I’m just wrapping up a mammoth (for me) 3 and half hour practice session on flute.
Now, I wonder, have I made any progress in that time? I’ve played lots, and have half learnt half a dozen tunes. Yet I’m frustrated. Simply because there’s nothing really to show for the time and effort. At the end of that 3 and half hours, I can’t play any tune now that I couldn’t before. The tone got pretty good today (‘good tone day’) after about 10 minutes of playing and has stayed at that level - better than average for me - all the way through my practice session. (For Jem’s sake, I’ll point out that, on ‘good tone’ days like today I don’t do that humming into the flute thing any more. ) My low D crans started nice, and stayed nice. So I suppose that’s a good sign.
But there are no new, fully learnt tunes, and the tone and technique isn’t better at the end than at the beginning.
I have no idea what my question should be here. But fire away anyway.
Ask someone you haven’t met in a good while how *e finds your playing. I bet you a tenner *e will say ‘Wow, you’ve really made some nice progress!’
When you’re alone on that endless learning road you don’t seem to get anywhere but that’s mostly in your own mind. Just keep it up!
So however long it takes you to learn them fully isn’t that 3 1/2 hours down the road and isn’t that good? Will your tone be better tommorow because of it?
Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. This flute malarkey is all so intangible somehow. (I mean, not the flute itself, obviously - that’s tangible enough. ) What if I’m at just the same level as today, or, heaven forfend, worse? I’ll let you know …
I guess the unasked question is: why? What motivated you to such an extended (and presumably unusual) practice session in the first place?
If you think you just haven’t been playing enough lately to keep up your flute chops to your satisfaction, then the time spent is its own mission accomplished.
If you were focusing on specific technical issues*, then you can probably judge for yourself whether you made any progress.
*(or ended up focusing on specific technical issues - which is what usually happens to me when I sit down for an open-ended toot/squeeze/pick)
If you ended up with a half dozen almost learned tunes, you’re an experienced enough player for me to guess that that’s basically what you intended. And nothing wrong with that. The next time you come back to them they’ll be there, waiting for you to flesh them out. If you’d wanted to fully learn a new tune or two, you certainly would/could have done that instead.
If you just wanted to waste half a day noodling stuff, have some fun, and to hell with the rest … welcome to the club.
I recall once reading something on Matt Molly referring to having bad tone days himself. “A wayward instrument”, I believe was his pronouncement on the flute.
Yes it is. And, FWIW, my tone the next day was significantly better right from the off, and it’s still hanging in there some days later. Gosh, but there’s not telling what may happen as a result of the next mammoth practice, is there?
Don’t be too disappointed if the bad tone days return soon. This sounds like a case of post-intensity skills.
Have you ever had a weekend of intense playing and then find that you can suddenly get things to work on the flute that had been difficult/impossible before? The sad news is that these new skills fade away as you return to your normal playing hours.
But at least you’ll remember how it felt and you can start work towards making those skills permanent!
) My low D crans started nice, and stayed nice. So I suppose that’s a good sign.
