Yes, it can happen. If I haven't played mandolin in a while and am rusty, I can practice for several hours and improve my tone and volume drastically.
Yes, it can happen. If I haven't played mandolin in a while and am rusty, I can practice for several hours and improve my tone and volume drastically.
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[QUOTE=JeffD;1580903] "but bit by bit all agglutinates synergistically"
JeffD: thanks for adding another $10-word to my vocabulary. Had to do a Google-search to find the definition.
I agree with you 100%. Even if you feel you're not improving, there are the little things like intonation, pick attack, fluidity of passages, etc., that at the proper time make themselves apparent. Maybe that's why playing music is a life-long pursuit.
I have experienced what the OP is talking about. Sometimes I'm just one sleep away from being very good at something I've been struggling with.
There are some great books on the subject of practice and brain science. I saw a couple mentioned above that I want to check out. There are two books that helped me a lot that talk about what happens in our brain when learning how to play:
"The Talent Code", by Daniel Coyle and "The Practice of Practice", by Jonathan Harnum.
I'm working on a book list here: http://thenatelee.com/books.html if anyone has book suggestions, I'm always looking for more.
Nate Lee
Music Teacher
Mandolin Player & Twin Fiddler for the Becky Buller Band.
Proud owner of Pava mandolins #83 & #194
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www.PlayNately.com
Also, I notice that at the moment because I'm trying to learn some new things, that I totally SUCK royally at all the simple things I already know.
This effect has happened to me my entire mandolin marriage. Hard to figure, but I think it's a matter of getting mentally hung up by trying too hard or just simply your buffer gets full and stuff gets backed up. A simple good nights rest lets us get a good reset and begin again with a ,hopefully, less cluttered mind.
Learning violin vibrato usually takes the sudden path. A student will do the exercises over and over, but nothing happens. One day, it's just there. The practice the day before was no better than any other day's, but finally brain and body just put it together.
Buffer overflow, yeah,
I'm not quite there yet with vibrato. It has thus far eluded me, to the point where it's not something I actively work on. Your post is a good reminder that I need to focus on that again.
But I did experience it with bow rocking between two strings, and I have the sense that it will happen shortly with my attempts at hokum bowing. Once that immediate breakthrough happens, it's hard to imagine why you couldn't do it before.
Keep that skillet good and greasy all the time!
Haha, that brings up an ancient memory. My violin vibrato came on quite quickly, and un-prompted by any formal exercises. I was still in my first year of class lessons. I remember we 4th graders were all curious when we saw the teacher using vibrato when he played, and we all wanted to know what it was, and how he did that! He told us we were still not ready for it, and that it would take special exercises when we were. and most of all, that we were specifically not to attempt it yet! That was interpreted as a challenge by my younger self. I figured it out myself, and hid it from the teacher in class, but couldn't resist showing it off in front of fellow classmates, on the sly. One day, in class, one of them blurted out, "Mr M___. bratsche plays with vibrato!" Mr. M____ then made me get up and demonstrate it. Boy, was my face red. But it felt good.
bratsche
"There are two refuges from the miseries of life: music and cats." - Albert Schweitzer
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That sounds like moving on to toe shoes in ballet. It's like you're not allowed to use toe shoes until some magic threshold is reached. Makes you want it all the more. I never reached that threshold though.
I think we all have those moments when you think you have it figured out and then you realize you need to keep practicing till it really sticks!
It's funny that this thread should jump to the top of the pile today -
I just spent my lunch hour 'practicing', and I had another one of those 'breakthrough' sessions. All of a sudden certain chord derivatives, bits of scales and new fingering positions were flowing out of my hands, as if I had been playing them for weeks. I left my little rehearsal space at 1:30 a noticeably better player than I was was when I walked in there at 12:30.
I'm still not very good - but at least I have graduated from 'useless' to just 'bad'.
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A slight, perhaps pedantic correction, is necessary. There is no such thing as muscle memory. Spatial memory is the proper term for your hands and fingers "remembering" their positions on the various strings and frets. The sequence of notes is rote memory based on repetition. Ear training comes into play due to repeatedly hearing the sequence of notes making up the rhythm and melody.
With practise a piece of music or an exercise becomes progressively easier leading to a perceived increase in the pace of learning. By the same token some days it can feel as though your skill level or competence is in reverse. This is part of the learning process as your brain's neurons build pathways and you internalise the music.
It is unfortunate music programmes are an ever decreasing priority in public schools. I am not talking about programmes intended to develop a school band. Every student, with an interest or merely curious about music, should be encouraged and taught to play an instrument.
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