doefisher

I’ve been working on my scales in 2nds through 7ths (on flute) and am learning a lot. Learning to improvise over these intervals is fun and is expanding my improvisation skills. To keep it fresh, I wanted to change it up a bit, so I was double tonguing through the scales and realizing how long it had been since i worked on my double tonguing. It was slow going, to say the least. So, I do what I usually do these days…I Googled it. I found some good instructional videos by ‘ target=_blank>Nina Perlove. She does a lot of instructing via the internet and is fun to watch. But…what blew me away was the composition by Ian Clarke “The Great Train Race”, and the performance of it by Aleksandr Haskin. Check it out…

I was watching it realizing how much further I had to go until I was where I want to be. I spent a few minutes being a) blown away; b) depressed; 3) overwhelmed, etc. My son came in the room and started watching the video with me. He said, "Wow.” And I said, “Yeah…. makes me either want to practice really hard, or throw my flute in the trash.” He giggled and said, “No, don’t do that. You can play like that – you  just need to learn the fingerings.” Ah…the perspective of a 6 year old! But…he’s right. What I was experiencing was impatience. I think that I feel rushed because I’m older and pursuing my life’s passion late in life, so I feel like I have lost all this time, but it’s all perfect really. I have myriad experiences that will come into play in my music and it all lends to passion behind the music. So, I just took a different path, but can come to the same place and I have plenty of time to get there.

So, again I am reminded to love where I am. The frustration comes in always wanting to be someplace else. Wanting to be further than I am. If that’s my approach, I’ll never be happy. I could be 80 years old and still wishing that I’d have pursued music. By the time I’m 80 – I’ll be playing Ian Clarke’s “The Great Train Race” like Aleksandr Haskin, because I didn’t allow myself to get too discouraged and I kept on playing!

So…I’m looking for inspiration daily and loving getting my ass kicked so I’ll keep showing up!

Until next time,

Doe