Less than three is worthless

Lots to blog about ... so here goes ...

Firstly, I've decided that less than 3 hours of daily practice is worthless ... to clarify, I don't mean that as a judgement of anyone else's playing or practicing, I only mean it related to mine. I also don't mean that I have the option between practicing 1-2 hrs or not at all that I'm not going to practice at all. What I mean, is that I don't really improve substantially with less than 3 hours & I'm not going to become amazing unless I put in at least 3 hours a day ... I averaged 3 hours a day last month ... so far I'm averaging less than that this month...

In a lot of ways, my cello playing is the best it's ever been - mechanically, consistency, understanding of tension, breathing - what's still lacking is this: speed, tone, callouses ... these things are literally all related, and all just a matter of how much time I put in ... they're also what's holding me back from saying that I'm playing at my very best ... actually, there's one more thing: rate of progression ... back in high school, I was constantly making tremendous leaps and progress ... I am working on getting back to that point, and I have 2 weeks to do it ... I need to go to Summit and play amazingly and impress people .. or at least be able to to hold my ground compared to the other really amazing players ... I'm on the road to that, but I'm not there yet... I also need to be able to go back to school 3 weeks after that and be one of the best in the department. There's no reason I can't, and it will really help raise the level (hopefully) & I'm a senior at this point ... people are going to form their opinions of the department based off of what I & the other upper-classmen show that they're capable of ... I also know that if I go in with a strong practice system, then I'll stick to it and possibly even go beyond it, but if I come in having slacked off, then it will be a wasted year, and given that I want to go to conservatory for grad that would be a tremendously bad thing...


Next on the list is Etudes ... been working through the Dotzauer Etudes lately, it's incredibly fun! Great way to work on sight-reading and technique at the same time ... when I get through them, I'm going to get back to working on Popper, since that covers the intermediate (in pitch, not difficulty!) region of the cello

I've been doing my video series for about a month now ... been getting some pretty positive feedback, and a good number of views ... it's great to get a chance to see what I'm doing and how I'm progressing ... and I'm realizing that the quality of my improv is largely determined by my technique & how much I've practiced... I also now no longer have an amp :( ... hopefully at the end of summer I'll be buying a very pretty (read: amazing) one...

Practicing Intervals - I now understand why cellists practice 3rds & 6ths in particular ... so I'm starting to work on Mm 3rds, 6ths, 7ths ... I do this as a chromatic exercise (which I'm also doing with scales now ... ie I go up a half step for scale choice each day ... I need to practice modes more and get more familiar with jazz chords...

Teaching: Emily Wright suggested a "drill sargeant" approach to working with students ... I'm glad she did ... I'm realizing that the really amazing lessons I've had have utilized this approach to some extent, and I've gotten some really positive feedback from my students (who've all been practicing more than they used to) ... also, I've come up with "Say It While You Play It" ... whenever my younger students are doing a technical exercise, or learning a new piece, I make them do things like say the note names out loud or count out loud & tell them to say it while you play it ... it rhymes, which they delight in pointing out & I think it's very important to be able to do these two things at once ... I was first turned on to this by Jordan Rudess and his Online Conservatory... teaching is one of the most rewarding/fulfilling things in the world...

Goals (for the next 2 weeks):
1. Develop amazing technique and tone
2. Read through all the Dotzauer exercises & be able to play them at tempo
3. Be able to play the 2nd movement of the Elgar at tempo
4. Be able to play a good chunk of the first movement of Saint-Saens at tempo
5. Develop a stronger knowledge of modes & chords and incorporate that into my improvisations

It's a lot, but I know I can do it!

I want to write more in general, but I've been having tendon problems, and have determined that those are being caused from computer use ... so I need to cut down on it ( and remember to stretch and take breaks and avoid soda!!!)...

That's all for now...

Oh, and please check out my improv series here: http://www.youtube.com/mlunapiena01