nietha handastya

When the world seems to against you practicing.

This very moment, my cellphone clock displayed 02.31 AM. you're reading it right. it's very late. yet because of the long nap i took earlier, i couldn't sleep. i finished a book of 352 pages which i started around 5 hours ago and i'm still wide awake. then, looking across my room, i saw my violin case. i decided to practice. i pulled out my scale book and Wohlfahrt op. 74 etude.

To inform you of my 'nest', it's a rented room in a small house i shared with 6 others occupants who are all university student. the walls are made of wood so when my neighbours are talking on their phone or simply turning on their mp3 on cellphone, i can hear them all. vice versa. i don't want to bother anyone so late, so i have to find an idea.

let see. my wooden mute can't damp the violin sound enough. so i saw my spare bow. which i haven't put a rosin at all. i called it my 'silent bow'. months ago, i found that if you don't rosin a bow, it will not be totally silent. instead, it would produce a very small sound. like a whisper. not loud enough for my neighbours to notice (or at least i hope so) but enough for me to hear myself playing. the bow become slippery, though. make the bowing trickier. but since my practicing spot had been taken recently (12th floor of my campus' parking building which was recently turned into labs for faculty of biotechnology), i don't have many choice. it's either i practice at my room in silent or nothing at all. i found that, when you desperately want to practice, you'll eventually find a way!

In my opinion, one of deadly sin for a musician is not to practice. I myself haven't been able to touch my violin much this month. but this is the best i can do. so people, i just want to tell you. practicing is important. moreover in crowded and competitive universe as string instrument world. be creative :)

i hope you can share me how you guys practice when it seems impossible. :D

cheers,

nietha

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