is this normal?

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:23 pm

Everytime ive gone in the practise room today, i feel like i cant do anything!!! Im screwing up all over the place - where I normally dont!! Its frusterating me so bad. I threw my pencil at the wall, and I had to leave the room before I threw my flute.

ITs so frusterating, yesterday I could do it!!!!!

MonikaFL · Post by **MonikaFL** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:06 pm

Don't worry, that happens to all of us at times! That's when you just walk away from the flute/practice room for a while... go do something you enjoy, and then come back to it later, when you feel like it - not when you feel like you HAVE to. You'll get a lot more done that way, because you'll be refreshed.

musical_Kat · Post by **musical_Kat** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:33 pm

Don't worry...we all have our bad days. Just yesterday my tongue felt so big and sluggish that it couldn't keep up with my fingers. I don't know if it was a just a bad day but for us girls anyway (or maybe just for me) I feel like I don't play as well when I am suffering from PMS (yes guys I said it so get over it

) But it will get better. Just remember that you are a good player....a few mistakes aren't going to cancel all the work you have put into the instrument! Keep practicing!

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:07 pm

hmm, so I suppose everyone has off days. I just felt so bad because eventually i gave up playing the piece for speed, and went for tone, and my fingers still just didnt want to work. at that point I said 'maybe tomorrow' lol. I just couldnt take it mentally anymore. Maybe tomorrow will be better/more productive...

sinebar · Post by **sinebar** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 6:54 am

Claiken wrote:Everytime ive gone in the practise room today, i feel like i cant do anything!!! Im screwing up all over the place - where I normally dont!! Its frusterating me so bad. I threw my pencil at the wall, and I had to leave the room before I threw my flute.

ITs so frusterating, yesterday I could do it!!!!!

I think the better you get the harder it is to maintain your current level of proficiency.

deina-kun · Post by **deina-kun** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:26 pm

Today's my off day. The weather's horrible and gloomy and the amount of air I hear when I play makes it frustrating for me to play because I don't like playing unless I like my tone. ;[

Baz · Post by **Baz** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:48 am

World class players dedicate their lives to playing/practising. So, take a DEEP breath, pull up your pants, and try to be cool. Yes, it's 'frusterating' (great word!) but if it was easy everyone would be doin' it.

Anytime I'm frustrated I just remind myself to do deeper into the music, a little further exploring what EXACTLY the problem is. Define in detail what you can't do and the possible reasons why so that you can experiment. If you don't develop the capacity to do this, you won't get even half as far as your potential allows.

Cut yourself some slack, settle in for the long haul and learn to be happy with modest improvements.

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:02 pm

I cant be happy with little improvements though, not if I want to get into the studio in 3 weeks. thats not alot of time. and theres an AMAZING amount of competition in the flute department too. its times like this i wish i played french horn or something, then id be a shoe in due to lack of players.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:03 pm

Claiken wrote:I cant be happy with little improvements though, not if I want to get into the studio in 3 weeks. thats not alot of time. and theres an AMAZING amount of competition in the flute department too. its times like this i wish i played french horn or something, then id be a shoe in due to lack of players.

It sounds to me like you are sort of preparing for an audition of sorts. you might be 'over'practicing. That happened to me last year right before my music scholarship audition. I was getting so frustrated, that I put the piece down for about a week. I didnt touch it at all, and I just ran through it a few times a couple of days before my auditions. Taking that break was quite good, and helped the piece actually get better.

Claiken · Post by **Claiken** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:43 pm

theres such thing as overpractising??

i once heard someone say "everytime you go to bed, theres someone whos still up practising" which is probably true. lol.

but what are disadvantages of practising too much?

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:52 pm

I think [but I dont know for sure] that when you over practice, you are concentrating too hard, and it is a mental block that causes over practicing. It [or at least for me] seems that when you really stress about something and you go practice it really stressed you cant play it as well. This stress doesnt neccessarily have to be something you acknowledge, because it could be an underlying tension in your subconscious..

But, that is my best guess. There is a fine line between good practice intensity that is appropriate for improvement, and bad practice intensity that causes you to decline in quality. Flute playing is like cooking; there are times to let things boil and times to let things simmer.

Any thoughts on this anyone? I gave it my best shot as how to explain it...

remnantpark · Post by **remnantpark** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:28 pm

Yes, somewhat, I think there is overpractising...

I remember the day when I practiced I dunno, I'm not joking, but more than 10 times before a concert and I totally screwed up in one place because I forgot the LAST TWO ENDING measures.

And since then, I NEVER remembered those two measures until I looked it up again in the book...

Plus, I've noticed a pattern with practicing (for me, at least). The first time is pretty good. It gets better as you practice a few more times. After that, the quality of the music starts deterioriating if you continue to practice more until you get really upset and give up.

Also, when I've finished a piece earlier than the concert date...Then I usually just leave the piece alone until one or 2 months before the concert, and the quality is actually /better/ because you have learned other things in different pieces and mastered different skills -your focus isn't totally fixed onto that particular piece.

so in a way, I think there is kind of "overpracticing"...I think overpracticing as in more like a psychological thing like fluteguy18.

musical_Kat · Post by **musical_Kat** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:18 am

You know the old saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it"? Well this definitely pertains to practicing...especially before a performance. We tend to get that perfection bug (I say we because from my experience it tends to include most flute players). We practice and practice until we get something perfect. Once we get it the way we like it we should stop but we just beat it into the ground. I am very guilty of this as well. But I also know as a performer that sometimes a terrible last practice session or a really bad sound check (since I also sing) can precede a really great performance. So just try not to stress too hard about it. If you know it you know it.....some mistakes in practice are probably only stress related.

arion · Post by **arion** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 4:36 pm

Mmm. When I overpractice I do tend to lose my concentration, mess up and get frustrated. (Wash, rinse, repeat.) Overpracticing certain passages, particularly fast ones, has also been a source of trouble for me. Two things happen in those cases...I almost unconciously try to go too fast through the passage, and I see that the passage is coming and sort of seize up and get nervous..."oh my god here it comes..." and then of course I screw it up.

So let's hear it for not practicing so much!

remnantpark · Post by **remnantpark** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 5:42 pm

I agree wtih musical_Kat. Sometimes, overpracticing manifests the obsession of becoming better than perfect.

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