Just doing it!
Combining the sense and fun of practising with performance
Doing, trying out, changing: this is how many of our projects can be characterized. We are often confronted with questions that allow us to experiment.
We also resort to objects that grab our attention, when experimenting. We use them in our own practice and teaching. We are by no means systematic in doing this. Sometimes it takes hours or even months to find a new path. Often it is a small helper or a "distraction" that can be caused by another object, or the use of materials that help us to relax while practicing at the same time. Just as intensively as we work with "helpers", we also work without them, constantly looking for when and where they are useful or simply superfluous.
"Helpers" are not always wise to use. However, sometimes they even prevent exactly what they were made for. Realizing this has helped us to really only focus on what brings about improvements to many players or teachers.
Here we present ideas that you can simply try out, as well as the necessary >>helper<< and, if necessary, further information. Substantial and more complex topics that we publish ourselves or of which we gain knowledge we link.
Some of the ideas also make it into our >>workshops<<, which we offer for small groups.
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All just boring?
Yes, probably at first glance. What could be the reason for that? Probably mainly because of two things:
- on the one hand, many of our topics are often referred to by the unattractive term "healthy", which is often associated with "having to do without something".
- on the other hand, that there have been great musicians for many decades and yet everything goes as well as one has learnt it
On second glance, it likes to be exciting rather than boring, as we are now hearing more and more often. What could be the reason for that?
- "Healthier" does not necessarily mean having to give up something: we just sometimes block ourselves by our assumptions.
- It is very hard work to become and stay good at your instrument, and sometimes you have to leave the beaten track and try something new.
And you still have to abstain!
Our experience is that one actually has to seriously renounce one single thing: the "just-as-it-is".
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Answered briefly
We will gradually take up questions that are sent to us through various channels and present our answers here. We answer and comment on questions that specifically relate to our inventions in a more comprehensive way for the teaching context at >>other places.
Anja (17 years old) asked Erdmute why she would always try new things and spend so much time doing them.
What pleases me most is when others have perhaps even greater success with something than I have had myself. I think what impresses and motivates me most is that there is so much to discover and that I don't get bored. Time doesn't really matter, it takes as long as it takes anyway.
A student (Sara Lisa) met us at a workshop. She was sceptical because we had so many things with us. She then wanted to know at some point, it was during a break, what our biggest challenge was so far.
Our biggest challenge together so far has probably been to make our own discoveries marketable. Neither of us had learned that and had to learn everything here step by step. I think dealing with the mistakes that happened to us in the process is the biggest challenge. Let's wait and see, maybe that will change too :-)
A colleague of ours (Sabina), we have known her for many years, asked us what was actually the most difficult thing about our experimentation. In fact, we answered her differently.
Erdmute: For me, the absolutely most difficult thing is that I don't want to keep it all to myself, but I often have to commit myself so that I can make it understandable for others. It's a bit like at university: I bring in a topic and everyone tries it out directly and then you discuss/try out how it could still go differently. But it doesn't work like that in writing. People also have expectations that they can simply implement it. Angelika: For me it is often not easy to understand why some people find it difficult to accept something different on a trial basis. It would be enough to do it just mentally. I sometimes find it difficult to ignore the slaps in the face that you sometimes receive in the social media.
