A little different perspective...

[idontknowyet]

ok, first off i understand im a noob and all, but at least read what i have to say please.

I play the euphonium (http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/6/4/0/303640.jpg), as well as the guitar obviously, and i take private lessons. my teacher is full of pearls of knowledge, my first one is this:"play like its a performance, there is no practice."

At first, i was like, what?! but after a while, its making a lot sense. ill explain. see, if you practice, generally, musicians (at least immature ones like me :o ) tend to treat the mistakes and the practice session like "ohh, ill get to it later, it's only practice". even though you may get down to the problem that practice session, you may forgot. and, if you practice mistakes, then you'll play mistakes (which ties in with spaivxx's daily post about metronomes and taking things slow).

so, if you play things like they're a performance, or actually perform which ill get to in a sec, it does two things that ive noticed.

-it gets your mindset a little more serious and focused (for me at least)
-you'll treat everything as important and it you can diagnose what your problems are with what you are playing.

you can do this with anything from exercises to full length songs. perform for family, anything really, here on the lodge, or just pretend you're somewhere like Carnagie Hall or at school (sorry for those of you who stopped pretending :D ).

and if you practice performing, no only will you know how to perform the piece, but you'll have played it in "performance mode" so many times, its just like your practice session. though, i disagree with anyone who says its vice versa as well (with all due respect) because unless your mindset during practice is flawless, then you may mess up during a performance or something.

so, practice performing. it has helped me with my euphonium playing so much, i made 2nd chair in HS symphonic band as a freshman, and 3rd chair all district band. sorry to brag, but i dont want you guys to think i dont know what im talking about.

anyway, i hope some of you will try this, let me know what you think please. and i hope this helps someone

thanks, idky

[Mordrida]

I very much agree with this. I know i tend to do silly things while practicing. How many times i have been messing around and came up with something i thought was ingenious.

Then i call my brother into the room and say...hey check out this awesome thing. Only to completely and utterly mess up what i have been doing the past hour.

I can't tell you how many times i have fallen prey to the performance/practice syndrome. It takes a great deal of willpower to stay focused while practicing. In alot of ways i really miss my HS days because of the discipline of the classroom setting. It pushed my ideas of what could be accomplished.

During my time at school i played over 12 instruments in marching band, symphonic, jazz etc....I always was first chair and always in the highest class. If i had it to do all over again i would definitely would put even more effort into my playing. I took it all for granted. Its one of my biggest regrets in my musical learning.

I am trying to correct that mistake, and although i am not a professional player i do believe i have the potential to be one. I am not going to sell myself short. I am trying to overcome my limitations of "self" to realize my potential. In that respect i fully appreciate the sentiment of this post.

Its like football players. They don't practice running and throwing and tackling as much as they practice by playing football. Sure those other things are important but learning how to apply all of those things to the real thing is more important then just the small parts that make it all up.

Sorry for the rambling lets just say i agree wholeheartedly :P


Mord

[Hawk]

Damn, this reminds me how much I need to start a band.

EDIT: Also, I understand what you mean.

[hackinit]

WOW!!

Other people play euphonium! I thought it was just me.

Although that would explain why I didn't get first chair at district tryouts last week.....

[idontknowyet]

dude!!! you play euphonium! how cool is that?! i thought i was the only one. that is sweet.

did you make districts though?