Does anyone have any "exercises" or "tips", etc that'll help me relax and calm down?
I seriously have a problem with that, which is why I always sound 10 x worse than I'm supposed to be in band. I tend to get a little tense and mess up a the high notes when I "think" about it. If I don't "think" I play it well. But once I tell myself "Just don't think about it", it makes the sound even worse.
Just take a few deep breaths, and realize that you're there to make and enjoy music, not to be perfect. No one is going to remember that you messed up that run in bar 63 the next day. In fact, most won't remember in an hour or two. You want to learn how to make music as part of a group, rather than taking it upon yourself to be the sole flutist to save the rest of the section from their poor playing. Even if someone should happen to comment on a defect in your playing, it's just something to learn from, not something to hide or get nervous about. We're all constantly striving to improve (or should be), and you have to start somewhere. Very rarely (if ever) will you hear a technically perfect performance of any piece, even when performed by a top artist, so there's no reason to get upset by a few bobbles here and there. Just learn from them.
"Just take a few deep breaths, and realize that you're there to make and enjoy music, not to be perfect"
Yes, my negative trait -perfectionism.
The thing is (long story), I had terrible memories with high notes long time ago with braces. I developed a /terrible/ habit with the flute because I got braces during the summer. Considering that I wasn't experienced...I had a really hard time whenever/wherever I played. So I had this habit: "Oh god, here's that high note that I'm obviously going to mess up"...
I really don't have probs with them anymore, but perfectionism took over this time...
~Stormy~ wrote:I swear its a flute thing to be a perfectionist.
You must not have talked to a violinist or a concert pianist before...Now those are true perfectionists!
I know... well... at least when it comes to pianists..... the piano majors here, spend hours and HOURS a day practicing... it is like they live there.... I heard one of the professors practicing the other day, and to me it sounded perfect, but they kept going back, and became more and more frustrated, and eventually moved on to something else....
But, I think it is more of a musician thing to be a perfectionist. Here, of all of the music majors, the pianists, and clarinetists, and percussionists are the ones that are the most OCD when it comes to perfection....
