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Its that time of year where we can reflect, plan, and toast to the new year. In this episode Evita and I discuss how to make the most of our new year resolutions.
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Hi Simon & Evita,
A very inspiring podcast, I am taking on board ‘bite size chunks’ which I feel will help with my habitual procrastinating. Looking forward to 2018 with CGC and my goal to submit level 1 Preliminary Certificate in June.
Happy New Year.
Many thanks,
LynnyR
Thanks and Happy New Year Simon and Evita! Your discussion about writing down short term, medium term, and long term goals really resonates with me. I started studying from scratch twelve years ago as a senior(62) and boy do I know how easy it is to be enticed by diversions that can last for very for very long periods of time(read years!). There must be a phobia about writing down goals and scheduling practice time chunk by chunk. Looking back at the thousands of hours I have spent wandering from one set of scales or pieces that were a little too difficult; etc., etc… I realize that I could be much further along had I just imposed a modicum of organization and planning in my efforts. That being said, it has been a great experience but one that I could make even better. Bob
Bob….. you ain’t the only one, believe me!
Hi Bob, thanks for your candid and thoughtful response. I think that you are not alone with this and the fact that you are thinking about it is a step in the right direction.
Simon,
Happy New Year to you!!!!
Hope your new business continues to grow this year!!
Take care,
Pat
Thanks, Pat. Happy New Year and best wishes for 2018!
I think there is a theory that self discipline spreads from one area of life to another. My resolution is to eat an apple every day. It is not directly guitar related but maybe if I can achieve this small thing I’ll also stick to my 40 minutes of daily practice. Also maybe I’ll live a little long and have more time to enjoy playing!
Interesting! I haven’t heard of this but I can see how it would work. Please let me know how it goes.
Very nice pod cast , thanks for your insight. It’s good to be organized enough for time, thoughts, and what to practice to have the best benefits. Keeping a journal is a fantastic idea as well because it donuments your goals as well as brings accountability, thanks happy New Year!!
Danny
Happy New Year, Danny. And good luck with that journal!
Hi Simon, Thanks for another timely podcast. I hope to join the CGC in the next few weeks. As something non classical related, with Evita being involved with Lindy Focus/Swing dancing, ever heard Jonathan Stout and the Campus 5. They do some nice work for that era of music/jazz.
Ed
Hi Ed, well funnily enough Evita and I were dancing to Jonathan Stout and his big band all week! Great music
He has a couple of nice Gibson L5 ‘s and knows how to use them.
Thanks so much for this. I’ve been beating myself up for not reaching my own goals, and have fallen behind in my own want of achieving the certification levels. I’ve gotten into a mode of working on music for my students and not working on my own goals. I really miss the joy that comes from practice – when all of a sudden that phrase forms under the fingers, or we discover how to approach a piece better, etc. I really appreciate the breakdown of short, medium, and long term goals. Evita’s dance analogies were also very helpful for me. I especially liked the analogy of working on a part of a dance routine that becomes a puzzle piece of the whole performance creation. This is a great analogy for breaking down the phrases of an individual piece or perhaps the movements within a suite or perhaps the pieces one wants to place in a recital. Looking forward to the podcasts coming up this year.
Thanks Donna, I too appreciated Evita’s analogies!
Thank you for another wonderful podcast – listening to it was a great way to start 2018. I wish you and Evita all the best for a Happy and Healthy New Year!
I saw the goal topic on the forum and will write there, too, but here I will write my goal similiar to the one you mentioned by Diana. I would like to increase my performance practice by offering 30 minutes of guitar music at a nearby senior citizen’s center once a month. This goal was actually inspired by another CGC member who does this on a weekly basis and reports back in his progress journal on the CGC forum.
Let me also say that being in Germany, I wasn’t able to purchase “Alive and Kicking” from the US iTunes store but ordered the DVD from the UK. It’s a great movie!
Thank you for this podcast! It reminded me the importance of goals and planning. I plan a lot: before every practice, I write down a program, with time to allow to each part, and I write down comments for the next session. But I don’t sit down very often to establish goals and don’t use enough goals to plan my practice sessions. This disconnection does not make much sense! So, one of my goals will be to schedule a time for establishing and revisiting my goals et to connect the planning of my sessions with these goals.
Regarding your comment saying that this year you sacrificed some of your own practice for the academy, I wanted to let you know that I listened to your album Departure quite a lot in the last months et enjoyed it very much! Both parts of your career bring me a lot and I thank you for that! Happy new year!