Getting the FUN Into Your Practice

In its broadest sense, ‘fun’ can cover a lot of ground. It can refer to spontaneous moments of delight, the experience of exhilaration, a growing expectation of reward, the feeling of achievement, or just basic physical pleasures.

Simply put, however, the more fun you have, and the more types of fun you have in your life, the more successful your life will be.

Now, there is an art to manifesting fun. Here are my thoughts on cultivating it and nourishing it, specifically as it pertains to setting and realizing goals in your violin practice.

Get yourself in the habit of setting and achieving goals. Not just big, sweeping goals, like mastering all 42 Kreutzer Etudes, but little, immediate goals as well. An example of an immediate goal could be to play through the first 8 measures of Kreutzer #2 while counting, breathing and imaging.

Keep track of your victories. For some, like myself, this is something of a goal itself.

By keeping track of victories, I am not talking about empty praise. I am saying that when you have stretched for something, there should be acknowledgement that is in proportion to the effort expended.

Some of you may be surprised to hear this, but on a ‘bad playing day’, when even the thought of taking the violin out is an effort to me, I will give myself a good dose of credit for just getting the violin out of the case and beginning to play. Often that is enough of a boost to get me to the next goal, on such a day – warming up.

Recognize that occasionally you must be flexible with your goals, but, at the same time, don’t surrender them without good cause.

Sometimes even the simplest aim cannot be met. In the above example, if I were physically ill on my ‘bad playing day’ I might be doing my body a great disservice by attempting to play. In other words, have compassion with yourself when a goal you have set proves unattainable, and let it go.

So here is the bottom line.

Take 15 minutes of your day to set goals and review those you have met. Soon your life will have the focus of a laser beam. And, if you have goals that run through a range of time frames and degrees of challenge, you will also have a rolling waves of good feeling passing through you continuously.

What could be more ‘fun’ than that?

All the best,
Clayton Haslop

P.S. Don’t forget to integrate my Kreutzer course into your goal setting lifestyle. The dividends will be awesome!