Happy New Year! May yours be filled with good health – physically, mentally, and spiritually – and beautiful music! It’s the 1-year anniversary of my bi-monthly newsletter and I’d like to start off this year by expressing my gratitude to you for being part of this community.
My goal this year is to dive deeper – to continue exploring beyond practice strategies and violin technique and discuss how each of our individual musical journeys and ever-evolving roles within the music world are connected to everything else in our lives.
For a work in progress, it’s common practice to zoom in and dissect every phrase, every note, every motion… that’s all great (and important!) but if we learn to recognize within ourselves when it’s better to zoom out and take a more holistic approach, we can regain perspective when it comes to the bigger musical picture.
Beyond any specific piece or event, as musicians let’s also take into consideration hobbies in other disciplines, our overall lifestyles, and people that surround us on a daily basis. While some folks use music-making as an escape from the stress of everyday life, the reality is that everything remains connected in one way or another. Our other activities influence our music, and vice versa. We can learn about our craft from outside sources. And in some cases, taking a week off from playing after a long season can be surprisingly beneficial for long term growth.
In fact, the next blog post will be about growth during periods of rest.
If you know someone who may be interested in my newsletter and would like to explore/discuss topics about musicians’ personal growth and well-being (and also get a summary of recent content on violin technique and practice), please invite them with the following link: https://www.violinna.live/newsletter/