Balance

I'm one month into my year-long plan now, so I thought now would be a great time to spend a post talking about specifics of my goals and hopes and how this blog is supposed to help me get there. The word "balanced" is everywhere, but when I say that I want to be “balanced,” what do I mean? I want to have all the various aspects of my life in a positive state of operation.

Financially, I want to be in a place where reasonable, unexpected fiscal hiccups don't cause panic - If I have a week that I don't work a full 40 hours, I'm not in trouble. I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck. I'm fine with not being rich or being able to drop money on whatever I want, but I would like to buy groceries without having to worry about the cost. Specifically, I plan on setting up an emergency fund and then paying off my credit card debt.

Musically, I intend to be fully-employable as a musician. This statement mostly applies to my own quality of playing. I know that I'm easily capable of winning a job, but I also realize that I'm not there yet. As I mentioned before as well, I hope to be making 25% of my total income from music, preferably playing and teaching.

Those two topics are the biggest and most pressing areas of my life. Now, how am I going to go about achieving reaching these goals? Most of the details of my personal financial stuff won't be discussed in terms of dollar amounts, but I will be discussing what my goals are and where I am in regards to meeting those goals. For the musical goals, I'll be doing posts similar to those I've already done: discussing practice methods and method books, spotlights on players and composers, etc.

Some other goals of mine:

Increasing the amount of at-home or from-scratch cooking I do.

Exercise, at least a little bit!

Do some music-related scholarly writing.

 

I'm really trying to get this blog filled out and "balanced" in it's own way. Slowly but surely!

Week 4 in Review

This week was a mixed bag for sure. I'm still looking for work, although I have a few interview this week. Maybe this will be my last week of being unemployed!

Practicing went generally well. I did have some frustrating tension-related experiences, but by the end of the week I made a couple of important discoveries:

- I sometimes allow my facial muscles to tense and pull upwards. This severely diminishes the depth of the tone.

- I've had to roll out further than I ever used to. It really gives me a lot more possibilities for tone colors, and somewhat surprisingly, makes my playing more secure.

Practice Plans for Week 5 will be up tomorrow. Here's to next week!

Positive thought for today

I just wanted to share a little bit of encouragement and happiness today. I'm working on some posts that I hope will add some insight to the blog. 

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. " - Norman Vincent Peale



Source

Spiced Banana Oat Muffins

I started this blog with the intent of discussing and sharing multiple facets of my life, and so far it's pretty much only been about music and practicing. I've been wanting to branch out and bring other topics into the mix but wasn't sure where to begin - until yesterday when I finally started cooking at home again. Since we're a vegan household, all of the recipes I post will be vegan, BUT you don't have to make them vegan if you don't want. We use almond milk and soy butter, but you can certainly use regular dairy if you want!

I'm going to start with Spiced Banana Bread. The recipe I use is based on this one. I've increased the milk slightly since I've added the grains. The vinegar helps make the bread more moist. I decided to add it to the banana bread after I saw it in few vegan cake recipes. You may also want to use 3/4 cup sugar, if you want it a little sweeter.

1/3 c. margarine, softened

1/2  c. sugar

2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 mashed bananas

3/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. allspice

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 c. assorted grains (oatmeal, plain granola, etc.)
1 tsp. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix margarine and sugar in a large bowl.

Sift in the flour and spices, mix well.

Add liquid ingredients and grains and mix well.

Pour into greased muffin pan...

and bake for 45 minutes!

The recipe makes about 18 muffins, depending on what size you make the muffins. As you can tell, six of them have a little streusel-esque topping (melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, milk, wheat germ and granola). I don't know what the proportions I used were, I'll get that later. Here's a shot of the delectable finished product:

For the 'grains,' I use a mix of oatmeal, wheat germ, granola, whatever I have or want to put in. You can even use nuts if you want - I once made a banana bread with cashews in it that was pretty yummy. For this one I used these 'nutty nuggets' that I found in the cereal aisle of Kroger when we lived in WV. I thought they would be nice to mix with bran cereal for a tasty breakfast, but no. Just, no. They have NO flavor, are incredibly hard - not crunchy, just hard, and just suck. However, they work great in baked goods, so it's not a total waste!

