Somebody convince me to go practise

[m1469]

Please ... 

[pianowolfi]

Go practise!!





*secret and invisible wolf smile*

[m1469]

Why ? What's the point anyway ?  I halfway don't feel like it.  Plus, I am tired.  Plus, I have been practising all week, already like a very good girl


*secret and invisible fox smile*

[rach n bach]

Cause I SAID SO.

[m1469]

Hey, this is almost working 

[pianowolfi]

Cause I SAID SO.

YES! Me TOO!!!



what can you do if your belly hurts from laughing???

[pianowolfi]

Okay, m1469, seriously. You go practice and I will try to get my 1337 th post today okay? Isn't that a worthy goal?



rofl

[m1469]

Well, I am thinking about it.  I actually wish that I could, but I feel like I can't move over to the piano and stay there  :- ... it feels lonely there today 

*shudders*

[pianowolfi]

Well, I am thinking about it.  I actually wish that I could, but I feel like I can't move over to the piano and stay there  ... it feels lonely today 

Well you challenge me really. That's what you wanted. I go OFFLINE from PS  . Just to make you practise.



well I will practise too, some bars, then:)

[m1469]

ha ha ... LOL  .  Okay, it's a deal then 

*shakes on it*

*will not come back to check on it*

[rach n bach]

YOU GOT LEET POSTS WOLFI!!! CONGRATS!!!

Find somebody to practice duets with m1469... but even if you can't JUST PRACTICE!!!!!

[m1469]

YOU GOT LEET POSTS WOLFI!!! CONGRATS!!!

Find somebody to practice duets with m1469... but even if you can't JUST PRACTICE!!!!!

Well, I am "gone"  (*not really here anymore*)


THANKS you two 

[rach n bach]

o.O


No problem, so long as you prax..

[m]

Why ? What's the point anyway ?  I halfway don't feel like it.  Plus, I am tired.  Plus, I have been practising all week, already like a very good girl

Huh, how I understand you! I myself spent already over 3 hours fighting with the instrument. So far I am at loss

You know, don't practice now. Go outside, take some coffe, sit, look at the yard (or something), reflect and then...

GO PRACTICE FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! 

[m1469]

Yeah, actually sometimes I do exactly as you suggest here, Marik.  I actually had gone outside into the yard a bit before I posted this thread ... sat down in my garden and just felt the sun on me for a little while.  Then I walked around the yard just a little bit.  But, I was starting to procrastinate the time away 

I am glad I was not alone .  Although, I don't think I would describe my practise session(s) yesterday as fighting with the instrument, but more like fighting with myself  .

Anyway, now all I need is for somebody to convince me to go take a shower  .  It wouldn't be too difficult if I showed a photo of my hair ... LOL.  Lately I have been eating, sleeping, dreaming, drinking, breathing piano ... I don't want to do anything but play it and teach it -- not even shower :-


*contemplates either mental practicing right now or a shower*

[opus10no2]

Practicing is about living for tomorrow, playing is about living for now.

Do what you really want 

[rc]

*contemplates either mental practicing right now or a shower*

Mental practice in the shower.  By the sounds of it, you might've done that anyways

[m]

I am glad I was not alone .  Although, I don't think I would describe my practise session(s) yesterday as fighting with the instrument, but more like fighting with myself  .

It is the same

Anyway, now all I need is for somebody to convince me to go take a shower  .  It wouldn't be too difficult if I showed a photo of my hair ...

Well m1469,

Please go take a shower. It is impossible to be in the same room with you

[opus10no2]

Zmooth, schmock 

[m1469]

Okay, for those of you whom rallied for my shower, here are some 'before' and 'after' shots  :


Pre-showered m1469 ... hee hee
(my poor kids had to cope this week  ... and, okay, I am still very sleepy in this pic (still in my jammies, even) -- see what my husband has to deal with every morning ? ... okay, our backpacking buddies, too.  Poor, poor people  ):






Post-showered m1469 (they will have to cope today  ) :






I feel like I can take on the world now  (all I need is a cup o' coffee)

[opus10no2]

I have longer hair than you 

Lookin shekshay either way 

[pianowolfi]

Lookin shekshay either way 

Oopsies what word is that? I looked it up in a dictionary but I couldn't find anything
Someone help me please 

[pianistimo]

russian for 'sexy.'  mayla, you're looking good.  i think one day a week it's good to just 'play' as opus 10#2 says.  saturdays are my day to just relax.  nothing major.  it's good for your hands, too - i think.  not to mention the brain.

