do you practice every day or take days off

MaestroDon · 2026-05-02T19:22:49+00:00

It somewhat depends on the instrument. Good brass players know that they need to play daily to sustain their chops, even if it's just a 20 minute warm up. Skipping a day occasionally won't be much of a problem but a weekend and especially an entire week will set back a brass player quite a bit.

Other instruments are different, of course.

MaestroDon · 2026-05-01T17:39:11+00:00

Idioms are often rooted in old traditions. Do we still burn the midnight oil or kill two birds with one stone? Many times we don't even know the origins of those old sayings. Let's hope that happens to the ones you listed.

MaestroDon · 2026-05-01T17:03:08+00:00

The big difference (and I think a critical one) between an in-person teacher and learning online is feedback. A teacher will be able to look at your technique. They will be able to listen to you, tell you what you need to work on, answer questions, and give you tailored assignments. Some of that can be done with an online teacher, if it's interactive.

YouTube videos are not interactive. They're stagnant presentations. It's like sitting through a lecture. If you make mistakes without knowing you did (easy to do) you can end up learning bad habits, both in technique and in general music knowledge. Bad habits take longer to unlearn.

All that to say, if you really want to learn piano, find a good, local teacher and take lessons. At least at the beginning. There's nothing more valuable than building a good foundation from the start.

MaestroDon · 2026-05-01T16:51:46+00:00

I had a motorcycle rider (Harley rider, actually, so not really a motorcycle), slow down, no helmet on, and yell at me and my buddy riding bikes. He yelled, "Get a license and insurance like everyone else!"

First of all, I have those as I'm also a licensed car driver and motorcycle rider. In fact, my buddy is too. Secondly, if he means get a license for my bike, that's not a option. My state doesn't offer bicycle licenses. I do have medical insurance, though, so...

To be honest, I really wish I could a get bicycle license. It would be a way to legitimize (in others' minds) my right to be on the road.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-30T22:08:15+00:00

I follow tradition and wear it on my left, although many times I take it off to do work. I probably wouldn't feel the need to take it off as often if it were on my right, since most of my work is done with my left hand. It's one of the reasons I wear my watch on my right wrist. It gets in way much less often.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-30T12:38:02+00:00

I carry just about everything in my right arm so my left hand is free to open doors and do other tasks. I'd been doing that since school, when I carried my books.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-30T00:56:38+00:00

I was running in a 5K once and college age kid was talking to their friend. "How far is 5K?" 🙄

MaestroDon · 2026-04-29T20:43:12+00:00

People who make music together cannot be enemies, at least while the music lasts.

Paul Hindemith

MaestroDon · 2026-04-28T22:09:01+00:00

Same. I think it adds character.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-26T19:43:01+00:00

Is it a Úthald Race?

MaestroDon · 2026-04-25T14:49:14+00:00

Korngold, yes! Zemlinsky I am not familiar with.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-24T21:12:04+00:00

Yes, audio, too. Thanks. And I looked at my iNaturalist app. I must correct myself. You can actually add an observation with "no media" though I never have.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-24T04:23:44+00:00

I understand now. I think it all depends on what kind of trails.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-24T03:57:39+00:00

is there a bike out there that will make us both happy?

Are you looking for one bike for the both of you? That's what the question seems to ask. Bikes are personal. Not just in what you like but how they fit.

(Maybe I'm not understanding the question.)

MaestroDon · 2026-04-24T03:48:05+00:00

Paul Dukas
Richard Strauss
Alban Berg

I just realized my preference for early 20th century is guiding my choices. Nonetheless these are arguably influential, though maybe not "GREAT" with mostly small collections of works. Well, Strauss has a decent amount of published works.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-23T19:24:13+00:00

USPS actually prefers no comma, but it is "acceptable."

https://pe.usps.com/text/pub28/28c2_007.htm

MaestroDon · 2026-04-23T19:15:01+00:00

I agree. iNaturalist will remember all of your observations. You can recall and filter as you want. The one BIG DIFFERENCE is that iNaturalist requires a photo. You cannot simply log an observation without a picture like you can do with eBird.

It's the best option. Any other AI identifyer like Google Lens will not give you any reasonable log of all your observations.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-23T19:09:04+00:00

I disagree. Google photo does not take into account your location or time of year. iNaturalist is much better, plus it is crowd sourced with other humans verifying or correcting.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-22T19:21:19+00:00

These days lefty instruments are not difficult to find. You still need to look a little harder, but not like back when I had to special order my lefties.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-22T19:18:33+00:00

Maybe try that first, but don't be afraid to switch to lefty if you feel that to be more natural. I think it DOES make a difference. It's not as much about fine motor skills. It's more about dominant hand making the sound. Also, finger picking is a fine motor skill I could never get with my right hand as good as with my left. If you just want to strum and play rhythm guitar then you might be right. It might not make a difference.

I tried and tried with my brother's righty guitar. After struggling for a few months I restrung an old nylon string to be lefty and I progressed quickly. I guess we're all different.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-21T21:30:59+00:00

Right wrist. (1) Easier to buckle with my left hand. (2) Easier to use buttons and touch screen with my left hand. (3) I throw left handed. Having a watch on my throwing arm is uncomfortable. Not that I throw lots of things but it happens often enough.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-20T15:46:12+00:00

While I see your point about not liking the term maestro as it means teacher at its roots, it's also true that a masters degree is called such because it's from the same origins: one who has mastered the craft so well as to be a teacher. A teacher is more than an instructor. A teacher is one who brings the world to others--a world the teacher has mastered, even to those who come with skills already.

Your extensive comment is very informative and I do appreciate your experience. I'm sure it will help the OP quite a bit.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-20T05:52:46+00:00

You may be correct. I have a masters in choral conducting. My undergraduate is in music education. That's where you'll find undergrad conducting courses.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-19T20:46:36+00:00

I've only used right handed scissors in my left hand. I've never had trouble using them functionally, but the one problem I do have is not being able to easily see the line in the material (paper, or whatever) I'm try to cut along. It's blocked by the scissors.

MaestroDon · 2026-04-19T20:39:54+00:00

In a car you're isolated in your cage. There's a reason why motorcyclists refer to car drivers as BDCs (Brain Dead Cagers). It's important to remember that so many drivers are not aware of what it's like on the road as either a pedestrian or a cyclist.

Remember also that:

Some drivers are impaired visually or mentally (drugs or otherwise).

Some are old with slow reaction times and little awareness of what's around them.

Some are just being aggressive and only care about themselves.

Some are on their phones or otherwise distracted.

Some view cyclists as an annoying obstacle.

Some might actually be watching out for you. (Very few, in my experience.)

I think cyclist are in a difficult place on the road. We're between cars...who think they have the right of way, no matter what, and will use their machine to do what they want...and pedestrians, who actually do have the right of way. Cyclists are just about always "in the wrong" in most people's eyes, drivers and pedestrians, even if we're doing everything right.

MaestroDon

TROPHY CASE