keeping the muscle memories
Since I've been back at school, I finally have regular access to a piano again. I did have a piano back at home, but given my schedule and the fact that I had to worry about waking people up if I wanted to play later, I barely played at all for the past 4 months.
I've found that instead of learning new pieces as I did before, I've been only refreshing and getting my already learned pieces back to where they were just a few months ago. I'm sure many people have this same issue in trying to learn things, where if you're not perfect at the first attempt, you just give up. Now, imagine how much harder it is to carry on when you know that you can and have done better!
The same goes for a few things, honestly. My muscles have grown weak in many areas, not just piano. I've struggled to come up with things to write, both on my blog and even in my journal. This summer, I spent virtually every morning sitting in the Materials Library with my coffee, scrawling away as the caffeine set in. Now, I have to actively search for things to think, things to say. What went from in the trek between home and school?
I have a few tried and true methods from previous dry spells that I can only hope will work once again:
Carrying my notebook with me everywhere. On the bus, on my walks, next to me in the studio (or rather, my friend's studio). Even though my mind has been relatively calmer, I always find that ideas come whenever I don't have a place to write them down. Hopefully my notebook can catch a few if I don't give the ideas anywhere else to run away to.
Saying yes to (almost) every opportunity that comes my way. Barring illness (like the cold that I just know is encroaching on me..) and excessive busy periods, I like to carry a "Why not?" attitude as much as I can. Some of the greatest experiences and rabbit holes have come to me just by saying sure one time.
- Note: This has been working pretty well so far! I'm getting much more involved in my school this year and it's been really fun. Things are on the upturn!
Being outside literally as much as possible. There's something about being inside my room that lends myself to endless scrolling. Rest is good, not rotting.
In practice, these methods are slowly bringing my mind back up to speed after the moving-induced haze. Yesterday, I took a walk in the nature reserve next to my school with a few pencil crayons and my notebook. Just by having them with me, I got the urge to sit for a little sketch, the first in a while. Given the brutality of the Canadian winter, it's imperative that I take advantage of the outdoors as much as I can before the mountains of snow shut me in.
In the piano front, today I made good progress on Ballade No. 1 by Chopin, which I had written earlier in the year was completed. Turns out, the entire coda has been all but forgotten in the nerves of my fingers. Not for long though!