You’re in a Playing Funk…Now What?
This past week, one of my longtime students told me she had a blog idea for me. Because she used to be a newspaper editor, she’d even written the headline– “You’re in a Funk… Now What?”
Far be it from me to look a gift headline in the mouth! So I asked her to elaborate.
Lately, she explained, she’d been feeling stuck and uninspired her practice, and she wanted to know how to shake herself loose. Did I have any ideas?
Truthfully, her description of a musical dry season felt familiar to me. I think it does to most people who have played or practiced purposefully over a sustained time. Whether you’re a professional or an amateur, a longtime player or someone with only a few years under your belt– the playing funk can sneak up on anyone.
But here’s the good news: It’s seldom permanent. And, as I told my student, there are solid strategies you can employ to help it pass more quickly. Some of these strategies may be a better match for your particular situation than others, but all have been helpful in my own playing, or that of my students, at one time or another.
Active Rest
If you’re working on something, especially something frustrating, and you’ve reached the point where you feel kind of nauseous just contemplating working on it again, it’s probably time for some active rest.
It’s rest because you let the thing lie for a brief, defined period, typically 2-5 days.
It’s active because you don’t stop playing.
Instead, you take those 2-5 days to release yourself from intentional work and just play whatever you’re in the mood for. A little big of Bach, maybe? Or sight reading something new? You’re still playing, still keeping your physical self in the game, but you’re taking a time out from working purposefully to reconnect with your musical joy and curiosity.
Chances are, when you’re done, you’ll return to what you’re working on refreshed and reinvigorated.
Deadlines
Are you someone who always worked more eagerly, and less reluctantly, when you had a deadline looming? Then you may want to give some serious thought to giving yourself one. Performances make terrific natural deadlines. If you’ve got one coming up already, terrific! But if you don’t, you can probably make one happen a lot more easily than you think.
Call up some relatives on Zoom and share what you’ve been working on. Invite a couple of creative friends over, serve your drink of choice, and have an open mic. Stand outside on your porch and play. Even just pressing record at a certain date and time can feel enough like a deadline to get you motivated.
Input
Nothing kickstarts inspiration more reliably than new input! If you’re feeling blah, give some serious thought to seeking out and consuming new streams of creative input. Listen to recorder player or two on Youtube. Read a book or a magazine article about music that interests you. Take a masterclass with a new teacher, book a lesson, or attend workshop. As a musician, you’ve got a wealth of input options to spark new ideas and interests.
Skill Building
This is a personal favorite of mine. If I’ve come to the end of my existential rope playing repertoire, I will often switch things up by using some practice time to work on a non-urgent ancillary musical skill I’ve been wanting to build. For me, this has included things like reading new clefs, adding harmony parts, improvising bass lines to melodies, and dabbling in notation. I’m challenging my brain in new and different ways, and it almost always serves to free me from my funk while building a skill I wanted to build anyway.
If you’re in a funk, try one or more of these– and drop me a line let me know if they help!
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