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Welcoming myself to the world of blogging.

September 6, 2008 at 12:30 AM

I discovered violinist.com earlier this summer, and since then have checked in most days. I've found the site to be a wealth of good information, as well as some just flat out entertaining reading. Many of the names of the 'regulars' have become familiar to me, and I so enjoy the diversity of experience, place and approach demonstrated. What a great place!

So.....mine will be entries from a tiny area in far northern Michigan (on the Canadian border) where the strings community is tiny but very busy.

As I look at the beginning of the teaching/practicing season again, I've found myself wondering if anyone else has the same dilemma that I do. I find that the busier that I get working as a musician, the less time I actually have for practicing. My student load (violin and piano) has grown to a studio of about 34, plus I have a youth orchestra. I play for 2 orchestras, and have a string quartet (working mostly summers). I am THE pianist for my church. My entire life is about music...and I hardly have a minute to actually practice. How do others manage this?

As I look at my year, and the structure I need (I'm also doing a distance Master's program as well as having a part time church job) I've decided that I absolutely MUST schedule and structure more than feels natural to me. So, as I sat down with my calendar and planner, a thought hit me. Could I, maybe, just maybe, actually SCHEDULE my own practice time?

This is a radical thought for me since it's just been a year since I lost my school job (another story, for another time, thank you NCLB). Last year, I was dealing with my new job situation plus a terminally-ill mother living 3000 miles away and a daughter getting married. No time for anything except dealing with the demands of the day.

My mom passed away about 6 weeks ago, and I am now adjusted to my new job situation. All of the traumatic adjustments of those hard things have been dealt with...or at least well-begun. It seems a good time to take a deep breath and see what shape the calm and more-predictable fall will assume.

So....the radical thought-- Practicing time for me in my schedule? Time, not grabbed between students or before rehearsals, but actually planned for? (Reminds me of a concert last spring where I was practicing tough spots for the Tchaikovsky Symphony 4 in my hotel room mere hours before the concert.)

I'll have to look at my planner and see what I can find..:)

You should definitely schedule some practice time for yourself, and not just because it will help your career. It's personal time, apart from the rest of the world, doing something you love. Once you've opened that door, who knows what could happen next? Spend 15 minutes a day reading the newspaper? Taking a walk, joining an exercise class, or getting a massage? Picking up that camera you haven't touched for so long? Making a phone call to an old friend once a week? This is your life. Make the most of it.
P.S. Welcome to the v.com blogging community.
Welcome to blogging! Absolutely, schedule some regular practice time. I go back and forth with how successful I am at implementing this, but I am more productive at work when I break my day down into chunks on the calendar and schedule myself time to be doing x,y,or z. It frees me from the tyranny of the long to-do list, where I just sit paralyzed trying to decide what to do next (and then chuck the whole list and log onto violinist.com).

It's always interesting to read musicians whose work gives them no time to practice. That seems to be true no matter what your work is.

Pauline: Wow. How interesting...that's exactly where my thoughts were going too. The stress of the last year has persuaded me that I need to leave some 'me' time in life. Your comment serves as total validation. :) Thanks.
Dottie, I'm glad I could help.