January: Let's Reboot.
🎊 Happy New Year!
I’d like to start off with a late happy new years to all of you. Let’s start off 2023 strong!
2022 went by faster than I had planned for, but my for 2023 is to stay on top of things. It’s a must, not a “I’ll try”.
⚙️ Breaking In Habits.
I often describe myself as “the lazy optimist”. I’ll set a goal for myself, plan out a schedule, but crash land the second day. 2022 was a big example of that, and here are 2 things I’ve noticed I do.
I don’t have time VS. I don’t have time to care or want to care.
One of the habits I’ve been meaning to break is overloading myself with work. Not necessarily because I wouldn’t have time, but because my brain wouldn’t have time to care.
There’s a line between honestly not having any time, and “not having time”. Last week, I had midterms, which is always a very hectic time for me no matter how many times I go through it. The thing is, I had a lot of time to review, even the week before considering everything I did in school, was review. I studied for my hardest subjects first, but found myself slacking on the others. “Morning review time” would turn into “10 more minutes” which would end up in “I’ll review tonight”. Evening comes and I’m occupied with something else. “I didn’t have time to plan it out”.
I’ve tried to implement using my calendar, but that also led to me not having the time to care to update it unless it was something big.
I’m currently trying to have a “do it now” mindset. I have to study later on? Well if I’m not doing anything, I’ll do it now.
Fixing up my “take it or leave it” complex.
“There’s always next time”, but what happens if there isn’t. Through trial and error, I’ve found “take it or leave it” can occur more than expected.
What I want to work on, is not taking risks, but thinking through those risks a bit. I have the habit of getting myself into things without really thinking out how I’m going to manage to a point where I at least know what I’m doing. I’d like to keep my “go with the flow” outlook sometimes, but I’d also like to work on my “is it really a good idea?”.
💪 General Goals For 2023
“New Year Resolutions”.
Keep this newsletter going.
Writing has always been something I’ve held close to me, whether it was writing short stories or brainstorming my autobiography. And though I love it, I don’t do it too often anymore.
This newsletter is my rabbit hole, my place to write about anything, and I hope I’ll keep writing here instead of the notes app.
Start a podcast
I’m experienced in writing, but saying what I wrote is where I stumble. Learning English from someone who learnt English as their second language, disposed me to speaking broken english. I’ll occasionally repeat words, skip words, forget what I was saying, etc. Starting a podcast would be a way to practice that, while also feeling heard.
Keep playing bass.
I learned bass mainly by myself in the beginning of the 2021 school year since our orchestra didn’t have a bass. Our conductor looked around the room, and while everyone looked down, I decided to look back at her. My brain went “Damn, I have to play don’t I?” and I raised my hand from the very back of the room.
I originally played Viola, so when I suddenly had to hold a huge instrument like the bass, I was pretty overwhelmed. I felt like it was too hard, I wanted to quit, but at the same time I was excited to keep going, to see how far I could really go. Another big person, was my conductor/music teacher, cause without her help and support I may have quit within a week. She played the Cello professionally, and knew how to play other instruments as well, so she was able to help me learn mine a bit. She never made me feel ashamed for not knowing, which I appreciate. I owe her a lot.
It’s come to the question whether I will continue playing bass, and my answer is yes. I’ve grown to love the instrument as an extension pf myself, and I could never let go of all the progress I’ve made and how far I’ve come.
Finish learning my 4th and 5th language.
As of right now, I know English, Fante (parent’s tongue), and Latin and am learning Spanish and German. Language and the arts have always been my strong suit, so learning a new language is fairly easy, expect for one thing. Speaking the language. I’ve always had this block; I can understand and translate but I can’t speak it back. My mind goes blank and I forget everything I’ve learned. It’s a mountain I’d like to conquer by the end of this year.
“If you want people to understand you, speak their language” - African proverb.
Practice public speaking — in public.