Also, about the bananas. We always have bananas around for breakfast and snacks, but sometimes they go bad before we eat them. When they do, I just throw them in the freezer. Most people already know that, you probably do too. Now you know twice. You're welcome.

Hope you try these out and enjoy them!

Week 3: Practice Plans

Wednesday

Wagner #50/52    5min.

PG                    30min.

Boehm #2            6min.

Moz. Mvt. 1         7min.

Picc. Tone           6min.

Gazza Ladra         6min.

Thursday

PG                35min.

Picc. Tone     10min.

Boehm #2      10min.

Gazza           10min.

W#50/52       10min.

Cap. Esp.        5min.

Moz. Mvt. 1   10min.

Friday

PG                44min.

Picc. Tone     10min.

Boehm #2       5min.

Gazza            6min.

W#50/52       15min.

Cap. Esp.        5min.

Moz. Mvt. 1     5min.

Saturday

PG                   35min.

Picc. Tone        10min.

Boehm #2         10min.

Gazza              10min.

W#50/52          10min.

Cap. Esp.          5min.

Moz. Mvt. 1     10min.

Sunday

PG                  36min.

Picc. Tone       10min.

Boehm #2        10min.

Gazza               6min.

W#50/52         14min.

Cap. Esp.          6min.

Moz. Mvt. 1     25min.

Monday

PG                  35min.

Picc. Tone       10min.

Boehm #2        10min.

Gazza              10min.

W#50/52          20min.

Cap. Esp.         10min.

Moz. Mvt. 1      10min.

Tuesday

PG                    30min.

Picc. Tone          5min.

Boehm #2          10min.

Gazza                 5min.

W#50/52            10min.

Cap. Esp.            5min.

Moz. Mvt. 1       15min.

Happy Practicing!

My First Video Post!

Okay, here it is! My very first YouTube upload, and the first vlog to supplement this blog. The sound quality isn't as clear as I had hoped it would be, but hey, it's not like I've invested in special equipment, so no complaining here! Enjoy!

Picking Up and Carrying On

I've spent the last couple days practicing and planning, and I've decided that instead of trying to fit everything that I've missed back in, I'm just going to pick up with the start of Week 4. It will be far less stressful than trying to rework the whole plan, and that alone makes it worth it.

I didn't have time to draw up plans for Week 4 today, but that'll be first on my plans for tomorrow! I've got another post to put up tonight: My first video entry!

T-n-G, Patricia George Style!

Patricia George's bio on Powell Flutes' website gives a bit of insight on her, as does the website for Fabulous Flute, a store owned and operated by Patricia George and Phyllis Louke. As well as contact info.

And here's the infamous T&G Practice Guide I've been rambling about:

If you're not a flutist, you probably will have no idea what exercises are contained in the 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers de Mécanisme pour la flûte, but trust me: they're good. I'd post more snippets, but it's still under copyright. It would be worth checking out though. In fact, I'd recommend that you borrow a copy from a flutist friend and maybe consider buying a copy for yourself. These exercises are easily adaptable to most every instrument! If you would like to buy a copy, I'll put a link at the bottom of this post.

When you look over her document, you'll see some same or similar ideas repeated with various exercises, which is great for people like me who just can't stay focused. I also like the systematic rotation of key signatures from day-to-day.

As you can see, it's a twelve-week plan for working through almost the entire book (Ms. George omits exercises 3 and 17). I appreciate the slow working method that she encourages. For me, it's great because anytime I begin to feel rushed or anxious I can remind myself: “I still have x weeks to learn this. Plenty of time!” My favorite part right now is the space she suggests that you insert between chunks of notes.

