On Practicing

I'm reading Stephen King's book, On Writing, right now. I'm reading it in hopes that it will inspire me to write more. It has. But it also has inspired me to practice playing more as well. In the book King says to make a goal for yourself. He suggests writing locking yourself in your office and writing 1,000 words a day, six days a week. And do not open the door until you're finished.

I've been thinking about this when it comes to practicing my fiddle. Let's face it. No one wants to practice. We all just want to play like Natalie MacMaster (or write like Stephen King) or whoever your musical hero is. But nothing good comes easy. So I'm taking King's advice both with my writing and with my practicing.

I once had a teacher that said if you practice just 15 minutes a day you will see an improvement on your playing. I'm still to this day not sure if she was kidding or not. Anyone who plays the fiddle know it takes more than 15 minutes just to open your case, rosin your bow and tune your strings. I think what she was trying to do was make me commit to doing it. Once the case is open, the bow is rosined and the fiddle is tuned, it's impossible not to want to play it. And let's face it, who can play for just 15 minutes? For me, 15 minutes turns into 1/2 hour which then turns into an hour and so on depending on how much time I have during day.

My point is: Just as King and my teacher suggested, make a commitment and follow through.

Happy practicing!