30d • General discussion
Ego and Practice
Hi everyone,
I’m making myself a goal to post at least once a week going forward.
The topic this week will be “Ego and Practice”.
One of the hardest things about improving on an instrument is overlooking the urge for instant gratification, and letting go of your ego. In our everyday lives, instant gratification is everywhere we look: social media, video games, shopping, snacking etc. None of these things are bad for you in moderation, but they have wired our brain to expect to get rewards when we want it.
Unfortunately, overcoming difficulties on an instrument are rarely achieved in a single practice session. Younger musicians (myself included) are often in a rush to hit a certain note, play a passage fast, to have better endurance etc. This often causes people to hit the same plateaus over and over.
Results that stick are like planting a seed, watering the amount it needs everyday, and waiting patiently until it turns into a tree. Assuming someone plays really tense, and wants to play relaxed on a daily basis, this can take weeks or months. The same goes for overcoming the tendency to overblow and tighten for a high note. Also for adding on practice time. Start planning smaller goals, and letting those smaller wins add up to a big win over the course of weeks, months, and years.
A plant must not be overwatered, otherwise it cannot receive the necessary oxygen, and it risks dying. A plant must get to a certain level of dryness before it is watered again. This can be equated to rest time between practice sessions or practicing the following day.
Also- due to rain and changing temperature conditions, plants do not need to be watered the same amount of water every day. When it is very hot outside, plants of course need more water. When it is cooler, they won't need as much. Our practice must also adapt to conditions. If we had a very heavy practice session, rehearsal or playing week, we must change our practice to fit around these conditions. After a very heavy playing day, your lips may still be a little tired or swollen from the previous day. You must take this into consideration, and give yourself some grace if high notes aren’t working as well, tension seems to re-introduce itself, and your lips feel tired more quickly than normal. Resist the urge to overwater. Resist the urge to force a high note, focus on relaxing to the best of your ability, and perhaps have shorter practice sessions with more breaks. It is often how we handle our playing days that don’t feel as good that allow us to not slip back into bad habits. We all do this from time to time, so you’re not alone if this happens to you.
Now I will come back to the title of this article- ego and practice. Putting aside our ego can be very challenging at times, especially when we don’t feel we are seeing any progress. I find the analogy of my practice as a seed that grows into a tree or a beautiful flower makes it easier for me to be patient, and not expect instant results. Our ego always tells us that we should be able to do something—and we can—just with time and patience.
My biggest struggle with ego has been regaining my range back after my injury. I have had lots of ups and downs with this, and my ego has gotten the best of me more than I would like to admit. My biggest insecurity with my injury was the fear that I would not be able to hit a certain note again, so I would often repeat high notes more than needed, to try and convince myself I can do it, often to the point of fatigue and force. I was convinced that if I hit my highest note enough times, I definitely had it. Looking back, it seems really stupid that I used to do that, but we all have habits that we slip back into from time to time, both in music and in daily life, but we must remind ourselves that healthy habits are what work for us best in the long term.
We must see the wins in hitting our highest note with healthy technique once or twice a day, rather than trying over and over again. We must see the win in playing a passage a few clicks faster, rather than trying to get the marked tempo right away, and we must see the win in being able to make it a few measures further with good balance/endurance rather than trying to get through the whole page right away.
Sometimes we know what to do, and we just get in our own way.
Happy practicing!
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Ego and Practice
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