Comments on: The Funk – post from Nicholas Hart http://doublebassblog.org/2008/01/the-funk-post-from-nicholas-hart.html double bass news, stories, downloads, podcasts, and more! Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:11:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Elaine Fine http://doublebassblog.org/2008/01/the-funk-post-from-nicholas-hart.html/comment-page-1#comment-2182 Elaine Fine Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:23:45 +0000 http://doublebassblog.org/2008/01/the-funk-post-from-nicholas-hart.html#comment-2182 What you call "the funk" is really common. The only way, it seems, that any musician can get out of it is to have some kind of stimulation that inspires you to carry on. Unfortunately you have to be open to this potentially transforming experience, and if you are spending (or wasting) your time surrounded by a fog it is really hard to recognize help when it is staring you in the face. It could come in the form of a piece of music that requires serious technical work to master, it could come in the form of an assigment that you have been dreading and putting off, but could be potentially interesting. Sometimes we use the funk to hibernate emotionally--as kind of a reaction to a period of serious activity. The problem is that once we are rested it is hard to get back into things. I'm a very hard working and hard practicing person, so the distance between activity and inactivity is huge. My suggestion is to actually read this message, get out some technical studies, and give yourself a hour of time. Set a small short-term goal (paying attention to proper shifting, playing in tune, working on a bowing issue) and spend your hour on that goal. Then do something else. Rinse and repeat. Nothing gets you back in the swing of things like practicing. What you call “the funk” is really common. The only way, it seems, that any musician can get out of it is to have some kind of stimulation that inspires you to carry on. Unfortunately you have to be open to this potentially transforming experience, and if you are spending (or wasting) your time surrounded by a fog it is really hard to recognize help when it is staring you in the face.

It could come in the form of a piece of music that requires serious technical work to master, it could come in the form of an assigment that you have been dreading and putting off, but could be potentially interesting.

Sometimes we use the funk to hibernate emotionally–as kind of a reaction to a period of serious activity. The problem is that once we are rested it is hard to get back into things. I’m a very hard working and hard practicing person, so the distance between activity and inactivity is huge.

My suggestion is to actually read this message, get out some technical studies, and give yourself a hour of time. Set a small short-term goal (paying attention to proper shifting, playing in tune, working on a bowing issue) and spend your hour on that goal. Then do something else. Rinse and repeat.

Nothing gets you back in the swing of things like practicing.

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