First Semester of Grad School

I have been busy with break time practicing after my first semester of grad school at SMU! It has been more than I could’ve ever asked for, with great studio mates, a great teacher, and a great atmosphere. I went into this semester not sure what to expect, but with an open mind. The playing opportunities have been more than I have ever seen anywhere else, with concerts at school every 2 weeks, and that doesn’t include percussion ensemble, playing in composer concerts & recitals, and gigs outside of school! I felt as though I was being pushed to have music prepared at a higher level quicker than I had previously, which is exactly what I wanted. After my summer at EMF, I was eager to play frequently and that wish was definitely fulfilled.

As far as my playing goals went, I didn’t have any clear ones going into the year other than “get better”. BUT now I have such a clear vision of what I want to work on going forward. I’ve realized my practice needs heavy workshopping and more structure. To be completely transparent, my practice previously consisted of working on pieces I needed to learn and excerpts. More specifically, I would hack through notes to learn them, then gradually play bigger chunks. I think my main goal from this was to develop a sort of muscle memory with a piece, but this was subconscious and I didn’t go into this with intention. Through the process of a couple rough lessons, I noticed my practice was not benefitting me… at all. I was roughly trying to fix this during the semester, but while trying to balance everything else, this was pretty difficult. After my jury, I decided I would rethink the way I approached practicing and performing in general. I have been trial and error-ing different methods of structuring my practice, and I seem to have found some things that work. I plan out a week or two at a time in detail as far as what I need to attack during my practice on a google doc, but then I use a legal pad to write down things I notice about my playing while I’m practicing. I’ve noticed this has been extremely beneficial. Because of this, I’ve been reading a lot about metacognition with practice and trying to incorporate this practice into what I do. This has made my playing during practice more intentional for sure. Instead of mindlessly hacking through notes, I feel as though I am thinking through each note, each stroke more. I play things much slower when learning them too. The goal for next semester is to incorporate solid practice techniques into my practice, and I know this will pay dividends in the long run.