Dottie Case

Technology and Practice

Lately, I seem to have fallen ill with a 'technology virus' of some sort. My small computer, which goes EVERYWHERE with me, is refusing to charge. Since I have only a very 'dumb' smart phone, and no tablets, etc. it means I am chained to my dinosaur laptop if I wish to accomplish any work at all.

Because of where I live (in the middle of a heavily forested hill in a very sparsely populated area), I cannot receive cell phone reception at home. My baby computer with its wireless signal is my connection to everything. And now it is ill, and I haven't yet bothered to call the doctor.

One of the results of my computer being out of commission is that I watch almost no television after work anymore, since I always did so with half a brain on the TV and my eyes on the screen of the little computer on my lap as I read and sent emails, chatted with my kids, read the news and perused v.com. Now, with nothing to focus on, I find I can't stand just sitting there...so, I wander into my music studio, which is also the office space where the dino computer resides. And wow... what a great lot of practicing I'm getting done!

I will be getting my computer fixed...I really do need it, and certain things are suffering, because I can't stand to just sit in the chair in front of the desktop. However, I am thinking I may wait just a little while before starting that process. I'm sort of enjoying the results of partially un-plugging. I feel like I want this time to last long enough that I have a chance to break old habits and make new ones. We all know how easy it is to lose hours of time to the internet, email, facebook, etc.

Less technology in my life has had a direct and measurable impact on how much practicing I'm doing...and I don't even have a smart phone. It's been very good for me as a player. I've been able to immerse my brain in things that matter rather than having urgent but ultimately not very important things cluttering my mind. I do have some blog post topics that I wish to address, but just for right now, every time I feel like I should go sit at the dinosaur and write them out, I end up grabbing my violin instead. :)

I'll be back in the wired world soon, but until then, I'm enjoying the change of pace. And Bach. And Kreutzer. And Mozart, and scales, and double-stop work. All of it.

Ciao!

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