PROBLEM SOLVING
Don’t complain—solve! Don’t make excuses—solve! Don’t wait for things to happen to you—be the subject of your life and make things work for you—solve all your problems! If you love to make excuses, go ahead and write them down. Write them all down. Congratulations! You now have a to-do list!
It is really important to engage things that are useful instead of useless. I once met someone who could put their arm out at exactly the right spot for their viola to play in tune; it made me feel inadequate that I had never thought to develop that skill, and once I tried to do it I found it sort of unknowable and difficult. BUT, is that really a useful skill? Ultimately, I am forced to think the person who bragged about this was really spending their time on something that was not only not useful but also possibly not actually happening. Either way, I have not spent any more of my practice time on this party trick because it is NOT USEFUL. Try putting your viola up without tension. THAT IS USEFUL. Try putting your first finger down in tune in first position. THAT IS USEFUL. Don’t worry about fancy stuff before you have solved the basics. It turns out almost everything you need to do is pretty basic, and you probably haven’t quite mastered all the basics. You need to be able to play without injuring yourself. You need to be able to play in tune in first position and you need to be able to get around the viola (shift) VERY RELIABLY. Once you’ve learned how to play in tune in first position and get around reliably with your shifts you won’t be able to play out of tune anywhere. So spend your time on your left hand figuring out hand position, finger dropping without tension, shifting, and vibrato. Spend your time with your right hand playing stuff that is easy for the left hand and uses all the strings and then LISTEN for things that keep happening (same note squeaks? same note delays? why? how can I fix it?) and notice patterns (open strings react differently than stopped strings! lower strings have slower response times! Your bow needs to track away/toward the bridge when you play lower/higher on the string, including small differences!). LOOK at your strings at your bow’s contact point and encourage your brain to think about SOUND—the eyes are a shortcut to thought: send them where you’d like to focus your attention. These are USEFUL projects around the viola.
Some problems are mental. Mental problems include: feeling scared, feeling insecure, feeling scattered, losing focus, getting distracted, thinking about your left hand while you are performing, wishing you could control things outside your control, spending energy on useless things, wasting practice time, not having a sense of all the things you need to master, worrying about stuff that doesn’t matter, etc. If you have a mental problem, FIX IT! Being a professional musician doesn’t just mean you can play your instrument like a ninja, it means you can do it under any circumstances on any repertoire and make it sound not just easy but musical, even if you are having a grumpy day! Most professional work has nothing to do with your best playing; it has to do with your usual playing. Ignoring crazy stuff that happens during a concert is part of the job. Practice focusing abruptly for short periods of time if you are preparing for an audition. Practice focusing intensely for a long time if you are preparing a solo performance or concerto. If you’re worried about something that is hard, finish learning it. Whatever your mental problems are, fix them so you can get out of your own way.
Some problems are logistical. Maybe your body gets very hot or cold or shaky or numb when you get scared. What can you do about logistical problems? Fix them! If you get cold, make yourself warm! Be prepared. Make a toolkit of solutions. Think of yourself as a person who identifies “problems” as puzzles to solve, not things to wish were different, and solve the puzzles. I get very cold when I get scared so I wore a hot pack around my torso when I was hired by the BSO. I got quite hot in the warmup rooms, but I let myself be too warm (by a bit) because heating up my core helped my body fall to a reasonable temperature when all my fight/flight instincts kicked in and sucked my blood to my vital organs. If you hate not knowing when you’ll have to play or what the rep will be, let go of hating it—you are wasting energy on hate! Use your energy to find ways to get better at not knowing when you’ll have to play and then suddenly start so it doesn’t throw you when you (undoubtedly) have to play suddenly. Be smart about what isn’t working; find creative solutions for logistical problems.
Problems you may need to solve: Possible Solutions:
sweaty hands wash hands in cold water, hold ice pack, hold in front of a fan, cool body with ice pack
slipping glasses glasses strap, new glasses with grips, new grips, lighter frames, snugger fit over ears
cold hands mittens, hand warmers, hot packs for hands, hot packs on body, wash in warm water, whole-body movement, warm clothes
Whatever kind of problems you have, face them so you can fix them. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Instead of feeling humiliated along the way, consider yourself a life-long learner. Engaging with the world, with excellence, with personal growth is a wonderful way to live your life.