[pianowolfi]

russian for 'sexy.' 

Russian? сексуальный ? I don't think so...............

This is more: красота!


 

[m]

красота!

В человеке должно быть все прекрасно: и лицо , и одежда, и душа, и мысли...

А.П. Чехов

[pianowolfi]

Well yes to some extent. It should never be a "should". (though I am not sure if that translation I found is right about "should" )

("People should be beautiful in every way--in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts, and in their innermost selves." Anton Chekhov)


тайна и невидимый Wolf улыбка

[m]

Well yes to some extent. It should never be a "should".

Why?
Mr. Chehov knew exactly what he was talking about

[pianowolfi]

Why?
Mr. Chehov knew exactly what he was talking about

"should" implies a certain duty or "must" or compulsion. I am a fan of freedom.

[m]

"should" implies a certain duty or "must" or compulsion. I am a fan of freedom.

 

Nah, in this context the "should" in that delightfully poetical Chehov's quote is actually perceived much more like "Isn't that true, isn't that wonderful when..."!!!

("People should be beautiful in every way--in their faces, in the way they dress, in their thoughts, and in their innermost selves." Anton Chekhov)

Bad translation Very direct, unpoetical, with no any sense of subtlety.

[pianowolfi]

Nah, in this context the "should" in that delightfully poetical Chehov's quote is actually perceived much more like "Isn't that true"!!!

Okay

[pianowelsh]

If you cant convince yourself Give up the piano - it dosent practice itself!!

[pianowolfi]

Harzh

[imbetter]

GET YOUR LAZY BUT OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO TO THE PIANO THE EXCERSISE OR GOOD FOR YOU

 

[m1469]

Thanks for the continued support  !  Okay, I have to say that there will be a lot of times when I will think that I actually don't feel like practicing.  That's how it goes sometimes.   And, actually, sometimes I really have no idea just what I want (or if I did, sometimes I think I have no idea as to how to go about pursuing it, either), and I would be willing to sit here day after day at the piano forum just letting the clock tick away... and I KNOW that this is not what I really want as my piano career.  I mean, not altogether. 

Anyway, I actually have some concerts in a bit that I have to prepare for, so yes, in most cases I definitely "should" practice.  And, I have to say, I am realizing that without these goals I would not be willing to put in the effort.  It's not because I don't love the piano, because I most definitely do (I am being willing to admit right now).  And, it's not because I don't like music for music's sake.  Sometimes I am just lazy, or overwhelmed, or tired, or I don't believe in myself (that has often been the heart of it all) or whatever ... and, there will ALWAYS be an excuse not to practice.  But, since I actually have concerts in the books, I feel a different responsibility for it all.  I don't give up on the piece when it gets hard, for example.

I actually like this better -- having concerts to prepare and knowing that I NEED to practice, and therefore putting in the effort that my heart actually wants to be putting in, but didn't have the courage to otherwise.  I have realized that by the end of the day, something is fulfilled within me that was missing before.  And, I feel like I have put in a good day's work, too, interestingly enough.  It just feels good.

Well, I am just kind of musing right now.    Anyway -- THANKS !!

[imbetter]

whats the program?

[m1469]

Well, my next one will be :

Mozart :  Fantasy and Sonata in C minor (K 475 and K 457)
Rachmaninov :  Preludes;  Op 23 no 10, Op 32 no 10,13

Encore :  Liszt : Au lac De Wallendstadt

This one is kind of short and will be for a Manor -- I have around 50 minutes for playing AND talking.  But, there are 3 other venues where I will book concerts if I continue to work up the nerves for it.  For these other three, I would add more to that same program, most likely (I may add more to this concert, too, if it's seeming like I need more).

[rc]

Looking at the set, I'm starting to think I'D better get my ass practicing.

You'd better just book yourself at the other 3 places - you know you want to.  Sounds like a lot of fun!  I can't wait for the day I can get out performing that kind of rep

[m]

Okay, I have to say that there will be a lot of times when I will think that I actually don't feel like practicing.  That's how it goes sometimes. 

