Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

[TwitchyFingers]

So, with the stateside St Patrick's Day gigs coming up, we're dusting off old chestnut tunes and hopefully practicing a bit more than usual to be ready for gigs.
But did you ever feel like your hands just aren't where they used to be? The pipes are running grand. Everything's balanced and comfortable on the pipes. I can't blame any wonky bits on the instrument in the slightest. Maybe I'm better at listening to my own playing, or analyzing the music, but the old fingers just aren't cooperating as well as they used to. The dazzle tunes are harder to pull off with accuracy. I don't want to be the ham handed duffer.
My instructor used to say, "By the time you know what to do with the music, you're very lucky if your hands cooperate with your head."
Now I know what he meant.

[Pip01]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?





Greetings, TwitchyFingers, and to All,

Ah... yes!!... Saint Patrick's Day-now-week-and-a-half...
is now... hard upon us!! ... and the vagaries of that
Old Rascal... Time...

In my particulars... 'tis not so much the hands... unless
it's really... really cold.... but rather...after a grisly onset
of severe double walking-pneumonia... hard followed by
two very bad bouts of flu... regaining... the fullness of the
air in the bag... has been a rather... uphill... slog...

Had I known... (ah...had I but known!! ... I would have
elected... rather...to spend all of those long months on
my backside... in the warm sands of the Caribbean... on
my way back... to health...

However... it now seems to be within reach... if not yet
fully... within grasp... as I am now playing for ever-longer
stints.

But now... it is the same hand dealt to me... as was dealt
by my old first teachers... "Just keep after it!!"

Trusting that your hands... and fingers... can again regain
their sureness... and their relaxation...

Wishing you... All the Best!!

Pip01

[Pppiper]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

All the time.

It happens to all of us. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying to you (and/or to themselves).

I particularly thought this way after playing much less in college. Whenever I went back to play again, I was frustrated at the state of things and I became discouraged. For at least a while, I began to think of myself as "broken goods."

Fortunately (in this manner), I'm a very stubborn individual. In time, the more frustrated I became, the more I worked at trying to undo my state of affairs. I'm still very critical of my playing, but if I stop and think objectively about it, I must concede that I'm playing far better now than I ever did before.

Of course, I'm frustrated that I'm not better still, and thus, I'm still stubbornly working at it .. and on and on it goes.

It's just the way we work ... we're fiercely self-critical creatures. We can very easily let that get out of hand, and think that we've "lost it" or, "it's all downhill from here."

These notions are horse shit (sorry to be so crass, but I wish to be emphatic).

I know what your instructor is intending to say with "by the time you know what to do with the music, you're very lucky if your hands cooperate with your head," but respectfully, I don't fully agree with that statement as it is. At the least, I believe it needs to be expanded upon.

Getting your head to know what to do with the music is "step one." Then getting your hands to cooperate with what your head understands is "step two." That's the process we must employ.

It will happen, if we keep at it. It won't if we're too busy cursing and stewing over our perceived shortcomings. So if/when we give ourselves a hard time over what we think we can't do, we're really just "holding up the process."

So don't hold up the process. Stop questioning yourself, and get back to work. Step two is waiting.

Cheers,
~Nate

[dorothy]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

Your fingers need some cross-training. I can think of no better instrument than the keyboard. You should still have many years of happy piping ahead of you. Also check out the "Finger Fitness" manual.

[pancelticpiper]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

Now that I'm in my sixties, what I notice is how it comes and goes.

I'll be playing and everything will be nice and crisp!

But next time it's wooly fingers.

I just need to practice more!

Due to some upcoming St Pats gigs what I'm trying to get up to speed is my uilleann piping and whistle playing.

[hooks]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

In my case it's caused by too many birthdays


Dave

[piper Q]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

Between a torn muscle and previous elbow injury, both left side, the Physician recommended I rest and let the arm heal.... Bu Bu Buh But its the Irish High Holy Days. And I need the pipes to busk so I can restock my Whisky supplies....
Being over 60 has little to do with my current spate of bad playing....

[Klondike Waldo]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

Your fingers need some cross-training. I can think of no better instrument than the keyboard. You should still have many years of happy piping ahead of you. Also check out the "Finger Fitness" manual.

Dorothy, dear friend, I'll disagree with you on the suitability of Keyboard as cross training. In playing keyboard, each hand has its own work to do, playing as many as 10 different notes at once ( between them) and playing melody lines in one hand vs chords or countermelodies in the other, whereas on pipes both hands are working together to play each note.


I'd suggest playing keyboard for its own worth, but not as an aid to piping.

[Dan Bell]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

Yup. And what I did as a kid (woodshed for several hours for several days) doesn't work at all for me now (I'm 43). Small-muscle fatigue is now a factor, which means I can't cheat the process any more . Now, when I've not been playing for a while, the way back is short plays (30 mins, max), every day (without fail) until I build the chops back up. The hardest thing for me is to not listen too hard to myself while I'm doing this. I know how to play and I know what I want to do musically; mentally berating myself is counterproductive. Just have to let the muscle tone return, and give the piping gods their due.

[Steve Law]

Re: Ever feel like you've "Lost it"?

[QUOTE=Pppiper;1335411]All the time.



I particularly thought this way after playing much less in college. Whenever I went back to play again, I was frustrated at the state of things and I became discouraged. For at least a while, I began to think of myself as "broken goods."

I empathise with Nate's comment above.... for me, I'd been more or less completely out for 20 years, but 2+ years back and things are still waay short of where they once were.... a 20 year gap, 50+ years after starting leaves me the wrong side of 65 so I suspect I'll never again match what I had as an 18 year-old (in piping and so many other things )....

That doesn't mean I've given up, and I know I'm better than last year....the improvement is painfully slow compared to my aspirations but it IS there (side plug here for Piper's Dojo University which I found over the Christmas period - a mine of useful and encouraging information even if I disagree with a few of the smaller points.....it's been an immensely helpful resource, which I commend (if that doesn't breach any forum rules).

But I'm sure it's all about perseverence.... 20% ambition; 40% tenacity and 150% sheer hard work (Yes, I know that's more than 100%!)....but today I'm not embarrassed to play in public and tomorrow (or the day after) I'll be proud of the sound (just an extract from my personal mantra - try anything in case it helps :-) )