Sing Play Survive

sound ideas to help make it through music school

Posts Tagged self-improvement

53 things to do over winter break

Dec 28

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Organization | No Comments

Download the printable checklist

Download the printable checklist

Congratulations, you made it to winter break! Now what are you going to do with yourself for the next few weeks? Yeah, see that’s the problem. Colleges are nice enough to give everyone time to recover after finals, but since you’re so used to being busy all the time, you don’t know what to do with yourself when you come home for break.

Well, to help fix your boredom problem, I put together a biiiiiiigggggg list of things you can do to keep yourself busy over break. Since this is blog about not only surviving music school, but kicking its sorry little butt, I focused this list on all the things you should do to to be really really really prepared for the coming semester. It might be a bit of work now, but If you complete it, you can count on heading back to school more prepared than the world’s most gung-ho boy scout. Invest a little time now, so that you don’t feel slammed through the whole next semester.

I also made a printable .pdf checklist of the whole thing, so you can track your progress as you go. Download it here, and get to work!

Fun

  • This is a pretty “serious” list, so don’t forget to visit with all your friends. Relax, party, socialize, and connect with people. When it’s March and you’re stuck in a practice room for 6 hours a day, you’ll wish you had socialized more.
  • Spend some time with your family. I know they can bug you, but they’re also an important piece of your emotional health. Don’t go home and isolate yourself for three weeks.
  • Go to a concert. You spent the whole Fall performing, now get out to a concert, sit back (or jump around, depending), and enjoy watching someone else do all the work.
  • Find a new hobby or campus club to get involved with. If you do everything else on this checklist, you’ll be better prepared for the spring, and you’ll have some time in your schedule. Don’t “wait and see” if you have time, because if you think like that, you never will. Find a club, and email the president so that you can’t back out on yourself.
  • Visit a museum. You can always find something fun there.
  • If you’re really bored, it’s not too early to start making plans for spring break. Decide if you’re going to go somewhere or stay home, and then find something good to do with that time.
  • If you’re really really bored, read every post on this site (there are only 22 as of now, so it should be too bad).

Health

  • Find a fitness routine that works for you, and start doing it. Learn the exercises now so that you feel comfortable and don’t have to fumble through them during the semester. If you get in the habit of working out now, you’ll probably have a better time sticking to it once things get busy. And, if you’re out of shape, you can deal with the initial soreness while it won’t interfere your practicing as much. Read the rest of this entry »

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Things you’ll regret not doing in music school (Part III)

Dec 18

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Health and Wellness, Practice, Surroundings | No Comments

Well, they’re one day late, but here they are: Items 11 through 15 on the list of things you absolutely MUST do while you’re a student–or regret not doing for the rest of your life.

11. Spend time alone.

If you’re really trying to make the most out of your music school career, you’re going to be around other people almost non-stop. It’s fun to have friends, to play in ensembles, to study in groups, and hang out with your room mate late into the night. But you also need time for yourself. I’m not just talking about the alone time you get when you’re practicing or studying. I’m talking about what one friend called “naked time”–the kind of time you spend alone just for you (you can keep your clothes on if you like). Take a nice long walk now and then, catch an afternoon nap, or put on your favorite CD (NOT a listening assignment for class) and read a magazine. Just find something to give yourself a nice quiet break.

If you’re wondering why this is is important to do NOW, it’s because your schedule NOW is probably the most flexible you’ll ever have again. Most work days don’t have an hour or two in between tasks the way many students have an hour or two in between classes. Yes, those are good times to practice, study, etc., but they’re also good times to relax and de-stress a little. If you are just too busy to make this happen during the week, give yourself a little extra time to do it on the weekend.

The other reason to do it NOW is because this is a time in your life to focus on you and figure out who you are. If you’re always around other people, you’ll never get a chance to form your own identity. You do NOT want to leave college feeling like you have no idea who you are, so take a little time and figure it out!

12. Celebrate every holiday you know of.
I get it, you’re a hard-working, talented, music student–not some dumb frat-boy or -girl. Well get over yourself and have some fun now and then. It’s college! If you’re holiday calendar says Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you’re not celebrating enough. You need a calendar that gives you a holiday for almost every day of the year. That way, you can celebrate whenever you get a little free time.

13. Take up a non-music hobby. Read the rest of this entry »

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Things you’ll regret not doing in college (Part II)

Dec 10

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Health and Wellness, Practice | 4 Comments

Well it’s Thursday, and here at Sing Play Survive, that means another list of things you BETTER do while you still can. I wouldn’t recommend doing them during juries week (except for number 9), but they’ll all be great fun after.

Got some of your own to add? Please let me know in the comments.

If this is your first time here, you can also read Part I of this series.

6. Have a lazy “marathon” weekend

This is a great thing to do on a long weekend or over a holiday. Grab some friends, stock up on your favorite food and beverages, and take an entire day (or two) to do something like: watch an entire season/series of a favorite TV show, watch a movie trilogy, listen to the complete Beatles discography, have a Monopoly tournament, beat Guitar Hero on expert, etc.

There are a couple of rules for this one: save it for a weekend with bad weather, give yourself a day after to be productive and recover before starting another week of classes, and balance your Karma by spending another entire day volunteering with all of your friends.

7. Learn to function without caffeine
I’ll bet that colleges (and especially music schools) create more caffeine addicts each year than 10,000 Red Bull salesmen do in a lifetime. Between a demanding schedule, chronic sleep deprivation, and easy, campuswide access to fresh-brewed coffee and ice-cold Mountain Dew, it’s no surprise. If you’re on the road to addiction, take a few days off from caffeine here and there. Curb the habit before it owns you for life.

