When to Lower Expectations

One of my favorite composers to work with is the inimitable Randy Newman.

Now some of you may remember his wickedly sardonic humor from his hit tune, ‘Short People.’ Others his Oscar nominated, hauntingly beautiful song from ‘Toy Story II’ called, ‘When She Loved Me.’

Of course these are just two small examples of Randy’s endless font of creativity. Yet what makes him a real hoot to work for is his sense of humor. He could quite honestly have had a world-class career as a standup comic.

A few years back he had a running joke about how hard he used to be on himself, until he learned the secret of eternal bliss – ‘I’ve lowered my standards far enough now,’ he said, ‘to where nothing I do bothers me anymore.’

Boy did the orchestra howl.

He was joking, of course. Randy Newman maintains about as high a standard for himself as anyone I’ve ever come across.

Yet there are times, in the short hall, particularly, when I feel it is useful, and even beneficial to lower one’s expectations, if not one’s ultimate standards.

We all have bad days. Heck, I have days where even opening the case is a challenge. And ironically, it’s often the day after a very good practice or performance that I feel this way; perhaps the result of excessive exuberance taking its toll on my energy.

Nonetheless, it’s on just such days when it becomes imperative to cut yourself some slack; to start slow, get the bow moving across the strings, and rein in thoughts of frustration at not feeling one’s best.

Only when this is accomplished do I recommend gently beginning to raise the bar.

When I adopt this approach I’m often amazed at how quickly I can turn things around. Not always, but quite frequently.

Anyway, these are the thoughts I had this morning as I dealt with just such a session.

And it came around quite nicely, by the end, thank you very much.

All the best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. I think I mentioned in a recent newsletter that I was taking myself the Kreutzer’s book of 42 Etudes/Caprices. Well, mission accomplished. Come do them with me and they will rocket your playing to a whole new level of mastery.