Play vs. "Work"!?

Some people study as a commitment to discipline or a workout. Always striving for the next technical level, the next concerto. Hobby or not, having realized deep down inside that virtuosity will never realistically be achieved, and knowing that giving up is not an option.

Others play for fun, to hear the ringing of the strings, occasionally playing for an audience, learning a tune or two here and there and in some cases even composing a few of his own.

A handful, have it all. But I'm not even going there...

I guess it all depends on what music does for you. Are you a listener, a reader, a player, a composer, or all of the above? Whatever you do, if you play now, at some point you must have put some form of practice into it. Some form of a rough draft of what it now is, or at least what you imagine it to be.

I've given quite a bit of thought (and practice...), into the whole "practice" or studying thing, given that not too many people seem to be getting the best out of it. I believe that, at some point, we must separate work from play.

Not to be a music nazi... You can still have fun while you work... But set goals, determine when and how you will practice, and when you do so, try to focus on solving problems and not making mistakes.

The more often you play it right, better the odds that you'll get it right every time, right? So the more often you make mistakes, better the odds that... well, you figure it out. If I stumble on a part, I'll try to go over it right at least three times before moving on.

Another good trick is to always try to break down a new or challenging tune into parts and tackle one section at a time. If one section remains too difficult, break that down into manageable problems.
For example, if there is a passage with difficult bowings, make sure you can easily play the same passage with up and down bowings. If you can't get it fast enough, work each hand individually.

Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), most of these rules are pretty obvious and can be applied to any instrument, but sometimes, in the face of pain, excitement, curiosity, self-confidence (or lack thereof), or plain absentmindedness, we fail to remember or apply them.

Use your creativity!! Make up your own exercises to fix your own setbacks... You might just turn that setback into your strongest attribute. But most important: Stay focused! It's better to practice half an hour with full attention to detail, opposed to hours "fiddling" around. Which... brings us back to our first dilemma: "Are you playing, or practicing?"

Know how to do both!