Thank you so much, all of you lovely people who followed along with the daily posts this past month. I truly hope that you got something useful from them, and maybe got to take a little more time for your own practice, get a little more space in your mind to find some calm.
Now, with the utmost respect, I hand your practice over to you; I believe it is my solemn responsibility as a teacher to help students to find their own best practices. My goal is not to shape you into any form or style that already exists; I am here to remove obstacles, to foster a healthy mindset and joyful yet rigorous approach to music, along with giving you the tools to move forward using your own intuition and good sense. I believe that you know what you need to do, though it could be obscured under emotional tangles, exhaustion, rigid conditioning from earlier education, and our old friend fear. If you can calm yourself and clear your mind, you will see these obstacles dissolve, and your path will become clear. I am not here to tell you to be confident; that will come on its own when you do the work, and it will be real and founded on truth—not the “fake it til you make it” confidence that so many junk articles are written about. I do not believe in this kind of nonsense. As musicians, the notes we play must be true and authentic; playing with honesty and at your best where you are today will always sound so much better than trying to pretend anything else.
My intention for this year is to maintain a much more regular schedule of posting outside of my January intensive. I will try my best to post once a week, so if there is something you would like me to address, please let me know.
Remember, you got this: I believe in you.
Catherine
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 