Last week, we (Ted and I) took the kids on vacation, first to New York City, where we did all the touristy things (Broadway, M&Ms with their names printed, ferry ride, etc!)  then spent a couple of days in Vermont where Ted grew up. 

 

Traveling with kids is at once exciting (seeing the world through their eyes, especially them taking NYC all in) and grueling (with some form of "are we there yet" and "how long until lunch" filling the air at any given moment).  The kids are actually great travelers; they look up occasionally from screens to see out the window, they like to know the itinerary, and they fill time playing… games. 

 

From the License Plate Game, Twenty Questions, the ABC game, Word Association, or Trivia… whenever there was a lull in the action, someone would inevitably start a game. It reminded me of a book I came across recently called Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games by Ian Bogost based on the premise that anything could be approached as a game! That there's FUN to be had in the “boring, ordinary world”. 

 

We could do the same in our practice and make fun, creative games out of long tones, scales, pieces. Let's try it this week! Here're a few ideas: 

 

1. Create loops. Like a record player stuck on a groove, loop difficult sections a few times before seamlessly moving on 

 

 

2. Inside-Out practice. This works well for me in passages with no discernable pattern. Take a difficult passage and starting with the middle most note, add one note at a time before and after it until you have played the whole passage.

 

3. Phrasing on one note. Play the phrase with bow or air, but instead of playing all the notes, play it on one note only. Focus on how the quality, speed, and velocity of your air or bow or fingers change through the phrase. Pick one note then play with all the correct rhythms, articulations and dynamics: 

 

 4. Play things backward and forward. Self explanatory! 

 

 

Check out this week's blog post for 4 more ideas on how to ‘gamify’ your practice!
The next time you find yourself in a practice rut or feel overwhelmed by one tricky passage after another, inject some “play” into your practice!  Make games out of the worst passages, the long tone exercise you dread, or just about anything that’s gone stale. 

 

What games have you used in your practice?

 

Ixi  (& Tiffany)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and sharing.