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February 2012
Superman Practices 10 Hours a Day
February 29, 2012 09:28
Have you ever heard someone saying how proud he/she is because they practiced tons of hours a day?
You wonder, how do they do it? Where do they find time to practice 8 hours and go to school, work, and be in touch with the social world?
For how long can you do that? Is it really effective?
Those were the questions that rumbled my mind for a long time. I needed some answers so I started reading personal development for classical musicians and even started a blog to help musicians. I tried to practice for 6 hours a day and do school and work but I felt totally burned out after 3 days.
Why was that? How come I couldn’t be like my friends at the conservatory? They seem to practice for 6-9 hours a day and do fine- at least that’s what they say!
After reading a lot and experimenting with different things I came down to 2 possible answers.
1) Either, my friends are rich and can afford to eat out every meal so they can go practice right away and not worry about work and school
or
2) They are lying!
I believe is the second one. I’ve read over and over again that you cannot be focus and maintain 100% of your conscious brain for more than 45 minutes- after that your mind needs a rest (mandatory). You might keep going and that’ll be fine with you but your level of productivity will definitely not be 100%- it will be lower with time.
After practicing for 3 hours with your demanding 10 minutes break for each hour, your brain has been put through such an intense period of time that you can barely continue been efficient anymore so it is recommendable to stop and do something else. Apparently my friends like to work at their 45% and think they are being productive.
4-6 hours in a row= wasting time- Perhaps for SUPERMAN works, not for us.
The best scenario would be to schedule your day before hand. Practice in chunks of 2 hours and focus on other things, then come back for 2 more hours, and so on. The masters recommend not to practice more than 5-6 hours a day.
When I feel totally exhausted and still need to do some practicing, I take 15 minutes break to lay down and close my eyes. I try to think about a white wall so my mind can have a little rest and forget about all the stress of the day. I found this very helpful even if I don’t fall asleep, my body is recovering and after that I usually practice 2 hours very easily with a clearer mind- it really works. This “technique” can help you accomplish anything during you day.
Give it a try and let me know!
Happy Practicing
Cesar Aviles
10 replies
A Violinist's Dream
February 21, 2012 08:29
As a violinist and composer my biggest dream was to perform my own concerto with a professional orchestra. I studied all the major violin concertos with score in hand and worked really hard to get my teacher’s permission to start writing a violin and orchestra piece.
At the time, I was in love with the Red Violin soundtrack and Joshua Bell and when the composer decided to make a concerto out of it I went crazy. I bought the score and studied it for hours. I loved the language and how Corigliano treated the orchestration. In every composition lesson, I would discuss this piece with my teacher while working on my own concerto. I wanted a piece that resembles contemporary, romantic and in general cool ways to treat the violin as communicator without boring an audience.
My idea was to make it short in order to gain experience and provide with an easier way to touch people.
I finished the pieced and performed it myself with the conservatory orchestra in an open rehearsal. I taught that was the best moment of my life, seriously, I felt like the king of the world. That year I won the school concerto competition and that lead to a performance with the national symphony. The conductor then asked me if I would like to perform my own violin concerto instead of the Lark Ascending and I said YESSSSSSS. Then, that was the best moment of my life- I was really in heaven.
I’ve accomplished my dream. After that, I title the concerto A Violinist's Dream, no wonder why!
My advice, if you want something really bad you will earn it eventually, just keep working hard!
That’s the secret!
Happy Practicing!
Cesar Aviles
www.tipsforclassicalmusicians.com
The Secret to Stay Motivated
February 14, 2012 08:56
Do you have any idea how many hours you have practiced since you started?
A lot!
How many disappointments and achievements?
You have been through so much! and now you are feeling tired.
Too much music and not so much energy.
After all that, you are a hero – you deserve to rest.
Know that you are where you are not by accident but more like that’s the way you wanted things to end up happening. Maybe unconsciously of perhaps with a conscious mind- there is certainly a secret behind all that success.
There is at least one thing that keeps you going!
There are several factors here, don’t get me wrong- but only one ingredient is completely necessary to acknowledge your potential and what you have accomplished to this day!
It is called passion.
Without it we have no goals or ambitions- no desire to make it in music or love for the art. We are musicians because we have passion for music, but not the same kind of passion my grandmother has for her oldies- is a lot more deep than that.
When you are passionate about something, you do it more effectively, you earn so much from it- personally and professionally
When I started the Tchaikovsky violin concerto I was so excited that practicing for hours was really easy. Passion for what I do and for what I was waiting for so long kept me going for months. I took my technique books and work hard thinking that at some point during the day I was going to apply that on my concerto.
So, what’s the secret here and how do you take advantage of it?
Stay motivated! How?
* Watch you favorite soloist on YouTube
* Listen to various recordings and compare them
* What to do when you don’t feel like practicing: Click here
* Go to concerts
* Recognize your work, treat yourself when you achieve something
* Subscribe to Classical Music blogs and news. HERE
* Talk about it with friends
* Just open your case, sometimes it’s all it takes to keep going for hours
The most important thing is that you stay inspired. Music is your life, remember how you feel when you are in the middle of an incredible orchestra, or when you play as a soloist or perhaps when you play with your string quartet… It’s the magic of how you feel afterwards!
My last advice would be DON’T FORGET WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO LOVE MUSIC but if you do, find it back.
Happy Practicing
Cesar Aviles
www.tipsforclassicalmusicians.com
Performance and Spirituality
February 10, 2012 16:20
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear those words?
Personally, I think of Beethoven’s violin concerto and Bach’s Chaconne from the d minor partita.
For some people, performance is religion- for other, performance is something they just do because it feels good. Either way, performance enhance your life by giving you a special connection with the abstract.
When you know a piece by heart and played it at least 100 times, you will develop some kind of relationship with the piece that can evolve into something really special, something unique.
Only then your understanding of the music will be vast and you will comprehend what the composer meant in detail plus you may add your personal feeling of the piece. At that level you are the perfect communicator for that particular work, because you own it, because you internalized the piece. You actually live through the piece.
As a violinist/composer myself, I can clearly say- that is the dream of any composer. I’m sure all the masters of classical music are really happy (of course! they can see what’s going on here on earth right?) with their contribution. Beethoven’s symphonies are played every day, all of them. Even more, all of Beethoven’s repertoire is played every day, somewhere on earth.
You contribute to any piece of music by adding to it your touch. Every time you play the Mendelssohn violin concerto, it’s your version- even if you try to imitate your favorite violinist- still, you will do things differently. Every time.
And that is what I personally call; Spirituality.
I believe in bringing back to life each work with my own contributions and my own unique features. I spent long hours of work in search of a spiritual and personal way to bring the piece alive, of course, I also spend time working my technique so that I can actually play it, but that’s another topic.
I would say find your peace within the piece and create something unique you can be proud of as you grow as a person in order to grow as a musician
Happy Practicing
Cesar Aviles
www.tipsforclassicalmusicians.com
More entries: January 2012
