For all that the double-whammy of doxy and prednisone is doing to me, got some good practice in today. Did a "naked" session on the violin. I can actually do arm vibrato without a shoulder rest, even though it threatens to yank the fiddle out from under my chin. And my bowing didn't fall to pieces without that extra stability, either. Shoulder rest is the default, but it seems a useful exercise to go without every now and then. Sort of a sanity check on how I'm orienting to the instrument.
Trumpet is finally starting to slot properly again. If I feel good tomorrow I'm taking it to a piano room where I can open it up a little -- I'm getting tired of fighting the back-pressure of those practice mutes.
I have the penny whistle to the point where doing the finger tremolo is feeling natural, and the cuts and strikes feel good, too. Still a bit of a squeak changing octaves (going chromatic, you have to go from all fingers off to all fingers down and back again).
Guitar is progressing more slowly. Working on fast-picking right now; varying between James Bond theme on the low E and Godfather on the high E to work that double-pick action. My softest pick, held right up at the tip and slightly angled. The latest is cut from a scrap sheet of .020" styrene. Maybe I should take a few out to TheShop.build (sigh) and laser them out.
And yeah, that's how I practice. I'd like to spend more time. Really, I would. Instead of laps, though, I do wind sprints. It's not a way to become a good musician. It is a way to get competent, fast.
The big trick is concentration. Almost nothing is relaxed. But the big trick is keeping the balance. Don't fall into wasting time on easy rote exercises. But don't beat yourself up trying and failing at something that's beyond you. Stay right at the edge, just past your comfort level, because that's where you gain the fastest.
I split my time roughly in thirds. One third in pure exercises. These are designed to highlight one aspect but the trick to them is doing them slow and smooth and doing everything right. Like this week was all silent bow changes, on one note at a time. Adding arm vibrato when I was ready for it, but all through keeping an eye on tone, angle, Kreisler Highway, shoulder tension, etc.
(A note; vibrato and tremolo have distinct meanings but there are traditional ways of referring to certain effects on certain instruments and I bow to those in my usage.)
Another third is in experimentation. This is in trying things I can't do yet, or do very well. I'm constantly inventing exercises to work on a specific problem spot.
The last third (these are only rough in terms of time) is playing actual pieces. There are two advantages here. One is to keep your spirits up -- one can only stomach so many scales. The other is because when you concentrate in on just one technical problem you risk solving it in a way that won't work in the context of actual performance. The flip side is actual performance reveals weaknesses you wouldn't have discovered otherwise.
I spend roughly equal time to my instrument-in-hand practice time listening to other players, watching other players, reading up on technique, and thinking about what I've learned and what I should try next.
And, yeah, there's cross-over. No matter the instrument I'm practicing at the moment, I'm refining muscle and breath control, refining my pitch sense and rhythm, etc. I actually think practicing multiple instruments helps. It's like doing circuit training; I lose my lips for trumpet quickly but I can switch to another wind and keep learning. Or to a guitar and get my fingers a workout.
Music is going much more slowly. I'm on the fifth sketch for Terminator and still not happy. I have this idea in the back of my head of crossing it with "Toss the Feather" and in my head it sounds like it should work...of course my fiddle playing isn't up to that point yet...
I am also refining my ideas towards a Hellboy cover but there's a one-octave leap on the trumpet part that's still tough for me. Plus I haven't had the bass out of the case for a while, even if it is a simple riff. Pretty sure the original is bass guitar and french horn to start -- I'm having to pitch it up quite a bit to do the horn part on trumpet but going to try keeping the pahoehoe on my SUB for the nonce and use that upright bass-like sound instead.
Flirted with the idea of getting a snare and brushes but if I get that far, I'll toss the idea towards my drummer friend Don and see if he wants to record the drum tracks instead. That would be a lot of fun.
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