Sleepy violinist

July 13, 2006 at 04:27 AM · It is much better for your health to practice only occasionally when you have more energy than to practice everday with fatigue.

It is possible, however, that drilling in repetitive exercises even while you're fatigued will familiarize you with the musical passage in question.

July 13, 2006 at 04:41 AM · Greetings,

things that may help:

1)Keep well hydrated. Drink water while oyu practice.

2) Set yourself goals and keep yourself under pressure. When there is no aim in your pracitc eother than improvement motivation and focus drop.

3) Exercise and stretching is an integral part of the task we call violin playing. If you are not doing something in the areas of strecthing, cardio , Tai chi, yoga for at leats twenty minutes everyday then you are not praciticng correctly......

Plan very carefully what you need to do and why. Most people do aimles spracticing whihc is extremely fatiguing. If your praciticng is focused then you will automatically increase your energy levels. Think about it this way: at your most tired, Brad Pitt walks in and asks you to go dancing with him. Do you excuse yourself on the grounds of fatigue or do you get a sudden and inexplicable supply of energy. ITs all to do with the mind and conditioning. The new book by Burton Kaplan called something like `Musicians Development` is very helpfulin this area.

Avoid all the products thta push your body through extremes. taht is, coffee , coke and so on.These give you a temporary high but will not help at all in the long run. Your diet is very importnat, not only will it effetc how much energy you have but also the condition of your tendons and nerves which relates directly to playing ability.

Use a timer and only work on any specific problem for a fe wminutes.This cocnentrates the mind which relates ot the points above.

Cheers,

Buri

July 13, 2006 at 04:56 PM · Hi Jenna,

the answer is yes and no. There's two kinds of being tired: If it's just that you had a hard day and do not really feel like practising, start anyway. In my experience, doing something you love (all violinist.com'ers love to play their stringed instrument/s, right?), the stress and normal tiredness will fall off, you'll get a "second wind" and will enjoy a pleasant and fruitful practice session. That's the situation where Yehudi Menuhin's quote "a bird doesn't say 'I am tired, I will not fly today'" applies.

If, however, you're completely bushed (isn't that a strange expression ;-) ), so tired that your mind cannot control what your body does while playing (especially listen critically), then you should relax (sleep), since you will be doing more harm than good. Best case, you'll teach yourself bad habits ("practise makes permanent"), worst case, you'll damage your playing apparatus.

Enjoy practising, Juergen

July 13, 2006 at 05:34 PM · Just don't end up on Adderall! It gives you more energy and focus but it's not worth it. A guy at my school started getting hooked on it, and while his playing got a lot better, he also started acting really bizarre and losing a lot of weight. The worst thing was that you could easily see him grinding his jaw back and forth while he played. It was really creepy.

July 13, 2006 at 06:19 PM · Sometimes, in that state, I'll set the timer for 20 mn, go lie down and take a cat nap. Ironically, this doesn't always work - my brain will go buzzing around like a toddler who refuses to nap - but quite often just that act of lying quietly will soothe that exhausted bit of me. Often right around 15 minutes, I'll feel something tight in me give, and only then will I drift off. You'd think a 5 mn cat nap wouldn't do that much, but it's amazing how much better I'll feel, 30 mn later, in the middle of practicing. Other times, I'll fall asleep almost immediately and wake up 20 mn later feeling almost worse, all groggy and such, but again, 30 mn into practicing, my body and I are much better off for the 20 mn investment.

I can appreciate your concern over this issue - it challenges me on a daily basis. Good luck! (Or good night!)

July 13, 2006 at 06:54 PM · If you're fatigued all the time, then I'd suggest you need to make some life changes. I had an insane schedule in college, but I was younger and healthier and could manage it without being constantly exhausted. When you're tired all the time, your body is trying to tell you something.

If you're not tired ALL the time, just at the point when you get ready to practice, could you switch around the order of your activities? I used to practice after my girls were in bed, right before I went to bed myself, but by then I couldn't concentrate enough to practice effectively. I finally moved my practice sessions earlier in the evening and saved more mindless activities like housework and bill-paying for later. Of course, it sounds like all your activities require some mental power, so maybe that's not a solution after all...

July 13, 2006 at 09:47 PM · Fear your teacher? ;-)

July 14, 2006 at 12:24 AM · lol! BTW, are we having a lesson any time soon?

July 14, 2006 at 01:36 AM · haha

July 14, 2006 at 01:40 AM · Jenna,

You could always use your "wasted time" (walking places, driving, in the shower, etc) to practice in your head. A few minutes of mental practice can be extremely useful if done at times when you are alert. It'll cut down on the amount of time you need to practice on your instrument and then maybe you can get some more rest! Alot of what playing is about is mental anyway so it's a useful form of practice.

-Laura