At the beginning of the year, my focus was on getting good grades but not at the expense of my health or my sleep. I knew that getting enough sleep and eating enough would be the best way to get good grades because I would be healthy, alert, able to attend all my classes, and balance my time. However, at some point, out of a perceived necessity, I started to sacrifice sleep for grades, and this made going to class and keeping on top of everything progressively more difficult. Now that I’m at the end of the semester, I think I should re-evaluate my priorities and try to make sure my actions align with my priorities. One of the things that has a big impact on my overall wellness is food. If I don’t eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between, I oftentimes don’t have enough energy to follow through on everything I need to accomplish on any given day. I know this isn’t uncommon, but I have a gluten allergy, which significantly limits my options for picking up a quick meal on campus. This means that I have to have a lunch and snacks prepared every day if I want to feel my best. I had trouble figuring out how to go about my meal prep at first, because I wasn’t sure how much to make or how long it would take. I would run out of prepared lunches halfway through the week and have to hastily throw something together while eating breakfast. I’ve now designated 3-4 hours on Sunday evening for cooking, but even getting to that point was a whole trial and error process. I’ve found that balancing my time has been the most difficult thing to get a handle on this semester, so figuring out my limits, making a schedule, and sticking to it is my best shot at handling things better next semester. Balance is Key
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Regarding the first article, “Posture: The Great Big Rump”, I must say that I’m a little skeptical. Part of me wants to believe it. It’s appealing to think that you can change your posture by changing your awareness and focus. But I feel the need to ask – does attention even work like that? Are there psychological studies backing this up? How did the author develop this theory? What about people with attention-related disorders? Does this method work for them too? I don’t mean to be rude about it, but I feel like I need some more concrete evidence before following what the author is saying.
As skeptical as I am of the first article, the second one, “By Intention Alone”, makes more sense to me. It might be because my studio teacher brought up something similar a couple of weeks ago. I was having trouble getting a melody to shape the way I heard it in my head, so my teacher asked me to play it the way I would if I were demonstrating it to my students. To my surprise, it worked out just like I wanted it to. She told me the difference was in my intention – when I was practicing, I was getting too caught up in the details, but when I was demonstrating, I was thinking “I want it to sound like this”, so my body just did it. I’d love to know about exactly why that happens, but for now I’ll just accept that it works regardless of my understanding. Tuesday, November 12th
Today in choir, I experimented with releasing tension and how that affects my range. I’ve been having trouble reaching an F in one of the pieces. I can feel my throat tighten and I feel like the note is very breathy. At a choir rehearsal I recently attended, one of the sopranos said something similar and the advice she received was to try to release any tension in her throat and jaw. When I tried to relax, I felt the note was a little more manageable. I couldn’t get it consistently, but I think with practice I could get it. Releasing tension helped a little with the tone, but it’s not as clear as I’d like it, so I need to find out what else can affect tone. Thursday, November 14th Today during practice, I experimented with my wrist placement and noted how it affected my tone. In my lesson this week, my teacher asked me to pay attention to what my wrist is doing during scalar passages. Was my wrist following my hand? Was it properly aligned? How did it feel? During practice, I moved my wrist in and out of alignment and tried to see what happened and how I felt. When everything was aligned, I actually enjoyed the scalar passages more and it felt like less work. The scale also felt a little more connected, which is how I want it to sound. Friday, November 15th Today during practice, I experimented with pedal. There’s a legato part in my Beethoven piece that I’m having trouble with. My teacher said I could use a little bit of pedal to help, but I’m not sure how much is enough. I had fun seeing what it sounded like completely dry and what it sounded like with way too much pedal, and then I tried to zero in on what was the right amount. I had a few run throughs that sounded pretty good, so I’m headed in the right direction, but I’m not consistent yet. I’d like to try on different pianos so I can practice quickly adjusting to how much pedal I hear. The physical activity I picked was rolling a coin between my knuckles. I watched a quick YouTube video to get the basics and then started trying. I had some successes, but as I kept trying, I found that the coin would consistently fall off my hand as I tried to flip it between my ring and pinky finger. I started to get frustrated but looking at the activity as play helped with the frustration because it allowed for me to play heads or tails with myself whenever I started to get mad. Following a system with an allowance for doing something you already know how to do instead of focusing on what you’re trying to learn the whole time felt less stressful and more enjoyable than my usual approach.
I realized I had stopped assessing my action and my intention had dissipated, so I focused and thought about what exactly I wanted my fingers to do when the coin flipped over my ring finger. Visualizing and specifying definitely helped me achieve a few more successful cycles. I enjoyed this approach to learning because it feels very forgiving, though I also feel it requires more attention and self-awareness than what I’m used to. Practicing with a clear intention feels more efficient but also requires a clear head space whenever you’re practicing, which can depend on a variety of factors. |
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