Newness every day

Loved Cherished Adored –

Newness Every Day

I experienced a lot of repetition in developing my ability to play a musical instrument on a professional level.

Each iteration of repetition moved me to a new level of competency.

I learned how to practice with accurate, inspired repetition.

When I would sit down to play, all that build up of accuracy allowed me to play dependably.

It is not always novelty which creates newness.

One semester, a quartet of us met biweekly to practice our sight-reading.

We played through so many string quartets by many composers we had never heard of before.

It gave us a new perspective on the classical music literature which was available to us.

I remember the feeling of newness and excitement as we began our sessions.

We did not rehearse; this was purely to improve our sight-reading.

The basis for being able to do this was the daily repetition of scales and technique.

This was never approached as a boring exercise.

There are so many ways to practice scales and technique in order to build fluency and strength.

I can still feel the sense of commitment as I would sit down, take my deep breath and put bow to strings.

The feeling of laying the foundation for the rest of the practice session, warming up the fingers of the left hand, strengthening the bow arm.

A deep commitment in terms of time, excellence and all those thousands of tiny steps each day.

The ability to practice is indisputably one of the most important skills I have.

I do not argue with myself when I am developing any other new skill.

I know what it takes. I simply take my deep breath and begin.

This applies to art skills, and study of any kind.

It is rigorous attention which yields results.

My expectation and knowledge of how to build excellence keeps it fresh.

Inspired Practices