Post 13 of 31 for May 2017!
What do you see when you look at the picture above?
I see a thing of beauty!
One thought... a beautiful thought... and nothing else disturbing a single-minded focus.
Often, musicians can fall into the trap of keeping long lists of to-dos, voices of music teachers past and present, and a seemingly impossible to achieve wishlist of perfection in their minds AT THE SAME TIME that they are trying to play their instruments!
To me... this is like trying to fix a car while you are driving it. Ridiculous and flat out dangerous.
I am a strong believer in the one idea at a time, single-minded focus style of practicing and performing. I feel that musical to-dos should be accomplished slowly and steadily and discoveries should be savored individually.
Given enough time and space, single improvements merge into more wholistic upgrades and little baby steps add up to giant leaps.
Next time you are practicing and feel your brain might look like this...
Take a page out of Homer Simpson's book and keep it simple instead! Focus on one beautiful thing at a time and your path will lead you to more pleasurable music making.
Happy Practicing!
Terri Sànchez
P.S. I am getting extremely excited about the NEW play the Maverick Flute Choir will be performing soon at the Texas Flute Society Festival! It's called "As the Fog Descends Upon Us: A Musical Mini-Play for Flute Choir." It's like a flute-playing version of the movie Inside Out - so much fun :-). To support the Maverick Flute Choir's upcoming trip to the National Flute Association Convention and their performance of the first play they created "The Princess & The Dragon: A Musical Play for Flute Choir" click HERE to donate to their GoFundMe Campaign!