8. Spend time in the library (for fun)

Read the rest of this entry »

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Are the Practice Rooms Making You Sick?

Dec 7

Posted by Bryan W in Health and Wellness, Music Schools, Practice, Surroundings | No Comments

If you call it yours, does that keep you healthier?

If you’ve never gotten sick during the school year, consider yourself lucky. Even a case of the sniffles can be a major setback when you’re trying to keep on top of practicing, rehearsals, studying, and a social life. Like most music students, I tried every trick in the book to keep from getting sick. Unfortunately it wasn’t always enough, and I often ended up with with a runny nose, sore throat, headache, and cough sometime during the semester.

This frustrated me since I was an otherwise very healthy person. It took a while before I found the culprit to be the practice rooms–those tiny shared spaces with little ventilation and (at least at my school) no natural light. I mentioned my theory to a few friends, who thought I was crazy–until I made my case.

Yes, if you’re not careful, the practice rooms WILL make you sick. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to defend yourself.

So what exactly makes practice rooms different from classrooms, dorm rooms, locker rooms, or any other public places on a college campus? I think It’s a combination of the environment and the activities that take place there. Let’s take a look at each.

The Typical Practice Room Enviroment

With the exception of closets, practice rooms are probably the smallest rooms on campus. Yet, at many schools, they’re occupied with the door closed from early in the morning until late into the night. I’m no doctor, but I’ll bet that means there are lots of airborne germs crammed into that little space. If they’re not well-ventilated, then  you’re breathing old, nasty air and not fresh oxygen. If the room is carpeted, you’re also breathing in all the dust and mold that collects in the carpet.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Five Things You’ll Regret Not Doing in College (Part I)

Dec 3

Posted by Bryan W in Free Time, Frustrations, Health and Wellness, Practice | 1 Comment

I’m going to make a prediction: when you finish music school, you’ll start thinking of a whole list of things you wished you had done while you were there. If you need some proof, think about your last few weeks of high school. Didn’t at least part of you wish that you had tried out for a play, asked that cute boy out, spent more time with your friends, or practiced a little harder for your auditions?

Since you might not know what’s going to be on your college list until it’s too late, I’m starting this series to give you some ideas. Every week or so, you’ll find another five things you should try to do while you still can.

If you’re not in school anymore, please email me and tell me about YOUR regrets. If you ARE in school, please read on…

1. Start a band that has NOTHING to do with the “legit” music you play.

If you’re into classical, cut loose and join a rock band. If you play jazz, start a classical quartet and see how the other half lives. Just try something that you wouldn’t normally do. It doesn’t matter if you “can’t improvise”, or if you’re not a classical music expert. Do your best and adapt, because that’s how you learn and grow. Take advantage of the talented musicians around you. Start a group, laugh at how awkward it is, and learn from it!

2. Sleep in once a month.


Read the rest of this entry »

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Gear Crazed – Are You Caught in the Quest for the Perfect Sound?

Nov 12

Posted by Bryan W in Practice | No Comments

With several conferences taking place in the next few weeks–including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, which is going on right now, I thought I’d share a piece of my thoughts that have to do with every musician’s favorite part of the show: the equipment expo.

I’ve noticed a cycle that almost every musician I know has gotten stuck in. It has to do with gear. To illustrate my point, I’ll share a little story here, but if you’re short on time, you can skip ahead to the summary, or even head straight to the point.

The cycle goes something like this: Joe the drummer (is not just drummers who have this problem, but that’s what we’ll call him for the sake of this story) isn’t quite happy with the sounds he gets from his drums. He’s tried making some adjustments to his set up and tried some different brands of sticks. Nothing seems to help. Then Joe attends a concert. He enjoys the performance, and as he listens, he begins to fall in love with the sound of the drums on stage. The tone is so defined, with just the right amount of this, and not too much of that. By the end of the concert, he’s obsessed with this sound, and just knows that he’s finally discovered the sound he’s been after his whole life. *If you know where this story is going and you’re in a hurry, you can skip to the point.

After the show (or clinic), he tells anyone who will listen about how great the sound was, and he and his drummer friends speculate about what kind of drums the drummer had, how the equipment must have been tweaked, and what Joe can do with his gear to achieve the same sound. Joe spends a couple of hours in the practice room adjusting the setup and tuning of his drums, trying to replicate the sound he heard. That gets him closer to the dream sound, but he’s still not there. He checks online to see if the drummer from the show has any tips. Read the rest of this entry »

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Take the Stairs (and nine other ways to stay healthy in music school)

Nov 7

Posted by Bryan W in Health and Wellness | 1 Comment

Sitting on the StairsNow before anyone tries to label me a health nut, or thinks that I want the whole world to be skinny, please hear these words: If you want to play your best, you have to stay healthy. I mean it. You’ll never have the mental focus or the physical stamina to endure a rigorous class and practice schedule if you don’t eat right and stay in shape. And during flu-season, it may just keep you from getting sick.

One night at the all-you-can-eat dining hall, my friend Matt Dintrone remarked that I “eat like a saint.” Well I can tell you that’s not always true, but I do try to be conscious about what foods I put in my body. So am I asking you to eat like a saint, or try to get the physique of a supermodel or bodybuilder? Of course not! Here are some simple tips you can start using today to improve your physical health–and keep the freshman fifteen far far away.

  1. Exercise Regularly: You don’t have to be an “exercise nut” to stay in shape. If you’re walking to class and have an extra minute, take the long way. Join an intramural sports team, or do a simple circuit routine at the athletic center. Exercise can be great fun once you find something that works for you. Get out of the practice room and try something new! Not only will your body be in better shape, but your brain will work more efficiently. That should make it easier to focus during long practice sessions. Read the rest of this entry »

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