 
I NEVER feel like practicing. Don't remember day in my life I'd wake up with feeling: "How wonderful--now I am going practicing"!!!
I always remember it like: "Oh crap, I have to practice"


If I do practice it is just out of neccessaty, you know, it is like brushing your teeth in the morning, or taking a shower (speaking of  ). Do you really feel like it? Not really, I guess, but you still do 

[m1469]

Well, actually, for most of last week I felt extremely thrilled when I awoke from my sleep and knew that I was headed to my Yamaha C7  .  And, actually, nearly my entire Uni experience was like that, too.  I *couldn't wait* to get to the piano in the morning ... in my last year there, I would actually wake up at 4 am and had convinced the janitor of the building to let me in 2 hours before the building opened so I could get extra time in each day.  I would literally often be in complete bliss on my way there, just thinking musically and anticipating being able to touch the keys, being excited about what I might discover that day during practice and pianistic/musical living -- and if I were walking to school, it would be briskly because I was on a mission !  And, every moment I had between classes, I went to the practice room.  I absolutely adored it, loved it, and I absolutely couldn't get enough of it !  I just wanted to use every waking moment to get better.

But then ... *cut, cut*

And now, I am remembering what that felt like.  And, funnily enough, I feel a little better at the moment knowing that I have things to prepare and that make me practice; it's like I can settle myself a bit more and feel inclined to go ahead and make it a priority (because I always see my audience with me, even now as I type this, they are with me everywhere I go... with everything that I do).  And, since I am sitting there and genuinely needing to work the stuff out, I find great joy in it again like I have not felt in quite some time (and, most interestingly, I find new parts of myself in the process and in the music, too).

I don't know how I would feel right now about it all had my life, earlier, gone in different ways than what it had.  But, it went the way it went, and now I feel the way I feel.  Many times, for me, it seems a matter of feeling as though I really have permission to love what I am doing.  I mean, to be able to wake up every morning and feel some kind of heaven about what you will do all day ... that just can't be reality, can it ??

[pianowolfi]

 
I NEVER feel like practicing. Don't remember day in my life I'd wake up with feeling: "How wonderful--now I am going practicing"!!!
I always remember it like: "Oh crap, I have to practice"


If I do practice it is just out of neccessaty, you know, it is like brushing your teeth in the morning, or taking a shower (speaking of  ). Do you really feel like it? Not really, I guess, but you still do 

It seems as if there are two different approaches in practicing here. At the time fortunately I feel more like m1469 and love to practice, just exhaustion can stop me. Sometimes in my life I felt more like Marik and hated it because I could not practice what I wanted but had to do some other stuff for accompaniment jobs or school. But if I ALWAYS would have felt like Marik, that it's just pure necessity like teeth brushing, that would have been hell for me. I would not have become a piano teacher then. I love to work on bringing out the music that I feel in myself. I think I actually feel like the music makes me practice.

[m1469]

Yes, I will admit, if I spent constantly all my time doing things that I would rather not be doing, it would definitely taint my life.  But, I have spent years doing other things besides paying attention to my musicianship (and witnessing people whom I love be in a profession that eats them alive), and that is why I have CHOSEN the path that I am currently on.  And, what I am being reminded of in my life at the moment, is that being on the "right" pathway (for me) is what really matters.  It doesn't even really matter how far along or how far back I am (and, I really don't have perspecitve enough to know that information), as long as my feet are on the ground that makes sense to them.

Sometimes I have cursed the living everything out of life and cried from my very guts, that my piano/music path did not go a different way when I was a child than what it did.  Somehow, I feel I am over that by now.  It has taken me years to get over that, but, somehow I am.  I felt so angry because as a very small child, and throughout my childhood, I showed an unusual affinity for music and piano, and I had an unusual ability at the piano and in composition and singing.  I felt angry that my parents were not more alert and more able to provide me the opportunities to better develop all that at a younger age (but they did what they could).  And, I have hated myself, on some level, for making some of the decisions that I made about it years ago.

However, I am actually grateful now.  I am grateful because I do actually love my life, and the fact that I am teaching and spending my days in music and in piano feels like a dream to me.  It feels like a heaven that I don't deserve.  And, that might change as time moves on and as things progress.  But, I have been fortunate (very fortunate) in the teachers that I have come across and I have been fortunate to have been able to choose this path for myself -- or at least do what seems like some form of choosing this path for myself (though, perhaps my soul does not actually have a choice).  And, not everybody gets to do that -- I mean, not everybody gets to choose it.  For some people, it's forced upon them, and, I sometimes feel like if I HAD different opportunities as a child, perhaps my music-life would have staled by now -- but it hasn't.

So, for now, I will think simply like a child, and I will be happy to have my practice time and my music at the instrument.  It's a gift.   