For example, here's the first line of Exercise No. 1 from Taffanel and Gaubert's 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers de Mécanisme pour la flûte:

For this Ms. George recommends playing eight notes and then inserting a quarter rest, as such:

I should note that the original book suggests ten different articulations, but so far I've been slurring each group to make sure the tone is consistent. The addition of these 'mini-breaks' grants many advantages. The space allows you to relax and sort of step back and reflect on what you just played:

How was the quality of sound?

Were all the notes connected gracefully and naturally?

Were the notes of equal proportions?

Of course, this also allows you to listen to what your body is telling you – are you holding negative energy or excess tension? If so, where?

I hope some of this discussion helps you in your own practicing. Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions!

I really owe a lot of my 'take a year to practice' idea to Ms. George. I remember reading in a Flute Talk magazine (for which she is the editor) recently where she mentioned that she likes taking a little bit of time every year to just go back to the basics. Now, I'm probably paraphrasing at best (my magazines are still packed up), but if I remember correctly, she talked about going back to very simple exercises to unlearn any bad habits that had crept in and relearn good habits. I thought that was just the best idea, and that was probably the first step to getting me to where I am with this blog today. And for that, I am very thankful to you, Ms. George!

Purchase the 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers from the Flute Pro Shop by clicking here.

Reflections on Today's Practice

Most everything went smoothly today in the practice room. There are some consistency issues, but they are mostly fixing themselves as I am getting back into a routine.

Before I continue, I really should apologize for not having posted examples of the various exercises yet. I'm a bit hesitant to do so because I don't want to step on anyone's toes or share information without permission, trample over copyright, etc. I'm trying to work all of these issues out so that I can hopefully share these great exercises with you here.

The harmonic exercises are kicking my butt right now, but I'll keep working at it and it should come back quickly. This is hands down one of the best exercises that I know, and one of the three that I love to start the day with because it gets everything working right off the bat (the other two are tongueless attacks and chromatic scales at a brisk tempo).

I'm really enjoying working through the Taffanel-Gaubert. I have to keep reminding myself that I'll be playing these same exercises for the next 8-9 weeks though, so I really do have lots of room to SLOW DOWN and enjoy exploring my own playing. It's quite liberating, really.

Bolero would be going fine, except I'm having what seem to be some pretty significant troubles finding spots to breathe. The rhythm is better than it was, although I still need some time with a metronome. Tomorrow I'm going to try and focus on the spots where the breaths need to be to see if I can assemble the pieces.

I did play piccolo some, mostly just for the sake of playing it (I did do work, too!). I just love playing piccolo.

Practice Plans for Aug. 19, 2012

I've decided to go ahead and post my practice plans for today before I practice, then I'll come back later today and post some reflections on how it went. If this set up works, I'll draw up similar plans for the next two days and go from there with revised the Master Practice Plan.

Here we go:

Jim Walker's Harmonic Exercise

From the Patricia George Taffanel-Gaubert pages:

No. 2 1^st 8va

No. 4 – Group 1 (C major – g minor)

No. 5 – All Keys

No. 6 – Inverted 3rds, C major

No. 7 – E major

No. 8 – Variation 3

No. 9 – Variation 5

No. 12 – B-F#, two beat chunks

Then I'm going to get back to working on Bolero, maybe I'll be able to video record it and post the first and final versions on Tuesday.

Piccolo – Piccolo Practice Book Exercises 1&3 (pg. 6)

Practice Notes and Reflections, Aug. 18, 2012

Today's practice was a bit disorganized, and I was having some focus issues. Those issues stemmed from two sources: my lack of concentration and willingness to really focus, and the lack of a clear plan of action in light of the melee that has been my life.

Despite these issues, I still feel that today was a nice step forward. Here are some notes I took and some ideas I'm trying to keep in mind:

My goals were to keep working toward a smooth sound that maintains connection from note to note and the try and remove negative tension and energy from my body.

I've been noticing a tendency to roll in, especially when moving into the second octave. This isn't a new habit for me, but it's (thankfully) been from being an all-around problem to one that only arises in specific situations. It happens mostly when I ascend (as I mentioned before), but I've also noticed that I roll in when I'm feeling insecure.

