I know that there are many professional musicians who never take more than a day off at a time from practicing, but I find it very helpful to take a larger chunk of time when the schedule allows. Usually this takes place for me during the month of July, when I don’t have any gigs coming my way, no chamber music, no recitals. I try not to go more than a week, because coming back can be too painful (mentally and physically), and this year it will fall at just about a week, with my last day of practicing being this past Friday.
I find that it’s important to take some time away from the grind. I stop thinking about music with a “must learn notes now” mantra and instead start to think of music the way I did when I was just starting to really fall in love with it and with playing. It allows me to think about musical ideas poetically, rather than mechanically – or to manufacture game plans for the coming months in my head without juggling them with projects all jostling for the front burner.
Right now, I’m thinking about Bach. I’ve decided that I need to learn a couple more of his cello suites (up an octave for the viola) and maybe take a crack at one of the violin sonatas or partitas. Bach takes an enormous amount of time in preparation. I find it a tremendously hard nut to crack – there are always too many options to consider, and the weight of many great cycles recorded for posterity which make every decision seem like life and death. The most common dilemma for me is between “smelling the roses” and the “sewing machine” interpretive schools, and each time I take up one of the suites my mind is changed from one to the other.
I’m also going to figure out when I can record the commissioned works from a couple years ago – finding the time in my schedule and keeping those holes open and free of outside gigs is going to be hard, but I’ve got to get on it.
One reply on “absence DOES make the heart grow fonder”
I liked your comment about the “smelling the roses†and the “sewing machine†interpretive schools. Last night I was trying to find a good recording of the E major French Suite (keyboard) and it was extraordinary. Some of the pianists sounded either drunk or amnesiac, they were so slow and wayward. Gould (whom I often love) sounded unnecessarily aggressive. Andras Schiff was probably the best, but the Amazon music player made the recording sound as if it were played underwater. So… the search continues.
As of time off, yes! I’m a total believer. Hope you enjoyed your week off.