TCHAIK PROJECT 24 - October of 2020

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

October 5th, 2020 - Monday

Now begins the final time to fix this Tchaik...

I haven't touched the violin for 4 days, I've been pretty messed up in general.

I read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. It was really good to read this book. Sometimes what we need (or what I need) is not a violin trick or a miraculous way of practicing. But a general shake up in life and everything I think about, how I face everything in life. An organizing shake. Throwing away what doesn't matter, cleaning up some of the mental junk we accumulate without realizing it, clearing our focus, focusing on what really matters.

So I decided to do the 1234, the Great Ear Cleaning Exercise.

TCHAIK PROJECT 23 - Starting to put pieces together

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

September 21st, 2020 - Monday

- Body warm up

- Centering

Maintenance Set

- Whole bow staccato with metronome at 100, 2 notes per beat

- String crossing at 60bpm, subdividing the beat in 2 and 3

- Vibrato without bow

- Half step trills

- Staccato in the middle of the bow at 70 bpm, subdividing the beat in 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8

- Open strings with 4, 3, 2 and 1 beats per bow at 60 bpm

- Schradieck, still the XVI. 4., memorizing with attention to mobility and intonation. I want to play it well, so I’ll do it everyday till it comes out. Today I started at 60 and went up to 75 = quarter note, memorizing and with control

TCHAIK PROJECT 22 - Inconsistency, conversations and little stars

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

September 1st, 2020 - Tuesday

Boy… difficult. I don't even know what I wrote and what I didn't. Many things I didn't. Last week I recorded the pieces for my Flausino Valle Strings Festival online recital. Many stuck moments and conclusions. I re-watched that TED on time management and did the math that the speaker suggests. I’m screwed. I have a lot more things to do than the hours available in the week, and the thing is that I’m not doing any of them, not even the little bit I have time for… Gotta organize this better…

Well, let’s go. There's still a piece to record, guess which one? Reinventio. I reinvented playing this piece again and had to change the strings yesterday because suddenly they were unplayable!

TCHAIK PROJECT 21 - Reflections on time

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

August 3rd, 2020 - Monday

Important information: I passed the qualification exam! What a rich experience to listen what extremely competent people read and thought about the work I've done so far! 

I had only one little hour to practice between the online rehearsal of my orchestra and the Music Production course at Fimuca. Practice or not to practice?… Practice. This way I don't stay another day without touching the instrument.

- Body warm up

- Fooled around with #desafiocantodapraya

- 3 octaves scale, arpeggios and alternate scale in A major

- Play-through the Tchaik’s 1st mov. exposition, thinking I was playing for my violin section

• I was observing and feeling in a very obvious way the left shoulder tensioning unnecessarily
• the places I need to practice the most are the most obvious ones: tricky triplets and the whole codeta
• the importance of memorizing, a good portion of what doesn’t come out is because THE HEAD doesn’t know, at least not at the speed it needs to be

TCHAIK PROJECT 20 - July of 2020, a very short month of this Project

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

On the day I post the present bunch of diaries (May 8th, 2021) Brazil has lost over 400.000 lives to Covid-19.

July 19th, 2020 - Sunday

I am still in social distancing, but the city, apparently, is not. The death toll from Covid-19 in Brazil has exceeded 75,000.

The last day I wrote before today was June 28th. 

June of 2019 was the first time I recorded the piece Reinventio, for solo violin, composed in 2018 by Alexandre Lunsqui. I recorded it again now for a video-dance project I proposed to the Municipal Theatre in these times of online performances. My project partners were Bruno Rodrigues and Márcio Filho, both from Balé da Cidade (the City Ballet, another artistic group inside the Theatre). Bruno danced and Márcio was in charge of editing the video. I loved the result, thought it was beautiful!

TCHAIK PROJECT 19 - Technique warm up system!

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

Notice the consistency with which I was able to practice in the middle of a pandemic, in quarantine, learning a new way to perform my profession from home. All of this while feeling a sky-rocketing anxiety. Tough...

"Direita" means right and "esquerda" means left

June 16th, 2020 - Tuesday

- Body warm up

- 1 minute bows

I made a list of all the technique exercises I’ve been doing to see if somehow I come up with a system to them with a balanced frequency. I wrote down how long it takes me to do each of these exercises. But since I didn't know how long the 1 octave scales and arpeggios in one string takes, I decided to practice just that today, so I could time it. 

- 1 octave scales and arpeggios in one string in G minor (I timed it and I takes me about 25 minutes to practice them)

TCHAIK PROJECT 18 - Beginning of June, 2020

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

June 1st, 2020 - Monday

The time of things.