Everyone’s biggest fear, public speaking. Part of this is from my habit of speaking broken English, and the fear of disapproval. The fear of backlash for my opinion. I am working to overcome that, but I thought, “why not give yourself a little push to keep growing”?
My school has a speech and debate team that travels nationally to compete, and through I’d rather stay cozy at home, I plan to join and get my voice out there, voice my opinions. I view public speaking as speaking for not only yourself but for those who cannot speak for themselves. I’d like to speak for myself now, to no longer hide or remain silent out of fear, and to help those still controlled by it.
🎻 A Beginner’s Guide to Concert Prep..
..2nd year bassist edition
You’ve been practicing for months, slowly getting more confident with your musical prowess. You’re not 100%, but you’re making progress. That 20% uneasiness won’t come back to haunt you..
And you still have time..right? Not with your concert next Friday. You’ve got 12 more days to be a 100%.
Not to mention, you’re self taught. (Or at least in my case).
Here are my tips and tricks from past concerts to ensure safety from the wrath of your conductor the day after:
Knowing everyone else’s parts.
Weird right? Shouldn’t you be focusing on your part and not others?
Yes and no.
While it’s obviously important to learn and be able to play your part, there’s one important thing to know.
You’re part of the orchestra, not the entire orchestra.
Your parts tie into the other section’s parts. Maybe they cue you on, or you cue them. Maybe you echo them, play as if you’re having an argument with them. Whatever it is, you need to know and be certain, because you may not hear when you’re supposed to come in, but you must.
How?
Listen to the piece on your own, multiple times.
Imagine when they would come in when practicing - trust me, it works.
Practiced stressed.
This all depends on where you’re playing and what you’re playing. When you get on that big stage you’ve been dreaming about playing on, you might play your heart out in the middle of the concert, but when you walk on and are about to play, you’re gonna be stressed. Your heart’s going to beat out of your chest, the first note is gonna sound squeaky. It’s happened to me time and time again.
How?
Run right before rehearsals.
Quick story: While walking home, my friend passed me panting, looked back and yelled “Hey! Don’t we have rehearsals?” My soul left my body, and we ran back, backpacks half slung over our shoulders and trying to push our way into the rehearsal area. My heart felt like it was on the verge of exploding, I was out of breath while still trying to set up and grab my bass, and doing all that on my period only intensified my cramps. I felt like throwing up and everything, so at the concert when those feelings came back. They weren’t as bad, and I played pretty well.
Freak yourself out a bit, but not too much.
Bring all the stuff you need and may need.
You’re practicing right before you go on and an unusual screech erupts from your instrument. You need rosin, the only problem is you didn’t bring any.
As much as you think you won’t need it, there’s a 50% chance you will, better to be safe than story.
How?
Bring a bag to the concert.
You can leave it backstage, but have a few things (rosin, etc) in there in case of an emergency.
You have time to practice — right now.
“I don’t have time to practice” said no successful musician ever.
Practice is key to getting better. Though some part of playing is muscle memory, that muscle memory requires practice to be maintained. Let’s say you learn a piece in the beginning of the year, and you play it again at the end. If you haven’t really gotten any better at your instrument, you’re probably not going to play as well as you would have had you practiced. All practice counts, even if it’s just practicing fingerings, note names, counting. All of it counts.
How? “I honestly don’t have time..”
If you’re sitting around thinking about what you want to do — you have time.
If you’re thinking about how much time you have until you have to do something — you have time.
Even if you screw up, keep going.
The normal response for some may be “stop playing until you’re confident”, but it honestly just makes you more stressed on catching up.
Remember, you’re not the only one who probably screwed up.
After one of my concerts, I heard a lot of people saying “I faked half of ___”, but we sounded pretty good. Though I was concerned for our orchestra’s accountability, I felt a bit better about playing a few wrong notes. “Mistakes are proof you’re trying”, so making a few won’t kill you.
Now you’re all ready for your concert, I’ll see you next month for how to survive it.