Greetings! 1. Reminder: This is a quick reminder that there is no rehearsal this Saturday. Also, I typed the dates wrong for our remaining Saturdays in October, but I fixed them on the Blog. (23 & 30) Have a wonderful and safe family weekend!
2. Important Question: I also need you to consider something: I am looking into changing the time of our November 20th concert to 5pm instead of 7pm. This has to do with the Fremont High School musical -- we have students involved in that. Please email me back asap with comments on this possible change -- both positive and negative. If we find that we lose more than we gain, then we will not change the time, but it seems, at this point, a great way to remedy the issue! LYCO sounds amenable to the possibility as well.
Practicing vs Playing
I also am taking this opportunity to share this great bit of wisdom with you. It's from our LYCO Managing Director, and good friend, Diane Austin. I share it here with her permission:
Okay.....This is a conversation that just happened around the dinner table. Sarah received a text from one of her friends to see if she could hang out for a while. This was our conversation.....
Sarah: Mom, can I hang out with my friend today?
Mom: After you practice.
Dad to Sarah: Didn't you just practice?
Sarah: No, I was just playing.
Dad: Is there a difference?
Sarah: Apparently.
At first, I just busted up laughing. Then, I thought...Wait a minute....What have I been doing all these years? My family doesn't know the difference between the two.......*sigh*........ I realized then that the word "practice" is a bit meaningless. We really need to substitute that word with a better one. Study. Study implies then that you are going to focus on something specific. I explained to my family that if we use the word "study" then it is obvious that studying and playing are NOT the same thing. To have a healthy balance in our music journey, we really need to have both. Study time and playing time.
During the study time, careful thought and consideration is given to specific points. Focused thought to join together the brain, the ear, and the body. Our mind must know what to do, the ear must know how it should sound, and the body must know how to do it. It can be a bit frustrating in this work to get to the point where the brain, ear, and body are totally connected. Most of the frustration comes from the mind and ear being very quick to understand but the body is usually slower. Therefore, when a new concept is being learned and it involves the body, SLOW practice is a must! At a slow tempo, we can connect the three. Once the three are connected and the skill basically mastered, then speed is not a problem!!
During the playing time, there is to be no instruction given unless asked for. This is the time for self expression and experimentation. This time can really bring joy to everyone. We have had a lot of laughs and fun times during our spontaneous play time. Play time doesn't need to be scheduled. It happens naturally. Study time, however, must be scheduled. It is real work.
I hope that this little experience taught my children that there is a difference between the two. You many want to be sure your family understands that as well. (Age appropriate, of course!)
Happy practicing.........oops!........Happy studying!!
-Diane
