Good morning!
I often read the blog by Leo Babauta called "Zen Habits" and really enjoy his insights into meditation and self awareness. Today's post by Leo is great, and totally applies to the art of practicing. It is called "The Frustratingly Slow Pace of Change" and while he's talking about exercise or diet most of the time, just replace those words with "practicing" and you'll see how the post applies.
I know there are many teachers reading this blog now, and you may ask: this is great, but how do I help a young player understand that the process is worth it, even when the results take weeks or months to show up in their playing?
I have no idea.
In my studio, I try to help students be aware of the sounds they are making, and connect what physical actions they take that make those sounds. That way, there's no "bad" sounds, just ways to identify what caused a particular sound (very close to bridge? super firm right hand?) and the sound itself. Especially in the case of playing extra ponticello, I'll let them know about the times we DO want that sound - Stravinsky, and many of our contemporary composers use that electric sound.
As they develop the ears and self awareness, I'm always hoping they can start to connect this action=this sound. And I praise them at every new sound/action they can figure out. Hopefully that helps to keep them going during the months it usually takes to get a great tone the majority of the time. Remember, great tone isn't one thing, or we'd all have it mastered rather quickly. We're always compensating for the string length, dynamic, amount of bow we can use on a given note, etc. It's always a moving target!
Here's Leo's post for your enjoyment:
http://zenhabits.net/slowchange/
Happy practicing!
Gaelen
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