Re: Practicing


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Posted by Winton, to Jen on August 10, 2000 at 04:27:51:

In Reply to: Practicing posted by Jens on August 09, 2000 at 15:49:48:

(I was going to write to you personally but your e-mail address wasn't available)


Dear Jen,

Hi, how are you? I just read your post for "Practicing" and all the replies. Most of the replies, though, didn't seem as helpful that I thought it should be. Now, I agree with what they all say, and what they suggested in practicing is helpful. But it felt to me that they were almost making you feel more guilty of the fact that you're going through this lazy stage. Before I go to how I feel, let me tell you why they're saying it so strictly. It's because they ARE or WERE in the stage of life where it IS very very very strict: the performance realm. Trying to find a job in performance is VERY hard so far I've heard. And because they went through so much crap, that they wish they could've told themselves when they were in college, or even highschool, to practice. That's why they say all that as if they wish they could've told themselves. Well, I'm sorry this became kind of a psychic analysis class and it's still summer break! But just wanted to tell you that just in case you felt the way I probably would've if this happened to me. It would've just been an addition to my stressful day, like "THANKS GUYS!!!"

As for me? I'm a college student that took a year off after my freshmen year (if you really would like to know, you can reply), and now I'm ready to go back in a week. Yeah, this past year with no college was an experience. But as far as tuba, it wasn't the best. I was probably crammed into the worst possible situation for "trying" to practice. First off, I have no motivation: 1) I'm not in school, 2) I have no practicing "homework", 3) I have a tuba teacher which I met about once a month, but he's really really not good. The reason I've been getting lessons was because he's probably the most well known tuba player in Japan (Yeah, I'm in Japan, but I'm an American), 4) I know this sounds like a lame excuse, but sound DOES matter. I have a tuba that I just hate! The reason I got this tuba was because this is the only C tuba I can find in Japan around my area. It's a MW 32 (you can reply if you want details to this). Hope you don't have it or purchase it. So yeah, I could go on and on, but the main reasons were 2 and 3 and that was motivation. For a whole year, so probably I'm very out of shape.

BASICALLY, yes, this past year I went through the "I don't want to practice" stage and tried forcing myself to practice, but I end up distracting myself. To give you an idea, sometimes I wouldn't even go up to an hour a day. Sometimes I feel like I made a total waste of my year here. Yeah, it's like "look who's talking." You're recieving this long e-mail from some loser that can't practice on his own. But, no regrets; I'm going back to college. Even when I was in college my freshmen year, I had those. But it was not as often and probably like a small one that you're going through. And also since you're on a short break away from school and from your teacher (your motivators), it's another reason. What to do about it? Well, you can take the suggestions that the pros and semi-pros gave cuz they're all good. But I don't exactly know your situation so I don't know what to say. Maybe you have friends that you can call, you have your favorite program on TV, maybe you're a computer geek (or a computer nerd wanna-be like me) and want to surf the net constantly. If it's any of those like that, I can suggest a few things to you since I've had a WHOLE YEAR of experience to finally discipline myself. It's funny, I'm leaving next Monday to California for college, and NOW I've had this urge to practice. Ha ha ha, geez, I wish I had that about a year ago. Anyways, write me if you'd like, if not, it's cool. Hope you get out of that stage soon before college, eh? Good day, eh?

Sincerely,
Winton White

P.S. Just in case you didn't get the message, "It happens to EVERYBODY."


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