Continuing assessment
Last night was the third guided practica session.
The turnout of 12 people for the initial part of guided practice was quite encouraging. Especially heartening was that more than two thirds of those who came were relative newcomers. So, despite the fact that I left office late and did not get a bite to eat before the practica, I felt compelled to lead the participants through a good practice session! In short, everyone had a good sweat after the practica…
Guided practice
Had my first session of guided practice last Friday night. Boy, it was certainly a lot of work to keep people interested (or entertained, depending on your perspective :-)) for about one and a half hour*!
The matrix of dance
Have been going through the book The Structure of the Dance Vol.2: The Matrix by Mauricio Castro during my recent trip to Japan. In fact, I had initially started with “Structure of Dance”, which is the first volume in this series, but became a little impatient to go through all the exercises. 🙂
Rules of effective practice
Just happened to read about the Wynton Marsalis’ “12 rules of effective practice” (for learning Jazz) which I thought was equally applicable for Tango as well.
Here is a brief summary.
- Seek out the best private instruction you can afford. It can take years to figure out what a good teacher can show you quickly.
- Write out a schedule. Include fundamentals always.
- Set realistic goals. Set goals. Chart your development. Challenge yourself.
- Concentrate when practicing. Develop the ability to FOCUS. Do not “just go through the motions.”
- Relax, practice slowly.
- Practice hard parts longer. Confront your deficiencies.
- Always play with maximum expression. Give yourself over to what you are doing. Do everything with the proper attitude. Do not be a cynic. The expression you play with is your style.
- Learn from your mistakes. Do not be too hard on yourself. Resolve to improve each day.
- Don’t show off. Expression, not tricks or gimmicks. Showing off misses the point of group playing.
- Think for yourself. Respect your teacher, but think things through for yourself.
- Be optimistic. How you feel about living is who you are – “Music washes away the dust of everyday life.”
- Look for connections between your music and other things. The more you discover similarities in things that seem to be different, the greater the world you can participate in.