After recently completing the Body-for-LIFE challenge I was inspired by how well I was able to discipline myself during the program to complete it and work towards my goals. I thought about how I could apply the principles used in the challenge to other areas of my life. So I've decided to try it on learning a new piece of music. Even though I'm more of a steel string guitarists, I have been wanting to dive into some Classical works. The Prelude of J.S. Bach's 4th Lute Suite has always been one of my favorite pieces performed on the Classical guitar and I've recently had more reason to learn it.
So here is my challenge.
Because I have other music I need to work on for my performances I can't devote a ton of time to this piece but I would like to devote one hour a day (6 days of the week) to this piece for 12 weeks. Along with this I will devote 30 minutes a day to Alexander Technique practice to help me play as effortlessly as possible. Actually for me this is a lot of time as I already have trouble finding time to practice. But in the scheme of what I am going after in my music career this really shouldn't be that much.
My Goals include:
1. Memorizing the entire movement
3. Implementing what I know to be proper technique and be able to say at the end that I've applied everything I know to be technically accurate and efficient.
4. Being able to perform the piece as effortlessly as possible based on a weekly assessment of my own effortless scale.
5. Putting as much attention on the music as I possibly can. Be able to say that I have considered every individual note by the end of 12 weeks to be as close to the way I want it to sound as possible.
6. Having a general knowledge of the history of the piece
7. Making a recording and video to share at the end of the 12 weeks.
I wanted to share this process in a blog because I am hoping it will keep me accountable. I'm not exactly sure where it will lead and how I will structure the blog but I hope it can possibly help you in your own things that you are pursuing.
If you'd like to here an amazing interpretation of the piece I am working on, here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du5nysmlpLA
God bless,
David
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