Monday, January 10, 2011

Practicing Workout

I was practicing today and it got me to thinking about how we, as musicians, train in a way very similarl to that of a pro football player.

A football player lifts weights to stay strong, does agility drills to stay fast, studies old games and tapes to develop strategies and ideas, and they must do this everyday to become or stay at the top of their game. At the same time though, they must take time to recover from long workouts and have days off every once in a while.

We play long tones to keep our air support strong, we do scales, thirds, and other exercises to keep our fingers fast, we listen to live performances and recordings of great musicians to expand our artistic palette, and we must do these things everyday to stay in shape! I just thought this was an interesting thing and it really applies and makes me want to work harder. But let's all not forget, breaks are necessary! Short breaks during practice sessions and taking a day off weekly. Breaks allow our bodies to heal and our brains to restore. Practice is good, but too much without time to recover can be detrimental.

No comments:

Post a Comment