Your True Practice Companions

At the moment I’m seated in my office/studio. With the exception of the slight whirring noise of a fan above me, all is quite still.

Earlier I took some exercise under the unique blue sky of the high desert. On my sides were stunning red rock monoliths and surprisingly lush green vegetation. it’s the monsoon season here.

The two ladies of the house, my wife Tania and daughter Claire are still sleeping; Tania having worked late into the night to meet a deadline.

In the quiet of the house now my thoughts have been running over the events of the last two months, and my responses to them. Much of the time I’ve felt like a pebble being swept down stream in a flash flood. And, as you know, some of the bumps and bruises I received are quite real.

Yet in this moment of reflection I’m reconnecting with two life-giving feelings; love, and gratitude.

What blessings they are.

And as I do I’m being reminded of how they figure into the practice of the violin. In a real sense they are our most essential practice companions.

Sometimes players are tempted to derive motivation from negative sources; guilt being the most common, I suppose.

Though the hands may get exercised, the soul is left unstirred. In this state the desire to extend, which is the natural result of love, remains dormant. Real music making is thus impossible.

Gratitude is the great facilitator of love. As I sit here experiencing gratitude for the pleasure and joy derived from something as simple as drawing a bow down an open string, love springs into being.

Interestingly, gratitude is made possible through our ability to visualize. Through it the mind ‘recreates’ what it is grateful for. For me, then, visualization has much more than a purely utilitarian value. The positive exercise of it is essential to our very humanity.

When you work with one of my courses you will find that there I focus on the nuts and bolts of violin playing; where to put the fingers, what to think about, how to practice, etc..

In these newsletters I find it important to share what is in my heart.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. I can still welcome a few more attendees to my Sedona Masterclass/Seminar October 10-12. I know those attending will come away inspired, energized, and full of practical violin playing know-how.