I've dealt with a lot of insecurity issues surrounding my playing, which is almost ironic because I'm pretty obnoxiously 'hey-i'm-a-fluter!!!!'-y, but it's true. That's been brought to light recently because we now live in a middle apartment (neighbors on all sides) and our lease has a clause that basically says "Thou shalt not practice any instrument that annoys thine neighbors." As a result, I'm a little worried that someone will complain and then I won't have anywhere to practice. But I digress...

I'm also trying to work more slowly, and play smaller chunks for the many small successes rather than muscle through a technical exercise just so I can cross it off of my to-do list.

I'm really bad at this blogging thing still, but I'll get there. One day...maybe...

I'm still here!

Believe it or not, I'm still alive, and we moved in last weekend. Unfortunately I have not been practicing at all. I think I've only been able to play maybe three or four times since my last post.The move was much rougher than we expected, but we survived! 

I'm over a week behind on the practice plan, but I'm going to keep plugging along. I'm going to redraw my practice plans and post that in the next few days if I can. I'm going to do my original plans for Week 2 from today until Tuesday, at which point I'll start Week Three with the second week of the Patricia George plan. Her method of working through the Taffanel-Gaubert uses 6-day practice weeks, so if I'm able to get in at least a little bit of productive practice each day, I'll be able to make up the lost time.

I was able to practice today, and it felt great. While it was certainly not smooth sailing all the way through and I didn't make it through the entire to-do list, it was a very productive practice session. I'm having to out some tension issues, especially in my left arm, and having to fight the urge to try and play faster than I need to.

Patricia George suggests working in chunks, which I found very helpful. She suggests playing short chunks (between 4 and 8 notes) with a quarter note rest between each chunk. This was very great for slowing my mind down, getting my focused on consistency of sound, smooth finger motion, and getting rid of negative tension.

More to come in the near future, hopefully including some good news!

Day 3

While I haven't lost any of my excitement or fervor for practicing and achieving goals in general...I'm pooped. We only have some 30 hours left in Motown before we hightail it south, and it feels like we're all set to go and yet only beginning to scratching the surface of the work left to do.

I could only play for a few minutes today, but I really tried to make it worthwhile. I did some harmonics exercises from Jim Walker and some work on Bolero. I'm happy to find that the JW exercises are getting much easier and more consistent as the days go by. I used to struggle to reach the second partial, but now I'm able to get to it with little difficulty.

When I reviewed the recording of Bolero that I made on Wednesday, I was very shocked at how arrhythmic and unsteady my playing was. Granted, I can admit that I wasn't "in the zone," and that I had done all but maybe five minutes of reading over it, but still. I decided I would try to begin tackling that issue first, since rhythmic integrity is paramount to...well, everything.

Even though I didn't spend much time working on the excerpt, I do feel that progress was made. I'm heading to bed before I fall asleep typing.

First Two Days

Just a really brief post today. I've survived the first two days of practicing!

Wednesday went very well. I feel like I was really making progress, things were really falling into place.

Thursday was rough. There were several snags, so my entire afternoon was spent rerouting efforts and putting out fires, but at 11pm I was finally able to practice. Needless to say, it was much abbreviated. Stress levels are pretty high, but I think I was reasonable with what I did.

The move seems to be coming together, although not so perfectly we can relax yet, haha. All-in-all though, feeling pretty positive.

Ready, Set...Go!

I know it's technically Wednesday, but I haven't gone to bed yet. It's still Tuesday.

I had a nice (yet brief) practice session this evening, which was interrupted by my washing machine leaking and flooding part of my apartment. Thankfully it's going to be fine. Since it wasn't caused by my oversight I won't be held responsible for any damages.

Tomorrow is going to be a great day. We're going to do the bulk of the packing, I'm teaching a final lesson to a fantastic student I've been teaching for two years, selling some more furniture, and I'm so excited to kick off this year of practicing. As long as I keep my sights set on the long run I'll be great.

Wish me luck!