Some people's favorite thing to say to me is that I think too much.  Well, perhaps that is true.  But, it's because I never want my life to be on anybody's grounds but mine and my creator's.  At some point, I might decide I don't want this life anymore, but, I hope it is not because of what somebody else has done to me or told me.  I think as much as I do about the ways that I live my life because I am the ONLY one who will be in my skin and on my own bed when it's time for me to leave this life.  I will have to come to terms with the life that I have lived, nobody else will be able to do that for me -- and I will have no choice about that.

And now, I can tell, I certianly need to go to sleep  .  What a ramble 

[tds]

And now, I can tell, I certianly need to go to sleep  .  What a ramble 

thats fine, and coo. oh and hey, i am asking lau to teach me how to fly. wanna join?

we can surely practise together, and encourage each other.

[opus10no2]

Thanks, mayla, for being so open and honest about yourself and your desires, they help others realise they aren't alone, and your courage to reveal the essence of your spirit so nakedly.
Under the anonymity of your online persona, it seems like you reveal more here about your true self than you would to people in your 'real' life.

On the topic, I believe alot in hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure and what we percieve to be good, for our own sake, but not forsaking others.

Speaking of my own personal aspirations, aside from the spark of the passion for music which started it, why do I stive to be a musician and not live with the simpler pleasure of listening?
I think it's 2 things, first being a feeling that I have something to *say* in music that noone else can , and noone else has yet. The other is the basic desire to be 'great', which starts off with the pursuit of happiness, but it's easy to get lost along the way.
We must remember to enjoy the journey because the destination may never be reached, and may never be what we expect.

[allthumbs]

Thanks, mayla, for being so open and honest about yourself and your desires, they help others realise they aren't alone, and your courage to reveal the essence of your spirit so nakedly.
Under the anonymity of your online persona, it seems like you reveal more here about your true self than you would to people in your 'real' life.

My sentiments exactly. Reading people's posts, I find I get a mental image of what people might look like.

m1469's posts always gave me a sense of warmth and inner beauty.

Seeing her photo just confirmed that she is not only beautiful on the inside, but gorgeous as well.

m1469, you've inspired me to go and practice!

Sometimes I have cursed the living everything out of life and cried from my very guts, that my piano/music path did not go a different way when I was a child than what it did.  Somehow, I feel I am over that by now.  It has taken me years to get over that, but, somehow I am.  I felt so angry because as a very small child, and throughout my childhood, I showed an unusual affinity for music and piano, and I had an unusual ability at the piano and in composition and singing.  I felt angry that my parents were not more alert and more able to provide me the opportunities to better develop all that at a younger age (but they did what they could).  And, I have hated myself, on some level, for making some of the decisions that I made about it years ago.

m1469

I know exactly what you mean, I too had that same unusual affinity for music and piano that you had. I was encouraged by my mother (who was also my first piano teacher), but I came from a home where there was a history family violence from time to time and I lived in fear of my old man (I choke when I say 'Dad'). It damaged my spirit and it's something I've tried to mend as best I could.

The cycle of domestic violence stopped with me. I've got beautiful, well adjusted and loving twin girls and a georgeous wife to whom strangers tend to gravitate towards in social situations because she is a good listener and shows a genuine interest in people.

I am truly blessed.

But I've digressed, my mother did do the best she could to encourage me, but at 13, I discovered 'The Beatles' and the electric guitar (oops, I just dated myself). The piano was pushed into the background.  

Although I still played piano throughout high school, I never again took lessons until my mid forties after my girls had started lessons. I've done my Grade 8 and 9 RCM since but have put the pursuit of Grade 10 temporarily on hold, as the committment needed for practice time is quite heavy at this level as you know.  I've pretty much worked on all the required repertoire and will start back at this fall once I retire this summer.

However, I am actually grateful now.  I am grateful because I do actually love my life, and the fact that I am teaching and spending my days in music and in piano feels like a dream to me.  It feels like a heaven that I don't deserve.  And, that might change as time moves on and as things progress.  But, I have been fortunate (very fortunate) in the teachers that I have come across and I have been fortunate to have been able to choose this path for myself -- or at least do what seems like some form of choosing this path for myself (though, perhaps my soul does not actually have a choice).  And, not everybody gets to do that -- I mean, not everybody gets to choose it.  For some people, it's forced upon them, and, I sometimes feel like if I HAD different opportunities as a child, perhaps my music-life would have staled by now -- but it hasn't.

I envy you m1469, I hope to do some teaching as well (I didn't teach my girls, just helped them with their lessons) and spending more time with the piano. 

