I Hate Practicing

I don't like to practice.  I have never liked to practice and I probably will not learn to enjoy it in the future.  And yet, somehow I have made a career in music.  How?  I practiced, I practice, and I will continue to practice.

Does this loathing of daily scales and lonely etudes mean I'm in the wrong business?    Perhaps.  Or maybe I just know how to get where I'm going.   Because I love to perform.  I admit, I like being on stage, the center of attention.  I relish the risk that the audience may or may not agree with my musical ideas.  I thrive on the challenge of overcoming physical boundaries in order to express emotion through music.  And nothing feels more right than playing with old friends, communicating subliminally through music and expressing more than I would ever say in words.

So, just as I brush my teeth so they don't fall out, I practice.

Perhaps I don't like to practice because, unlike other activities, playing violin does not come easy to me.  It never has.  I am not inherently good at it.   Practicing reminds me of this on a daily basis.

The number one concern expressed by parents of young music students is "should I make them practice?"  Once the thrill of getting your first tiny violin gives way to the endless complications of making the poor thing work, many students experience a dip in enthusiasm.  Wouldn't you?  On top of that, you're supposed to subject yourself to this frustration every single day?!  Unfortunately, repetition is the only way to teach those fingers new tricks.

Don't get me wrong, there is the occasional young student who can't get enough.  The child who practices every chance they get until their parents have to force them to stop.  If you have such a child or you are such a child- you are truly blessed.  As for the rest of us...

Don't give up.  For some, the motivation to play music lies beyond the process.