| Author |
Subject |
JanJan2
Registered User
(1/3/01 3:05:03 pm)
Reply |
Post-holiday slump . . . ugghhh!
So, I'm just curious about my fellow
CBN-ers. How many times a week do YOU despair that you'll ever sound
1/2 as good as you want to? For me, it's about 10 or 12 times
weekly. Hope things pick up for me soon. Boy do I hate these
slumps!
Anybody have something inspiring to share that will
light my fire again?
Janet www.nese.net
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Betsy
C 
Registered User
(1/3/01 3:10:44 pm)
Reply |
those
slumps
Janet, this is just a 'slump' time
of year in general for me. I am not in a bad mood, it's just the
post-holiday letdown. I really did not buckle down at all from
Thanksgiving on because like everybody else, I was really busy. This
time of year always lends itself to new possibilities though, and I
had a long talk with myself and realized that in a new year, a lot
of things are possible! Who knows jsut how we both will progress
this year? Maybe it will help to realize that you are better than
you were a year ago at this time. Sometimes some introspection and
retrospection help in gaining perspective. Sorry, I am not the
wisest person, so no words of wisdom from me! Chin up,
girlfriend!
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Patricia2
Registered User
(1/3/01 3:47:45 pm)
Reply |
At
least you're among friends!
Sorry, no words of wisdom from me,
either -- just sympathy.
Last night I had one of those
unsettling lessons:
the kind that comes after a week of good
practice that you thought went really well, and then there you are
in the lesson totally puzzled that the breakthroughs or whatever you
thought you'd found have disappeared and you're making the same old
tired sounds....
Yes, it was the kind of lesson that gets
discussed here periodically --
(fairly recently, in fact, and
whoever started the thread a few weeks ago just barely beat me to
it) -- as in, how come good practice does not necessarily mean good
lesson; and lack of practice does not automatically result in bad
lesson.
If I hadn't read about it HERE, I know I would have
felt really devasted -
because I always think things like: if
only I weren't so lazy about practicing! How dare I show my face,
after so poor a practice week!
and (therefore) Gee whiz, good
thing I made more time this week, this is starting to sound
better....But then the lesson seems to have nothing to do with
anything -- how frustrating is that?! I want there to be keys to
everything.
But because I DID read about it here, it was
easier not to dwell on it....
and easier not to take it
personally.
Anyway, I'm having more slump than anything
else in my short cello life, Janet -- but I KNOW someone here will
have inspiring words for you.
Meanwhile, my sympathy and best
wishes!
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Dorie
Straus 
Registered User
(1/3/01 4:18:20 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Post-holiday slump . . . ugghhh!
I don't know if this is a holiday
slump either; it's just getting back in the saddle maybe. If this is
your time of year to have a slump, perhaps it's because the holiday
stuff was festive and familiar. The cello feels like back to work
and sort of unfamiliar. Just speculating.
As for not sounding
as good as you want to...who ever will? As you get better, your
standards get higher. I guess there are places we reach that are
satisfactory to us but then we automatically raise our
expectations/standards, new things are difficult and the cycle
begins again. These periods might not feel like slumps if we can
somehow accept that learning anything comes (and goes) in waves -
all these waves, though, peak at some higher level. (You can pretty
much count on never going back to knowing nothing about a cello
again in your life.) One of the things you can do - this has been
suggested here many times - go back and play old things. You find
out how far you've come and you get to gloat a little.
I say
this like I've got this thinking mastered. I don't. I often have to
remind myself when I started the cello, why I started and what I
really want to do with this thing. Playing the cello over the past
10 years has moved around on my priority list - it still does. There
were 3-4 years in these 10 years that I didn't play it at all; other
times when I worked much harder on it than I do now. I have gotten
upset during slumps and I probably will again. I think the best cure
is a change of perspective and some self-forgiveness.
Btw.
Got the string, Janet - thanks - I need those skinny
ones.
Edited by: Dorie
Straus at: 1/3/01 4:18:20 pm
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Bobbie
Registered
User
(1/3/01 8:07:45 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Post-holiday slump . . . ugghhh!
Like everyone, I have my ups and
downs. Right now I despair of ever having the vibrato that I want. I
now have a good analogy for it, though- the Labrador tail wagging!
My "new" 9 year old rescue Lab has provided new inspiration for
vibrato practice. It's relaxed and easy and certainly responsive to
her moods.
One trick is to compare yourself to someone else,
but not to that prodigal kid that has the lesson before yours and
plays rings around you- compare yourself to someone who doesn't play
the cello at all. Look how much you've learned. I just started a
friend on the cello and realized anew how incredible it is just to
be able to play at all. If you don't believe me, put the bow in your
left hand and try fingering with your right hand, and see how
competent you are.
