Inspired Practice

I want 2026 to be a year of personal and artistic growth. It is time to take a big step forward in my ability to create / improvise music at the marimba. Musical growth is most enjoyable when it springs from inspiration - but where does this come from? Very often (not always) from listening to music. Finding music that I love, soaking my ears in it, getting excited about it. In order to do this one must be curious - curious about recordings, artists, history, style, culture. So it seems that productive time with an instrument should generally flow from a process that starts with curiosity, which leads to listening, which leads to inspiration, which then leads to inspired practice.

Curiosity - Listening - Inspiration - Practice

This seems to be a good attitude toward musical development. If you are inspired, go practice. If not, do some listening. Not sure what to listen to? Consider what (or who) you are curious about.

Some practice is driven by a deadline - you have to perform a specific piece and you have a specific amount of time to prepare. This is different - this is learning to be (and being) a professional. This kind of practice is simpler because there is no ambiguity - you know the parameters and the timeline. Artistic growth is trickier because you are the one that determines the parameters and there are no deadlines. If you can find joy in the journey rather than only focusing on the end product, it will be much easier to keep developing, and the journey itself is much more enjoyable when fueled by inspiration.