As musicians, we climb up to some important events along the journey here and there. One might call these milestones, highlights, or significant check-ins. These moments can take the form of a concert, an exam, a recording project, an audition, or even just a lesson. Sometimes it feels like a lot is at stake. For example, final audition results can vary even with the best preparation. Not to mention that auditions can get very expensive! However, if we zoom out, one thing becomes certain. These big events take up a very tiny percentage of our overall growth as musicians. It’s important to not get too hung up over how things went – whether something was a huge success or felt like a complete failure. At the same time though, we do need to take some time and experience all the emotions and thoughts in the aftermath. Reflections are, after all, how we learn and decide what to do next.
How to balance this?
The majority of musical growth doesn’t happen “on top of Mount Everest,” but rather on all the other days. Because of that, I like to follow the 24-48 Hour Rule. That is – after any big event (concert, audition, etc), it’s time to enter a recovery phase. Take the next day or two to reflect, relax, process the experience, share with others, celebrate, laugh, cry, journal, learn, or just do nothing. If that’s not possible right away (due to work schedule, for example), set aside some time when possible. It doesn’t have to be exactly 24-48 hours (it’s just an arbitrary time period that happens to work for me). It can be an hour, a day, a week, or even a month depending on your unique situation. However, once the recovery phase is completed, get back to work! Back to basics, that is.
Example
Last week I performed the Prokofiev Violin Concerto with The Chelsea Symphony. Of course, a lot of work went into preparation, and I even turned down gigs leading up to it. It was a milestone concert for me, as it was my first time ever playing a major concerto with an orchestra. Unfortunately, after the concert (which was a lot of fun!) I had to immediately get home to sleep for an early morning and two very long teaching days. My designated “intentional recovery period” may have been a little postponed, but that’s ok. After finally listening to the recording, taking notes as objectively as possible while feeling all sorts of feelings (i.e. – the good, bad, & ugly), and going out for drinks with a good friend who came to the concert, it was time to practice some Schradeick.
The work itself re-grounds us.