Rachel Shirley Music
  • Home
  • Flute Lessons
  • Music Theory
  • Sheffield Flute Choir
  • Events
  • Performances
  • Research
  • Academic Writing Support
  • Blog
  • Sound and video
  • About me
  • Contact
  • Student Login

100 Days of Clarinet

17/8/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
I said in my last post I'd be setting myself some new musical goals for the rest of the year, so here's the first one! I did my Grade 1 clarinet exam in July and straight afterwards I had a renewed burst of enthusiasm for playing it more. But I have to admit that initial burst faded a bit over the summer, and when I picked it up again the other week, it felt like really hard work! Like any skill, learning an instrument benefits from being practised little and often, far more than doing a big stint now and then. Last week I realised that the end of the year was twenty weeks away, or 140 days. Now, being realistic, I'm not going to practise the clarinet every single day (I don't expect my students to do that either - as with sports training, the odd 'rest day' is actually really beneficial) - some days I'm out of the house from 8.30am to 8.30pm! But five days out of every seven sounds pretty reasonable, and conveniently that makes a nice round 100 days between now (well, last week) and the end of the year. They might not always be long practices - I've just squeezed in ten minutes before writing this post - but that little and often approach is more likely to build up the right muscles gradually, whereas the occasional 'blow out' is more likely to just damage them - a bit like doing short jogs regularly, rather than just running a marathon once a month. Interestingly, my dissertation research found quite a few comparisons between music practice and sports training - I'll fill you in on them next time. In the meantime, I'm going to have another quick play through my current favourite clarinet study, James Rae's Tumbledown Blues, before heading out to teach...

(practices so far = 2)

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Keep in touch
    I have an email newsletter where I share my latest blog posts, news from the flute and wider musical world, my current projects, and things I've found that I think are interesting and useful and would love to share with you. Expect lots about music and education, plus the occasional dip into research, language, freelance life, gardening and other nice things. Sign up below!
    The Reliable Musician - a series of blog posts on the skills that make the sort of musician people want to work with!

    Archives

    July 2019
    June 2019
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Adult Learners
    Clarinet
    Composition
    Ethics
    Exams
    Flute
    Linguistics
    Low Flutes
    Music
    Music Education
    Music Theory
    Page-turning
    Piano
    Practising
    Reliable Musician
    Research
    Talent
    Teaching
    Technology
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Flute Lessons
  • Music Theory
  • Sheffield Flute Choir
  • Events
  • Performances
  • Research
  • Academic Writing Support
  • Blog
  • Sound and video
  • About me
  • Contact
  • Student Login