5th Month of Fiddle – Facing the Music
Posted on June 10, 2019
Last Friday marked five months since I began learning to play fiddle.
I’m wording it that way on purpose, because though my 4th month started out strong with practicing and making forward progress, it ended rather dismally. A combination of feeling ill and lack of energy compounded, and I quickly found myself falling out of practice.
However, I’m not writing this to say that I’ve given up. It’s come to my attention I need to really rethink my approach to practice and the amount of time I have to dedicate to all this. I know that at the end of this month, I’m going to be away on leave for work, and other things are going to be cropping up that will pull my time away yet again.
I mulled this over and came to a conclusion:
- I’m going to make my practice sessions shorter
My practice sessions have typically been about 30 minutes. And that seems tiny compared to what I hear other people practicing. However, for me, after being at work all day, running errands after work, needing make supper, other things that need my attention after work… even 30 minutes seem difficult to set aside.
I figure if I put in even 15 or 20 minutes a day, it’s better than no practice at all. And if I’m in the mood to do more, I can. The idea is to keep myself consistently picking up the instrument, even in times when I just don’t feel well, or feel I don’t have the time to do so.
Jim Guinn - Wednesday, June 12, 2019
I can relate to the time crunch. With our business picking up for the Summer season, I am finding myself in the same boat. Will continue to follow you on your personal blog.
Aywren - Wednesday, June 12, 2019
So far, I've found that cutting back into shorter practice sessions, even if it seems really small, helps me not feel so overwhelmed with time. I can always extend the time if I'm feeling it.
Being out of practice means that 15-20 mins is about all I can really do before I start feeling the ache in my arms. So it feels about the right time to take a break in terms of what my hands/arms can do before needing a rest. Maybe eventually I'll turn this into a couple of short sessions in a day when I can. But, for now, the goal is to just keep picking up the fiddle and working on something!
My personal blog has a lot of gaming and geek stuff, so I don't know if it'll be of interest. But thank you! I'm still watching your progress and posts and hope you have a great time with your teacher!
Jim Guinn - Saturday, June 15, 2019
I'm not really into gaming, but I'll check the violin posts when you make them.