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Practice Today?
| Posted on November 23, 2009 at 6:20 PM |
James Lee Stanley
Tomorrow I am driving down to Irvine to the Far West Folk Alliance (www.far-west.org) , where I will be doing a premier showcase to try to convince people that I am worth of some work and some recognition.
I have been trying to think of everything that might help you and may have appeared like someone who had it completely together. Nothing could be further from the truth. I waste more time than I should. I practice less than I should. I prioritize like a person who either has an eternity to fix mistakes or else I am a complete idiot.
My plan when I got back from the road was to practice every single day the set that I would do at Far West to ascertain that I presented my best efforts.
And true to my word (for the first day back) I did practice. Then life interceded and the recording of my new CD, Backstage at the Resurrection interceded and I ended up practicing the set…NOT AT ALL.
Now it’s Thursday and I have some of Friday and Saturday to practice a little. I have said this before and I know it to be true. Practicing fifteen minutes every day takes you farther than practicing two hours once a week.
I have made a peculiar choice here. I was so excited to work on this CD, that I want done before the end of November , that I may have blown another opportunity to make a difference in my own life.
On the plus side is the fact that I have practiced and performed tens of thousands of hours in my life and do have a professional level of expertise to fall back on. But that’s not the same as simply being completely prepared, not just with the guitar and the voice, but mentally. Knowing that I did the work would make it much easier psychologically to deliver the goods.
As it is, I will practice tonight (it’s now 9:30 pm) and I will practice at the hotel tomorrow and again on Saturday and will do the best show I know how, but I wish I had followed the suggestions and the what I know to be truths that I have tried to impart to you here at Datamusicata.
I will try to post every day from the conference just to keep you all in the loop about one of these music networking conferences in case you haven’t been to one and I will try to give you an honest assessment of my showcase.
Now I’ve got to go practice…finally. Shame on me.
Tomorrow I am driving down to Irvine to the Far West Folk Alliance (www.far-west.org) , where I will be doing a premier showcase to try to convince people that I am worth of some work and some recognition.
I have been trying to think of everything that might help you and may have appeared like someone who had it completely together. Nothing could be further from the truth. I waste more time than I should. I practice less than I should. I prioritize like a person who either has an eternity to fix mistakes or else I am a complete idiot.
My plan when I got back from the road was to practice every single day the set that I would do at Far West to ascertain that I presented my best efforts.
And true to my word (for the first day back) I did practice. Then life interceded and the recording of my new CD, Backstage at the Resurrection interceded and I ended up practicing the set…NOT AT ALL.
Now it’s Thursday and I have some of Friday and Saturday to practice a little. I have said this before and I know it to be true. Practicing fifteen minutes every day takes you farther than practicing two hours once a week.
I have made a peculiar choice here. I was so excited to work on this CD, that I want done before the end of November , that I may have blown another opportunity to make a difference in my own life.
On the plus side is the fact that I have practiced and performed tens of thousands of hours in my life and do have a professional level of expertise to fall back on. But that’s not the same as simply being completely prepared, not just with the guitar and the voice, but mentally. Knowing that I did the work would make it much easier psychologically to deliver the goods.
As it is, I will practice tonight (it’s now 9:30 pm) and I will practice at the hotel tomorrow and again on Saturday and will do the best show I know how, but I wish I had followed the suggestions and the what I know to be truths that I have tried to impart to you here at Datamusicata.
I will try to post every day from the conference just to keep you all in the loop about one of these music networking conferences in case you haven’t been to one and I will try to give you an honest assessment of my showcase.
Now I’ve got to go practice…finally. Shame on me.
This article is reprinted with permission by JamesLeeStanley. Please find the original article and support James at datamusicata.com
Categories: Musician's Advice
