On the first day of this month and year, I asked you to make a list of place where you wanted to improve, or remove blocks, or increase ease. If you have that list to hand, please go to it and take a look; today we will revisit this list, and see if anything has changed.
Take an honest look at your list, and ask if you have changed in relation to the things on the list. I hope that you have, and that maybe the things on this list are lighter, and easier to manage—they may not yet be completely gone, and our minds can hang onto issues long after we are done with them in reality.
Whatever is still sticking with you, if there is something on your list that you feel has not really moved as much as you hoped, take a couple minutes (while playing long tones) to ask yourself what you need to do to change this thing. I have absolute confidence in you: you know exactly what you need in order to eliminate this particular block, and sometimes it is as simple as finding a different angle of approach to the issue.
Trust yourself; if you have been working honestly and building on your skills and really listening to your work, I believe that you can figure this out. If you need to simplify the question, to strip away some elements of it to get to the core, that may be helpful. This blog is all about building your own practice abilities to the point where you can really resolve issues for yourself, and nothing makes me happier than a musician who starts to gain confidence in their own decisions and abilities through honest work and focus.
Thank you for reading this blog. If you would like to support my work, you can buy some of my music on Bandcamp, or make a PayPal donation here. All support is greatly appreciated, and will go directly to supporting me and enabling me to continue my work and keep my posts free for everyone. If you would like to take some lessons with me, please contact me here and we can discuss it.
Catherine Sikora 