The time of things has changed. The things we do with our time have changed. I don't know how many days without practicing have passed, today was another one. It's almost half past midnight and I haven't had dinner yet. Inside of me, the usual hurry. Outside, completely different demands. I can no longer eat a snack on the subway while going somewhere. To cook. Every single day. Usually twice a day.

My boyfriend is here with me and he learned how to cook. We are both happy about it. He’s happy with the learning and independence, and I’m happy I don't have to cook every time anymore. Even with this relief, the house demands are an avalanche! Vacuum cleaner bag, dishes, garbage, laundry etc. Being at home all the time, and in 2 people, this demand has increased exponentially. And it takes time!

TCHAIK PROJECT 17 - Quarantine pain and musician home office

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here are the links to all the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

May 18th, 2020 - Monday

3 days without practicing. 3 days with pain in various parts of the body, mostly muscular and in the torso region, both front and behind. I was unable to follow my exercise goal (I even felt real pain the next day this one time!), body asking for-the-love-of-whatever-I-want to go move for real, go walk.

Yesterday I walked. My mask and I went for a walk on a São Paulo Sunday full of people on the street, almost as if it were a normal Sunday. “Do these people also feel pain in their bodies?” At the same time angry because there were so many people on the street and angry to realize I was one of them, I preferred to walk down the small streets behind my house than on Paulista Av., a choice was once obvious. I came back feeling much better.

TCHAIK PROJECT 16 - Fine tuned observation: needle in the haystack of reasons behind a mistake

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =) 

And here are the links to all the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

May 1st, 2020 - Friday

Labour Day. First day I have activities of the Municipal Symphony Orchestra since we stopped. It will be remote activities that we have to invent ourselves. Video projects for the Theater's social midias. I'm still dealing with ideas and talking to my orchestra colleagues. How atypical are the things of this time! And how important are these actions so we understand in the future what was this pandemic!

- Body warm up

- Centering

Technique Random

- Staccato in the middle of the bow at 70bpm subdividing the beat in 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 notes

- Vibrato

- Half step trills

- 2, 3 and 4 octaves scales in G major, arpeggios and alternate scale in 3 octaves

TCHAIK PROJECT 15 - Thoughts, fears, doubts and the Mind Over Finger discoveries

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here are the links to all the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

April 16th, 2020 - Thursday

Today it’s one month since I started doing  the 1 minute bows every practice session, that is, I've been in social distancing at home for 1 month, also known as quarantine because, as far as I know, there is no way of knowing whether I didn’t get the coronavirus or I’m an asymptomatic. I haven't seen or hugged my mother and siblings for a month, talking to them only over the internet. I'm still fine, considering the fear of the virus and fear of speeches that minimize the world situation or claim nonsense conspiracies. I rest what my mind allows, and practice.

I made 1 minute bows for a month and I want to switch goals. Now I’m going to do Staccati in the middle of the bow every day.

TCHAIK PROJECT 13 - the beginning of the pandemic

And then, just like this, a pandemic starts. I was (I still am) scared, anxious, thinking it was going to last 3 months tops. Uncertainties about the profession swirled around my thoughts, fear that this virus and consequent disease would take the people I love and care about away from the world. We were hesitantly re-learning the day-by-day routine.

Here I am on March 9th of 2021, posting the diaries of March 2020 and seeing that not enough has changed. I'm still at home most of the time, the uncertainties about artistic professions are even bigger, the news in Brazil are not happy. There are vaccines, though, there is hope. In São Paulo the red fase (the most strict one) is back as from the day after tomorrow, hopefully attaining the goal to reduce the number of infected and deceased in 2 weeks.

Meanwhile, how do we do to keep practicing (specially when we have a deadline)? How do we keep doing our thing so we maintain some mental health? How do we keep ourselves alive and active, body and mind? 

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here are the links to all the practice diaries of this PROJECT.

March 1st to 6th: I did practice violin from March 1st to 6th, not much per day, practiced just technique and a little bit of orchestra and contemporary repertoire. No Tchaik.

TCHAIK PROJECT 11 - Focus on memorization

Year 2020 already started, too many things to do between orchestra, Tchaik Project, teaching violin, the masters course and another special project on the side. Even though there was the Christmas break, the number of things I regularly do didn't change and the tiredness they caused in 2019 was just waiting to be here again.

Two things are worth noticing in this period diaries: I kept memorization in mind the whole time and I'm addressing an issue that I, later, found out to be an important one: difficulty to practice, to start practicing. And an anxiety behind it.

This difficulty can be expressed in many forms: "I'm tired", "I don't feel like it", "I'm lazy", "I don't have the energy", "There's not enough time", "I really have to do the dishes", "I can't do it", "I'm paralyzed". And sometimes there's this little trouble breathing. Does anyone there have/feel this, too?

Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)

And here are the links to all the practice diaries of this PROJECT.