Back to Practicing
Last night was my first night seriously practicing in a couple of years. I have spent my time really learning how to teach the guitar effectively in the meantime. But in my inner most being, I still desire the joy of playing and performing. Therefore, I have chosen to resume my practicing and given myself deadlines to persue for performances.
Returning to a three hour practice session was quite interesting to say the least. Sitting for three hours with a guitar in my hands felt wonderful. However, I had to take a few precautions to ensure that my hands made it through the session and did not hurt this morning. I stretched very slowly before and after the session. I also took a few breaks throughout. I made myself get up every 30 minutes to stretch and refocus my mind (or to let it rest after deep concentration).
All-in-all, I enjoyed the three hours. I worked 30 minutes on technique and spent the rest of the time on new and old repertoire. I always encourage people to work on sight-reading but my goals have a different purpose at the moment. I feel that my time teaching has greatly benefited my sight-reading to a point that I am much better than when I first began teaching seven years ago.
I have much to work on, but I am delighted to see that I still have quite a bit of movement in my hands after such a long hiatus from practicing. It’s not that I have not played entirely for the past couple of years. I have spent many hours playing in lessons. But the difference, of course, is the focused work that can be accomplished during practice to reach a desired performace.
I feel good and look forward to keeping you updated as I return to my performing form.
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