Kotsu Kotsu

I know that when I'm practicing and making mistakes I need to slow down. This is true for music, and it's true for aikido , so for how many other things must it also be true! But we all know it's not that easy. How much should we slow down? How long should we slow down? When we speed up again, how fast should we go ? Here's a really helpful breakdown related to practicing piano, adapted from instructions from my teacher, the awesomely talented David Leonhardt.  I apply the same general principles to my aikido practice. When you detect a mistake you want to fix, get out your metronome. (You're using it already? Great!) Break down the problem section into small pieces - a couple of bars, a series of 3-4 chord changes. Set the metronome at a speed that you think you can play the section comfortably. Comfortably means not frantic, able to think ahead, with good posture and hand position. If you're still having trouble, you can either slow it down some ...

Seeking a Curriculum  I've been struggling for several weeks with a new approach to playing piano jazz tunes. It involves taking an approach I was comfortable with and extending it: more notes in the left hand, adding more color tones, bringing out the bass lines, etc., etc. My brain was exploding. That's when my teacher said, "OK, let's work on something completely different." One of the things I like about my current teacher is that he follows a curriculum — it's one that's tailored to me , but still, there's a plan. But sometimes, I guess, completely changing gears is part of the curriculum . When I started practicing Kokikai Aikido , I wasn't paying much attention to whether or not there was a "curriculum." Lost in a beginners' fog, I never expected to feel accomplished at any single technique, since we seemed to practice new techniques in every class . Like most Kokikai practice groups, the class had everything from f...

Recently I received some good advice on practicing the piano. I've started thinking differently about how I work on things that I want to get better at, with the idea that I can accept progress, even if it's not perfection, and move on. This goes somewhat against my nature, which is to be doggedly determined to get things "just so." That's probably been a good thing for me in some respects, but it can also be a burden. No matter how much I've worked, no matter how far I've come, my inner voice always tells me that it's not good enough. Having had a close relative whose life was almost overtaken by her obsessive-compulsive disorders, I've been alerted to the fact that this tendency, left to its own devices, gets worse over time. The little voice that wants things to be better is only trying to help, but I want a balance that allows me to appreciate right here, right now. So, I've taken a new mantra, which I repeat to myself throughout m...