{"id":384,"date":"2011-05-18T08:32:22","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T13:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/?p=384"},"modified":"2011-05-18T08:32:22","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T13:32:22","slug":"the-art-of-the-blank-space-and-what-eleanor-roosevelt-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/?p=384","title":{"rendered":"The Art of the Blank Space, And What Eleanor Roosevelt Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Throughout our musical lives, we come across various kinds of Blank Spaces in our calendars.\u00a0 They can feel like a blessing or a curse depending on the situation.\u00a0 For students there is the oft-longed-for Summer Vacation.\u00a0 For recent graduates and hopeful freelancers there is an integration period into the scene that can feel frighteningly uncertain.\u00a0 For current freelancers, there are the natural lulls that are just part of the cycle of the musical year and of a freelance career.\u00a0 For orchestral musicians there are the weeks of vacation that are often used for deep rest and renewal, or for the pursuit of personal projects, or for catching up on family life and things around the house.\u00a0 Then there are the \u201cenforced\u201d periods of time away from playing due to injury or to being very busy with something else \u2013 like caring for someone else \u2013 perhaps a baby, or an elderly parent, or a sick spouse.<\/p>\n

Depending on where you are in your life and what you have coming up, each type of Blank Space feels very different from the others and requires different approaches.\u00a0 But I think there is at least one common thread that runs through all of them\u00a0 – summed up beautifully for me by Eleanor Roosevelt.<\/p>\n

\"\"Eleanor Roosevelt is one of my heros. \u00a0I find her energy, sense of adventure, and insatiable desire to learn and experience all that life has to offer so compelling and the courage with which she faced her insecurities inspiring. \u00a0I tore through the two-volume biography of her by Blanche Wiesen Cook several years ago, I\u2019ve read a collection that contains much of her daily column entries, and there\u2019s this one book by Mrs. Roosevelt herself called You Learn By Living.\u00a0 I treasure this book and think that it should be required reading for everyone!<\/p>\n

One of the many wise things she said is: \u201cNothing alive can stand still, it goes forward or back.\u00a0 Life is interesting only as long as it is a process of growth; or, to put it another way, we can grow only as long as we are interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

What wise words to keep in mind as we approach the Blank Spaces in our calendars!\u00a0 No matter what, we want to be moving forward \u2013 in some way.\u00a0 Of course, sometimes taking a step back is part of taking the next steps forward.\u00a0 We all need time and space to rest, to be refreshed, to reflect, and to explore.\u00a0 Then there are those times when we just must pay attention to something or someone else and are forced to be away from our normal structure for a while.\u00a0 I think it can all be used as a way of moving forward, staying fresh, and staying interested, bringing ever-new perspectives to our life and our life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

In the case of all types of Blank Spaces, it can be helpful to define what it is you are seeking from your time off –\u00a0 and the ways in which you are seeking it.\u00a0 Not that your Blank Space has to be fully structured \u2013 it can be quite free.\u00a0 But even if your aim is deep relaxation and renewal, it sometimes happens that the end of the vacation arrives and you can feel like you still need a vacation if you haven\u2019t defined ways in which you are going to make sure you get that rest and rejuvenation.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start at the beginning chronologically \u2013 in the student years. I believe summer vacation for serious students is the absolute best time to practice \u2013 and to practice well!\u00a0 This is the perfect time to take advantage of the absence of school obligations to dig in for a couple hours a day and establish great habits, learn new repertoire, and read through things for fun.\u00a0 You can rest assured that the kids who will be at the top of their field in a generation are doing this kind of work now.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t room for fun or rest.\u00a0 On the contrary, there is plenty of time for play, and a true vacation is great. But through the course of a normal summer, while not in intense vacation mode, if a general (though flexible) kind of routine can be established to incorporate an hour or two (or whatever the level calls for) of good deep practice, you can make amazing progress in the summer and be that much more ready to meet the upcoming challenges of auditions for the youth orchestra, or for next summer\u2019s festival of choice, or to move up a chair in band at school.<\/p>\n

Later, Blank Spaces can be a little more challenging to navigate \u2013 for instance, the start of a freelance career can be especially daunting, and the lulls that happen in the course of an already-busy freelancer’s life can be unsettling as well. \u00a0These times call for discipline in practicing and emotional stamina!\u00a0 You never know when you will be called, and you need to be in shape and ready to go.\u00a0 This is a good time to just plan on getting up every morning at a decent, regular hour, get yourself in a good place on the horn, and take the rest of the day as it comes.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be averse to doing free work during this time period!\u00a0 That might be a controversial point for some, but I think the most essential thing is to get out there, meeting people, playing with people, no matter what the compensation is.\u00a0 Have chamber music parties, form a woodwind or brass quintet for fun.\u00a0 You just never know where things might lead.\u00a0 It might only lead to other ideas and not work \u2013 but everything you do outside your own bubble has the potential to spark something new in your life, and during these times, you just can\u2019t afford to sit at home. If you do that, you\u2019re nearly guaranteed that your skills will atrophy, and your world will not get any larger.<\/p>\n

And when a REAL vacation is called for \u2013 book it!\u00a0\u00a0 I think it\u2019s great to take a week off a year, (especially if you\u2019ve been playing heavily in a professional setting all year long) let the chops and mind rest and renew themselves.\u00a0 Then you get to sweep out the cobwebs and start anew.\u00a0 Getting back in shape for the upcoming events you have can be very interesting \u2013 just make sure you have the time to get back in shape slowly and well.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing more awful than jumping suddenly back in, which can stress the body, and consequently, the mind and emotions, and then the confidence.\u00a0 It can be a rough ride.\u00a0 Getting back into shape is a great time to focus on re-establishing good habits, making sure no weird quirks or bad habits have crept in to your playing, and just start afresh.\u00a0 If you abandon your notions of what you\u2019re supposed to sound like and work slowly, you can feel and hear in a fuller way during this period right after taking some time off, and it can put you in a good place for another year of playing.<\/p>\n

The \u201cenforced\u201d time away from the horn, I have to say, I have yet to experience.\u00a0 I will have to write about it another time.\u00a0 And perhaps my more experienced readers who have had injuries, or who have taken time off to care for someone or do something else completely, can write in and tell me how they manage these kinds of leaves of absence from the horn, or more specifically, how they manage coming back from<\/em> extended leaves from playing!<\/p>\n

For students with time off coming up – rest well, work well, and play well! \u00a0Remember to define how you hope to feel coming out of your vacation and what you need from your down-time.<\/p>\n

For those with no time off in the foreseeable future, we can once again go to Eleanor Roosevelt who lived about as busy a life as is possible.\u00a0 She says:\u00a0 \u201cI have learned to get [relaxation] as I go along, to sleep in a plane, or even to catch a five-minute cat-nap in my chair while waiting for someone.\u00a0 If the capacity for relaxation is there, if you can attain the ability to create your own inner calm, you can get your relaxation as you go along, no matter how active you may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

I still think there\u2019s something about a vacation though\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout our musical lives, we come across various kinds of Blank Spaces in our calendars.\u00a0 They can feel like a blessing or a curse depending on the situation.\u00a0 For students there is the oft-longed-for Summer Vacation.\u00a0 For recent graduates and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-habits","category-philosophy","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}