Re: [Harp-L] What do you do when you practice

[<peacoatguy@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have a set routine that can get stale, and a few  ways to keep it fresh. I warm up by playing precise scales in first,  2nd and 3rd position. After i run thru them straight a few times i try  to play them with the feelings i'm having about life at that particular  moment in time, so the notes aren't in the cold abstract but an  expression of who i am now.
  
  I play blues, so the next part of my routine i play all my favorite  licks - intros, outros, turnarounds, runs of BW triplets, etc. and  solos & instrumentals - from the classic songs by LW, BigW, Sonny  Terry & Muddy. I copy them just like they are on the records.
  
  My training and education is painter. Classical painters copy the great  masters. My teacher's teacher was the French post-Cubist Amadee  Ozenfant, who founded Purism in 1929, with Le Corbusier. They believed  discipline, and attention to basics and technique are what allow an  artist to "dance in their fetters". It can get stale but i try to just  do it and dance through boredom. Sometimes i move to a different room  for a few weeks. Or get a few hours early sleep and wake up to play in  the wee morning hours.
  
  When the weathers good I go outside and play solos and instrumentals.  Sultry summer days are good for blues. I try to feel it and play the  music how things are right then - laconic, hyped, ticked off, happy,  whatever. I play for my goats. They're a totally disinterested audience  but they don't throw things, usually.
  
  Don't know if this is what your looking for but it's what works for me.

Mark Wilson <markwilson53@xxxxxxx> wrote:  Looking for some new ideas to fire up my practice sessions.   Anyone out 
there following a routine that's helping with mindless improvisation?

Thanks
Mark

P.S
I already own a copy of Effortless Mastery 

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