Don't you ever wish that you had the passion as a child as you do now? That's the case for me anyway. I see the piano as a continuing journey for the rest of my life.

So, for now, I will think simply like a child, and I will be happy to have my practice time and my music at the instrument.  It's a gift.

 

Aren't we (as in everyone) as music people lucky to have this gift!

Some people's favorite thing to say to me is that I think too much.  Well, perhaps that is true.  But, it's because I never want my life to be on anybody's grounds but mine and my creator's.  At some point, I might decide I don't want this life anymore, but, I hope it is not because of what somebody else has done to me or told me.  I think as much as I do about the ways that I live my life because I am the ONLY one who will be in my skin and on my own bed when it's time for me to leave this life.  I will have to come to terms with the life that I have lived, nobody else will be able to do that for me -- and I will have no choice about that.

And now, I can tell, I certianly need to go to sleep  .  What a ramble 

Not at all, thank you so much for sharing.


All the best

allthumbs

[m1469]

You'd better just book yourself at the other 3 places - you know you want to.

Well, yes, you are completely right.  I DO want to  .

[m1469]

Thanks, mayla, for being so open and honest about yourself and your desires, they help others realise they aren't alone, and your courage to reveal the essence of your spirit so nakedly.
Under the anonymity of your online persona, it seems like you reveal more here about your true self than you would to people in your 'real' life.

On the topic, I believe alot in hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure and what we percieve to be good, for our own sake, but not forsaking others.

Speaking of my own personal aspirations, aside from the spark of the passion for music which started it, why do I stive to be a musician and not live with the simpler pleasure of listening?
I think it's 2 things, first being a feeling that I have something to *say* in music that noone else can , and noone else has yet. The other is the basic desire to be 'great', which starts off with the pursuit of happiness, but it's easy to get lost along the way.
We must remember to enjoy the journey because the destination may never be reached, and may never be what we expect.

Lately you are surprising me, Mr Opus10no2  .  I feel almost even charmed  .  Now, I have been thinking about this and I actually can agree to a large extent with it all.  Where I differ is that I think that what we term as 'self' is actually something that is very much not what it may seem, and is something that "we," as a human race, take mostly for granted. 

[shingo]

I myself find the hardest bit merely getting to the piano and sitting down, when I have started however I find it hard to stop. Its as if I forget my enjoyment  and as soon as I stop and have to rediscover it next time.

[opus10no2]

Yes, I've noticed youre more religious, at least spiritually inclined.
I'm agnostic, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the search for answers to questions that will never be answered. Enjoying the journey, like I said, because the far greater part of our lives seems to be in pursuit of something, we must not neglect to enjoy the pursuit.

The saying 'Live like you're going to die tommorrow' is something to think about, and something I've thought about, because there are days(in my life) which are purely invested in tomorrow, I've barely enjoyed them at all.
It's difficult to find a balance between living for today and living for tomorrow.
This is a uniquely human condition, because other animal's don't think of the future, they lack foresight, and while they may 'instinctually' invest in some ways, they never knowingly sacrifice like we do.

For me this is a balance between music and people, my 2 great passions, and while investing in music I have neglected to do much about my passion for people.
This is why when I suppress this desire so much, it rears it's head in inappropriate and strange ways.

I'm not ashamed of my diagnosis with AS ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome ) but it makes this difficult for me.
Knowing my social inferiority and propensity to obsess, I've thought it would be best to devote myself completely to my aspiration, and sacrifice any blundering attempts to be a social animal.
But it feels incredibly lonely, and I haven't found a way out, so I continue as is until I find a better way.

m1469, don't presume to know me, as I don't presume to know myself.

[m1469]

m1469, don't presume to know me, as I don't presume to know myself.

Oh, yes.  That is very good advice.  But, I will admit, I don't presume to really know you at all.  And, actually, I am quite delighted (perhaps this would have been a better word choice than was "surprised" ?) when I/we are/am allowed to see new "sides of you" that are not always at the forefront of what you give to us here (though I can sense are always somewhere). 

[opus10no2]

I was afraid that last line would sound harsh, glad you understood.

I don't presume to know you either, but you've known I'd like to, as best as anyone can do.

My inappropriate ways, and a certain lack of self-control have gotten me into situations in the past that I don't want, so I have tried to learn from them.

I't be alot easier if I could pm you, it feels awkward to be this naked in public for me, I'm not as much of a natural streaker as you are .