Here's a parable I just made
up:
An amateur cellist has been talking about her gift of
music, and how much it means to her, and then she plays for an
audience. A critic listens, and, puzzled, says, "But you have no
talent for this instrument at all." The cellist smiles, and says,
"That's why being able to play it is such an incredible
gift!"
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Paul
Tseng ICS Staff 
Administrator
(1/4/01 1:04:28 am)
Reply
 |
Re:
Post-holiday slump . . . ugghhh!
I feel this way often Janet. If you
are working really hard and practicing every day and still feel this
way, try taking a break for a day or two. I know, I
know...<shudder> stop practicing? I already sound bad! Well,
I've learned that it actually helps to stop. You'll relax a bit and
come back with a fresh perspective. You'll give any bad habits that
have been creeping up into your playing a chance to fade.
It
probably won't sound worse.
Give it a try....take a break! 
Paul Tseng
My Website
MP3!
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me4cello
Registered User
(1/4/01 8:25:59 am)
Reply |
it's a
journey...
I feel for you. Go easy on yourself,
remember you are doing this for fun - difficult isn't it, some of us
care so much about playing, but have deep seated misgivings about
whether we will ever be able to do it. I somewhow expect to sound
bad and expect to make mistakes and that gets to be a
self-fulfilling prophecy - it's the dream of being a good cellist
that keeps me going rather than the expectation!!! I have decided
that this year I will have a positive attitude and will keep an open
mind when practising- I'm even going to practice a "hey! so what"
type shoulder shrug for when it doesn't sound perfect!!! Enjoy the
journey...
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Ellen
G 
Registered User
(1/4/01 8:35:33 am)
Reply |
Re:
Post-holiday slump . . . ugghhh!
Me, too. Only I'm not thinking about
whether I will ever play as well as I hope to. I'm more concerned
that I'm not playing as well now as I did a year ago. I was playing
with a quartet whose style of playing I didn't appreciate
necessarily, but I was challenged and practiced my tail off so I
wouldn't be the one that fell off. Actually, for this group, I'd say
I overpracticed. But that's me. Then I hooked up with another
quartet, which I was thrilled to be asked to join. The players are
more my age, our personalities fit better. The problem is Haydn and
Mozart went out the window because of gigs. Ugh! We spent more time
on those bleepity-bleep wedding books. I am not a horn, and I don't
want to play Hornpipe. I hated every note in Pachelbel. Then came
the Christmas gigs. Ugh! I am hopeful that now we will actually play
string quartet music, for real, and I can try to return to where I
was. Where was that, anyway???
My only other thought is
something I mentioned a long time ago, but I think it's still
relevant. When I engage in a recreational activity, it generally has
a season. Gardening, skiing, swimming. I like it when it's time for
that activity to start, but I also like when it ends. Cyclical.
Cello is forever. Taking a break means guilt, backsliding, rather
than feeling I can put the cello away for a little while and then
taking it out like the trowel or inflatable lounge with drink cup
holder. Sometimes I wish it DID have a season. Or perhaps that's why
these Brandenburg play-ins are such a neat idea because it forces
you into a setting while is probably incredibly enjoyable and
rejuvenating. Whatever.
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JanJan2
Registered User
(1/4/01 11:42:19 am)
Reply |
You
never know where help's going to come from!
First - thanks to you ALL for your
words of encouragement. I'm at work, and just stumbled upon
something I must share with you all. As some of you know, I'm a
catalog copywriter for a mail-order distributor of Christian books
and gifts. Well, I have to write on a book called "Contemporary
Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers." So I'm
flipping through to get a feel for the book, and this is what I
found.
PERSISTENCE
Even the most talented people may
not get it the first time.
In a 1995 interview ex-Beatle
Paul McCartney said he once wrote a song with the first line
"Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs."
Have you
ever heard that song? Not likely. McCartney tossed those words and
wrote, "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away." Since then
"Yesterday" has played on the radio more than six million times,
more than any other record in history. "Yesterday" also happens to
be McCartney's favorite song.
The difference between failure
and success---between "Scrambled Eggs" and "Yesterday"---is
persistence.
____________________________________________________________
Hangin'
in there,
Janet www.nese.net
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MaryK
Registered
User
(1/4/01 3:50:01 pm)
Reply
 |
Re:
Post-holiday slump . . . ugghhh!
"An amateur cellist has been talking
about her gift of music, and how much it
means to her, and then
she plays for an audience. A critic listens, and, puzzled,
says,
"But you have no talent for this instrument at all." The cellist
smiles, and
says, "That's why being able to play it is such an
incredible gift!"
Wow, what a great parable, Bobbie, thanks
for sharing! That just about says it all for me!
MaryK
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