It's good to keep practice schedules. They give you structure so you can accomplish daily goals and make sure you don't burn yourself out. Tonight, I broke away from mine for the first time since I started taking lessons, and it felt great!
I've made so much progress with Caprichos in recent weeks that, when my egg timer buzzed the end of a 10-minute session on that piece, I actually hated putting my guitar away for the night. A few minutes later, I could no longer resist the desire to play more, and eagerly removed my guitar from its case again. I played straight through the entire two and a half pages I've been studying at least another 4 times before finally tiring enough really call it a night.
This is actually a good thing for two reasons:
* I'm recognizing my progress well enough to want to practice even more
* Long practice session equals greater opportunity to progress more
So, what I've decided to do is keep my current practice schedule and then keep playing for as long as I want until I get tired. This will ensure I continue practicing for at least an hour each night while allowing myself the freedom to go for however much longer I want.
This week's lesson was very enlightening. My teacher and I played through all of what I've been learning how to play in Capricho, and then had a terrific discussion about chord theory and what to always keep in mind when learning to play guitar, or any instrument for that matter.
When learning any kind of music, always keep in mind that, as you progress, you're developing an awareness of what's going on in the music. Some aspects of the learning process you may find stand out more than others, but taken as a whole, the knowledge you gain from learning just one song can be applied to countless others, and improved upon with each performance of that song.
As a case in point, while working on Mazurka and Caprichos - and the arpeggio exercises he assigned me - one of my goals has been to learn how to recognize the chord structures that each piece uses to create their own unique melodies. The problem I've run into is that, as I've learned how to play each piece, I haven't been paying that close attention to the chords that my fingers are actually forming. The shapes are familiar, but they're a background thought to the music I'm creating as I move through the songs. As such, I still can't look at a piece of music and instantly identify the chord each note within a particular measure forms. Having realized this, I started punishing myself for not taking full advantage of my practice time to make myself aware of those chord structures.
I shared my feelings with my teacher, to which he replied with words of wisdom that helped me feel much better by the time the lesson was over.
He reminded me of how important it is to recognize the fact that, no matter how many times you play a piece, you're always going to learn something new about your performance and what makes the song work so that you can play even better the next time you play that piece. It's important to acknowledge what you do learn as you play and be proud of that.
As an example, he pointed out that he learned how to play Caprichos over 20 years ago, while he was living in Spain. Now, he's learning it all over again as he's teaching me how to play it.
One thing you want to avoid is spending so much time studying the music that you forget to learn how to play it. Upon reflecting over the last few months I've spent working on these two pieces, I realized I've learned a lot more than I've given myself credit for. I've learned how to maintain a steady rhythm while playing. I've improved and reinforced my ability to read the music and understand what it's doing. I've also improved my finger dexterity and left/right hand coordination.
The bottom line is that even guitar virtuosos never stop learning about any piece of music, no matter how many times they play the same song. I need to allow myself to enjoy the natural progression of becoming more and more familiar with the music each time I practice and play, and avoid punishing myself if I forget to fulfill any one goal.
I've come a long way in the last few months. I've developed greatly as a guitarist, and can take what I've learned thus far and apply it my continuing studies as I move forward.
That's what my teacher said after I told him I'd tried recording Mazurka the other night by simply editing out the parts where I fucked up and replacing them with the parts where I played well. I got the distinct impression he was not pleased by the fact that I didn't try recording both parts straight through as flawlessly as he knows I can.
:: slap ::
In retrospect, that was a pretty lazy thing for me to do. I won't have the luxury of starting over when performing in front of others for the first time.
I think I've figured out why I'm having so much trouble with one of the fret jumps in Mazurka. As I've been practicing the run, I've been noticing that I tense up the muscles in my forearm in preparation for the jump, hoping to lock my hand in position on the third fret when it's time to play the C and D notes. I need to stop doing that and remain as relaxed as possible. Only then will I be able to really nail the piece.
He's loaned me one of his mics and stands so I can try and record myself using some good equipment. I hope to have a non-edited recording of Mazurka up in the next few days.