Marriage counseling

Day 25

So really, this is more Day 26 because I did not practice yesterday whilst traveling to distant lands. And in fact, that seems to be an emerging lesson of this Focused February project that has come to its whimpering end: I don't practice nearly as much as I think I do. Nor as much as I used to.
Many days (dare I surmise half?) I didn't have any time alone with my horn. That's really my definition of practice these days- am I playing my horn with no one else in the room?
This month may not have been the best choice for a practice renaissance now that I'm looking back at my schedule, but will I ever have an ideal practice schedule? I'm betting not. I'm still a young freelancer with no kids and minimal responsibilities: it's only gonna get worse from here.

I'd rather not harp on all the things this month was not cuz what's the point of that? I'm a good person, I work hard and care about a lot of things, no sense beating myself up over something that really only matters because I declare it matters. And I have declared that practice truly does matter since about the age of 12 when I would eschew TV watching in favor of scales. Ok, ok, sometimes the two would go hand in hand. As they occasionally still do... :)
 Still, I have spent a huge portion of my life dedicating myself to my relationship with the horn. It's really a marriage, seen from that light.

This month has shown me that maybe my marriage isn't as simple as it once was. Maybe I have the musical equivalent of a mortgage, kids, a job offer out of state... And maybe that's okay. Normal even? But just like a marriage, you can't give up on the romance, the special intimacy that's established after so much time together. This month has helped re-kindle some of that romance and shown serious areas for improvement. And for that, I call it a success.

But I might hold off on Motivated March for a little while.