which week I'm in for this quarter, but I'm not going to let that get me down. I'm glad to say that I've been playing every day like I wanted to, and I've been making progress. All of this will be more thoroughly discussed in a later post (hopefully soon). Be back soon!