When to Lower Expectations
One of my favorite composers to work with is the
inimitable Randy Newman.
Now some of you may remember his wickedly sardonic humor
from his hit tune, ‘Short People.’ Others his Oscar
nominated, hauntingly beautiful song from ‘Toy Story
II’ called, ‘When She Loved Me.’
Of course these are just two small examples of Randy’s
endless font of creativity. Yet what makes him a real
hoot to work for is his sense of humor. He could quite
honestly have had a world-class career as a standup
comic.
A few years back he had a running joke about how hard he
used to be on himself, until he learned the secret of
eternal bliss – ‘I’ve lowered my standards far
enough now,’ he said, ‘to where nothing I do bothers
me anymore.’
Boy did the orchestra howl.
He was joking, of course. Randy Newman maintains about
as high a standard for himself as anyone I’ve ever come
across.
Yet there are times, in the short hall, particularly,
when I feel it is useful, and even beneficial to lower
one’s expectations, if not one’s ultimate standards.
We all have bad days. Heck, I have days where even
opening the case is a challenge. And ironically, it’s
often the day after a very good practice or performance
that I feel this way; perhaps the result of excessive
exuberance taking its toll on my energy.
Nonetheless, it’s on just such days when it becomes
imperative to cut yourself some slack; to start slow, get
the bow moving across the strings, and rein in thoughts
of frustration at not feeling one’s best.
Only when this is accomplished do I recommend gently
beginning to raise the bar.
When I adopt this approach I’m often amazed at how
quickly I can turn things around. Not always, but quite
frequently.
Anyway, these are the thoughts I had this morning as I
dealt with just such a session.
And it came around quite nicely, by the end, thank you
very much.
All the best,
Clayton Haslop
P.S. I think I mentioned in a recent newsletter that I
was taking myself the Kreutzer’s book of 42 Etudes/Caprices. Well, mission accomplished. Come do them with me and they will rocket your playing to a whole new level of mastery.
inimitable Randy Newman.
Now some of you may remember his wickedly sardonic humor
from his hit tune, ‘Short People.’ Others his Oscar
nominated, hauntingly beautiful song from ‘Toy Story
II’ called, ‘When She Loved Me.’
Of course these are just two small examples of Randy’s
endless font of creativity. Yet what makes him a real
hoot to work for is his sense of humor. He could quite
honestly have had a world-class career as a standup
comic.
A few years back he had a running joke about how hard he
used to be on himself, until he learned the secret of
eternal bliss – ‘I’ve lowered my standards far
enough now,’ he said, ‘to where nothing I do bothers
me anymore.’
Boy did the orchestra howl.
He was joking, of course. Randy Newman maintains about
as high a standard for himself as anyone I’ve ever come
across.
Yet there are times, in the short hall, particularly,
when I feel it is useful, and even beneficial to lower
one’s expectations, if not one’s ultimate standards.
We all have bad days. Heck, I have days where even
opening the case is a challenge. And ironically, it’s
often the day after a very good practice or performance
that I feel this way; perhaps the result of excessive
exuberance taking its toll on my energy.
Nonetheless, it’s on just such days when it becomes
imperative to cut yourself some slack; to start slow, get
the bow moving across the strings, and rein in thoughts
of frustration at not feeling one’s best.
Only when this is accomplished do I recommend gently
beginning to raise the bar.
When I adopt this approach I’m often amazed at how
quickly I can turn things around. Not always, but quite
frequently.
Anyway, these are the thoughts I had this morning as I
dealt with just such a session.
And it came around quite nicely, by the end, thank you
very much.
All the best,
Clayton Haslop
P.S. I think I mentioned in a recent newsletter that I
was taking myself the Kreutzer’s book of 42 Etudes/Caprices. Well, mission accomplished. Come do them with me and they will rocket your playing to a whole new level of mastery.
posted by Clayton Haslop at 1:41 PM
1 Comments:
Nice post--I've had the pleasure of seeing Randy perform with two orchestras: the NSO and the Richmond (Va.) Symphony. With both groups he was constantly making snide remarks about, say, the brass section, mostly out of the audience's earshot. But my seats were close enough for me to catch most of them--and the orchestras were indeed howling!
Cheers,
Dale Leopold
Richmond Va
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