Well, I used to teach English a lot, and was always fascinated by how people stayed at a plateau for a while then suddenly made a big jump - also the ones who made the biggest jumps were the ones who made systems for learning. I just started this discussion cos I was thinking about all the random stuff I do and how sometimes I'm focussed on something and sometimes not, but the good think that is coming out is that as long as you have some intention to get better, it's all good.
Never attended a workshop of any sort I'm sorry to say, as I don't get to the States very often. I once attended the Graves Mountain Festival in Virginia though which was a ball! Good to ramble about this stuff R On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 10:28 PM, Mike Hoffmann <[email protected]>wrote: > > > This is always difficult for me. I come up with grandiose ideas like, > I will complete the Odell Method for Duo and Trio mandolin or I will > do all the Bickford or Van Eps methods, but when I sit down and do it > I only do a few exercises before playing some other "recreational" > stuff. When I feel motivated to learn, lately, I have been slowing > down music and trying to learn it that way. This is both fun AND > educational, but may not be great for technique. I must say though, > when I do force myself through some exercises before during and after > playing over the course of a month or so I do notice immense > improvement. Right now though I have been doing schoolwork since 8 am > until now and am sort of looking at my mandolin as it is saying, > "hey. psssst. Forget school." > > This topic came up at an old time party last weekend. Me and some > friends were upstairs in the cupola of the center for cultural > evolution while three great jams raged below us. I just didn't feel > like playing. I knew that I went all the way up to this party to > blister my fingers, but at that moment I sort of felt more like > talking about divination and making fun of round peak banjo snobs. > Sure i missed out on some great opportunities to hone my skill, but > sometimes we can't force ourselves to improve and we must just meddle > in mediocrity and make fun of those who are really good at that skill, > ricky scaggs. > > Robin, did you attend a Matt Flinner workshop? I recognized the one > exercise GD-GA-GE-GA-GD from his workshop, but then he added all kinds > of cool double-stops to that picking pattern and also did EA-ED-EG-EA > to work on picking the other way. I took a lot about practicing from > his workshop (and did nothing about it) but he seems like a dude who > LOVES to practice, don't get me wrong, he really seems to make it > fun. He was encouraging us to take drills we know and make songs out > of them or incorporate different melodies into them each time we do > it. Imagine the possibilities, we would be at 10K hours before we > know it! > > On another note, that 10K hours does not take into consideration > talent. I am a believer that musical ability is a combination of right > and left brain input. i am a guy with a marginal to slim amount of > natural talent, but I have taught myself a few things, imagine the guy > who is REALLY talented (ricky scaggs, ; ) who can get there in like > 2500 hours? > > back to Professional Development practices in Outward Bound EL schools. > Mike > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
