What Are You Practising / Composing Now?

[Dave2002]

This sounds very interesting - thanks for letting us know about it!

Seconded.



Actually I've been surprised at the sound quality of some of the "events" - both musical and otherwise, I've seen and heard. Often these have been made using available microphones - perhaps just iPhones or the mic in an Android phone. Many have been at least good, but some - a few - have not really managed to tame the recording so that it sounds open and natural.

I'm not quite sure why some are so much better than others - or at least not obviously muffled or showing other audio problems.

[Serial_Apologist]

This sounds very interesting - thanks for letting us know about it!

I'm with Joseph! It would be great to hear when it's ready, Richard.

[Richard Barrett]

Actually I've been surprised at the sound quality of some of the "events" - both musical and otherwise, I've seen and heard. Often these have been made using available microphones - perhaps just iPhones or the mic in an Android phone. Many have been at least good, but some - a few - have not really managed to tame the recording so that it sounds open and natural.

Good microphones and audio interfaces are, I think, a lot easier to come by than used to be the case. At the beginning of the present crisis I got myself a matched pair of Røde NT5 condenser mics for £250 or so, which were used for the aforementioned harp/electronics concert. For a CD production I'd want to use something better, but then I'd also want more mics, a more sympathetic acoustic, better monitoring etc. etc. etc.

[Dave2002]

Good microphones and audio interfaces are, I think, a lot easier to come by than used to be the case.

I think so many people got caught out by events, and just had to use what was available - typically a phone, or perhaps even a mic. in a laptop. Musicians and actors might have thought to use decent microphones and kit, but I suspect that even then some were in the wrong place, and the wrong time - and sometimes it's just the room acoustics which mess things up. It may also make a difference if people are trying to do live events, with video, as then there are additional compromises. Doesn't mean that some people don't have good equipment, but it might be the wrong equipment for each job.

Not everyone wants to spend money on kit which they think they won't need when and if this period passes over. Some people - say musicians and speakers - may be happier to spend more on such equipment if they think there's a continuing need, while many others won't want to. Most "ordinary" people would be unlikely to have microphones of any distinction, let alone good ones.

[Pulcinella]

Our estate is planning a mini Arts weekend (displays of arts and crafts in windows) including a Busk-at-Home Festival of Music, the idea being that residents and visitors can stroll around (socially distanced, of course), stopping to listen to their neighbours playing and singing.
Details (there will have to be a programme/timetable of sorts) to be arranged, but this has given me the spur to get the two JSB two-part inventions I've been working on (number 1 and number 8) up to a decent enough standard to perform with the window open!

[cloughie]

Our estate is planning a mini Arts weekend (displays of arts and crafts in windows) including a Busk-at-Home Festival of Music, the idea being that residents and visitors can stroll around (socially distanced, of course), stopping to listen to their neighbours playing and singing.
Details (there will have to be a programme/timetable of sorts) to be arranged, but this has given me the spur to get the two JSB two-part inventions I've been working on (number 1 and number 8) up to a decent enough standard to perform with the window open!

Sounds interesting Pulc - should bring out a range from sublime to cor blimey!

[Pulcinella]

Sounds interesting Pulc - should bring out a range from sublime to cor blimey!

Well, there's a young lad round the corner who I often hear practising his scales on the piano (much better than mine!): he's doing Grade 8, so I hope he might be inspired to give us a rendition. Apparently he also has a drum kit!
Another couple are in a brass band, so we might get some tootles from them.
And yet another would serenade us to his guitar accompaniment from his balcony after the Thursday night 8pm clap.
We'll have to see who else is interested.

[cloughie]

Well, there's a young lad round the corner who I often hear practising his scales on the piano (much better than mine!): he's doing Grade 8, so I hope he might be inspired to give us a rendition. Apparently he also has a drum kit!
Another couple are in a brass band, so we might get some tootles from them.
And yet another would serenade us to his guitar accompaniment from his balcony after the Thursday night 8pm clap.
We'll have to see who else is interested.

Let’s hope you get a grade 8 piece rather than a drum solo! Enjoy the musikfest!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Our estate is planning a mini Arts weekend (displays of arts and crafts in windows) including a Busk-at-Home Festival of Music, the idea being that residents and visitors can stroll around (socially distanced, of course), stopping to listen to their neighbours playing and singing.
Details (there will have to be a programme/timetable of sorts) to be arranged, but this has given me the spur to get the two JSB two-part inventions I've been working on (number 1 and number 8) up to a decent enough standard to perform with the window open!

Sounds great -what a fantastic idea. I developed a bit of an obsession with the F major invention - such a clever piece, satisfying to play and a real finger strengthener (pariticularly 2,3,and 4 ) and scale improver on the quiet...

