Weeknotes #4
Thu 12 Mar 26
And yet more recorder playing, as well as mandolin.
I've been watching a lot of You Tube content, instrumental folk music of all types. Nyckelharpa, Hurdy-Gurdy, recorder, fiddle, viola. Most of it is awe inspiring and very good to watch and listen to - but there's a danger of falling (again) into the mindset that I'll never be anywhere even remotely close to this good, and therefore there's no point continuing to play at all.
Comparison is the thief of joy
Most of what you see on You Tube is by very accomplished players with years of hard work and dedication behind them. Many are professional or semi-professional. All of them spend way more time and energy on practice and playing than I'll ever be able to. I have other things in my life that need attention. Music is just a relaxing hobby for me and not a form of identity and something I'll get totally immersed in.
I now treat these not as aspirational, showing by how I might play if I keep at it, but as entertainment and a source of good, interesting material to learn.
My playing will never approach that of the people on You Tube, and that's ok. As long as I enjoy myself, that's all that matters.
And I seem to have made a small breakthrough in mandolin playing, after 40+ years, something feels different, or is it my shift in mindset?
The recorder still needs a lot of work, but the work is fun. And that's all that matters.
Wed 11 Mar 26
Playing more recorder music - fingers and breathing and tongue slowly starting to feel less alien. There is a long way to go, but I'm enjoying the start of the journey.
Tue 10 Mar 26
Diary Rethinking my index. I have decided to switch to a "library card" style, with a 5x3 card for each "topic" and on it a list of sub-topics and their references in the diary in the form of
Sub topic Volume/PageI played with this method before and should really have switched to it then. It's much more flexible than the index-in-a-book method I first started.
Fairphone6 display
I cracked the screen on my phone just before Xmas. Today I received a replacement display from Fairphone and fitted it without any problems. If only all consumer electronics was built like this, to be maintainable. #righttorepair
Sun 8 Mar 26
Swimming - I am eligible for senior 60+ discount! Swim price is now £4 instead of £5.80 Some confusion with their system initially, but should be fixed next time I go.
Frogs loudly croaking in garden pond.
Sar 7 Mar 26
Frogspawn day
more recorder practice. it's going to be a long and winding road, so I should enjoy the process and not get too impatient.
Fri 6 March 26
work Jobs at Bressay and Collafirth Hill
home got a copy of "Daphne" music and starting to work through it as tuition material. Concentrating on trying to control breathing and tone production. Trying to make it sound nicer. Its a steep learning curve, once the basics of knowing where the notes are, actually making them sound good is incredibly difficult!