[Joseph K]

Feel my technique coming on quite a bit - which is just as well, since I've been practising 6-7 hours a day, between an hour and an hour and a half at a time (sometimes more, sometimes less). Most of it is practising jazz standards, with an hour allotted to it at a time, but I always warm up by playing the Bach Presto from BWV 1001 - which has driven me a bit mad and I end up practising it a bit more than I feel like I ought to, just because it is technically a difficult piece, but I feel like there's (technical) freedom at the end of it. I felt a bit like I was in a rut and my speed wasn't increasing, so I've been experimenting a bit with my right-hand picking technique, where the best place to position the hand is and so on, and also just pushing and nudging myself to play over the tempi I'm comfortable with. Most the time, however, is spent going over standards, I make sure of that. But the technique thing was becoming a bit of a frustration, but today, I've felt like it's come on nicely and I'm more relaxed - the technique is not totally developed, but I feel like I'm getting there; the tempo I can comfortably play at is steadily increasing. A trick I've learnt - FWIW, since I don't think there are any other jazz guitarists on here - is interspersing working on picking with strumming, since the latter requires a loose wrist and I often find I pick at higher speeds after working on strumming (you can tell in McLaughlin's style, for example, that guitarists who can strum at high speeds also tend to be good pickers too - Johnny Marr, too).

[Dave2002]

Feel my technique coming on quite a bit - which is just as well, since I've been practising 6-7 hours a day, between an hour and an hour and a half at a time (sometimes more, sometimes less). Most of it is practising jazz standards, with an hour allotted to it at a time, but I always warm up by playing the Bach Presto from BWV 1001 - which has driven me a bit mad and I end up practising it a bit more than I feel like I ought to, just because it is technically a difficult piece, but I feel like there's (technical) freedom at the end of it.

Glad to hear that things are improving, though I thought you'd given up on classics. Using Bach as a warm up is - I'd guess - a good thing to do.

Sounds like you are practising for very long periods - which I used to do many years ago. Sometimes it's possible to overdo that, and the extra hours aren't always productive, though there's also an issue of whethr you enjoy it. I suspect that 3-4 hours might be a reasonable time to spend - though that's your decision. If you are going to do so many hours of practice, I'd suggest maybe one fairly long session, then several other shorter sessions, to break up the day.

Are there any physical problems which can arise from a lot of guitar practice?

[Joseph K]

Glad to hear that things are improving, though I thought you'd given up on classics. Using Bach as a warm up is - I'd guess - a good thing to do.

Sounds like you are practising for very long periods - which I used to do many years ago. Sometimes it's possible to overdo that, and the extra hours aren't always productive, though there's also an issue of whethr you enjoy it. I suspect that 3-4 hours might be a reasonable time to spend - though that's your decision. If you are going to do so many hours of practice, I'd suggest maybe one fairly long session, then several other shorter sessions, to break up the day.

Are there any physical problems which can arise from a lot of guitar practice?

Dave, rather than one fairly long session then several shorter sessions, like I say, I usually do between one and one and a half hour sessions with a half-hour break (or more) between them, which has worked for me so far. Sometimes though, as was the case yesterday evening, I think I ended up playing for almost two hours at a time...

Tendonitis is something I heard about guitarists getting - but, I've never actually heard from people what schedule they were keeping to get such an injury. I just assume that they would play continuously without a break most the day.

But - my left knee sometimes aches, which I think is something I gained with long practise schedules of classical guitar, but which I still get, even though I no longer have my left foot propped up on a footstool, with my guitar on my knee!

One of the good things about electric guitar is the strap which enables one to stand up and play - so I can stretch my legs while continuing to practice.

You're right about the productivity thing - sometimes I have felt like that, however, currently I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get through everything I'd like to.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I bought the music for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2 50 years ago. I opened it, then closed in, only returning to it occasionally and briefly. Now I’ve no excuse and the slow movement is more or less in the bag.

[kea]

I haven't written any music in a long time and am honestly not sure if I'm going to do so again—have a few things that I've started and should finish, but I think my problem is that I honestly evaluated the quality of the music I've written in the past and found it inferior to what I'd like to be capable of. Also it's much easier to just listen to music other people write since chances are they have more original ideas than I do.

Have been spending a bit more time playing the piano instead and finding that I have the same problem (inferior to what I'd like to be able to do) but at least with that I have the excuse of only practicing about an hour a week. I think I've been resisting setting up an everyday practice regimen because I'm afraid that I won't improve enough, since my goal would be to play at a professional level, and that's not particularly realistic for a 28 year old. Current repertoire that I've been working on is Beethoven Op.109, Ravel Alborada del gracioso, Schumann Kreisleriana and sometimes bits of Scarlatti or Bach as warmups or to practice specific techniques.

[Jonathan]

I haven't written any music in a long time and am honestly not sure if I'm going to do so again—have a few things that I've started and should finish, but I think my problem is that I honestly evaluated the quality of the music I've written in the past and found it inferior to what I'd like to be capable of. Also it's much easier to just listen to music other people write since chances are they have more original ideas than I do.

I know exactly what you mean - I have the exact same problem. I composed lots when I was at University (not studying music, by the way!) but playing back my own works years later made me realise how poor they were so I destroyed a lot of it. The only work I really want to finish is my solo piano transcription of Franck's Le Chasseur Maudit which, so far has taken me 23 years and I keep going back and revising it and only once did I actually finish the whole piece (in the first version, 20 years ago).