Latest Posts by orinsaxophone - Page 3
i think love is stored in nighttime conversations and “did you eat yet” and books left outside your door and “i waited to watch this with you” and splitting something in half to share and “im proud of you” and folded towels and “you can pick” and heads on shoulders and “you’re right, that was shitty. im sorry” and knocks on doors and “DINNER!” and stupid jokes and “hey i got this for you” and coffee made just right and… there are so many ways people say i love you silently every day over and over again if you only listen
i am shrunken down and brought to the gnome world and when i attempt to assimilate to their culture I use an acorn cap as a hat and they all laugh cheerfully at my silly mistake of wearing what they use as a bowl like a cap and though this is a transgression that would have humiliated me in my human life I am instead laughing alongside them at my humorous misunderstanding
If you are thinking of going to college to study an instrument, whether you are an education or performance major, start developing a healthy relationship to practicing now.
When you get to college, you will be expected to practice way more than you currently do. You may be the best musician at your current school; that will likely change in college. You won’t be the only person who is practicing daily anymore.
Your band directors and your private lesson instructors will want you to practice as much as possible. You may see your peers practicing 4+ hours per day. You will feel a lot of pressure to practice more no matter how diligent you already are.
Practicing is a skill that you need to learn. There are a lot of aspects to practicing that you will learn for yourself; however, from a health perspective, these are the three main skills you should learn.
All of these are from the perspective of a band kid. These may or may not apply to strings, piano, etc.
Make sure you have good playing posture
If you didn’t have a private instructor, it is very likely that you learned to play your instrument from a director who played something else. To avoid stress injuries, it is essential that you perfect your posture before you go to music school.
No matter what instrument you play, you need to have a relaxed posture with no tension. Your shoulders should be down and back; you should sit straight up without straining; you should not be gripping your instrument any tighter than you need to support it. I have a tendency to push my clarinet up and out from my body while I’m playing, and I grip it very tightly during technical passages. These issues led to me getting carpal tunnel twice in two semesters.
Along with this, look up some back and wrist stretches to do before and after playing to relieve pain and prevent injury.
Motivate yourself to practice without shaming yourself
You cannot bully yourself into wanting to practice. Shaming yourself for not being a good enough musician, worrying that you’re falling behind, comparing yourself to your peers, all of these things will cause you an immense amount of stress and make you dread practicing. It will become a chore and a punishment, not something that you do because you love playing and want to improve.
It’s similar to how motivating yourself to exercise just to lose weight is an unhealthy and, often, ineffective strategy. You’re thinking of exercise as a punishment for not having the body you want, rather than something you do because you love yourself. I was never able to make myself work out until I started doing it because it improves my mental health, rather than because I thought I needed to lose weight. And even if the shame does motivate you to work out, it will be hard to give yourself a break if you need it because “I have to do this.” It’s the same with practicing.
Learn to practice because it is time spent on something you love, not because you’re a failure without it. Practicing is absolutely essential to a music degree, but it doesn’t have to be a source of stress and shame.
Know your limits
You do not have to push yourself as hard as you possibly can to be a good musician. Steady progress is far more beneficial for your musicianship and your overall health than burning yourself out or getting injured from over-practicing.
I cannot consistently practice for more than two hours per day. Whether I practice all at once or break it up into multiple sessions, that is my physical and mental limit. Your limit may be higher or lower than that; that is perfectly okay. Practice for an amount of time that you can be consistent with every single day. When you know how much time you are going to spend practicing, you can design your practice sessions to fit your goals within that time frame.
However, it’s also important to give yourself breaks when you need them. There are going to be days where you just cannot get yourself to practice; you are allowed to take days off. While consistency is key, everyone needs breaks once in a while. You should also watch out for signs of pain or frustration while you’re already practicing. If you are in pain or getting frustrated, distracted, and tired, you can (and should) stop. “No pain, no gain” is a lie. Take breaks before your body takes matters into its own hands.
My strategy for figuring out if I genuinely can’t practice or if I’m just having executive dysfunction is to give myself a short warmup that I play every day - in my case, all the major and minor scales (I alternate between NM, HM, and MM each day). It takes about 10 minutes.
If the issue is that starting things is hard, I’ll get invested in practicing and I’ll continue my session. If I still don’t want to practice after doing scales, I take that as my sign that something is wrong and I need to take the day off.
the 'what if you played it a little risky' post literally Changed my life but i cant fujkign find it in my blog because its. a tiktok screenshot
hello new followers, i bring you a gift
text from we both laughed in pleasure by lou sullivan, image
i had a vision
Orin Scrivello: Comfy?
Arthur Denton : l remember the first time l went to a dentist. l thought, “Gosh, what a neat job! lf only l were a dentist.” The dentist l went to had the greatest car. He had a Corvette. I thought, “My gosh, everybody calls him ‘Doctor’ and he’s not really a doctor. Oh, my God! If only l got out of here okay.” Then, you know, after it was all finished, they gave me a candy bar. l thought, “Well, this is what I get? A candy bar?” This is what you do, you go through a little thing and you get *chocolate* out of it
uh uhhh version without the apron under the cut for those who hate fun /j [and so the rendering ive done below it doesnt go to waste]
August 17, 2007
shoutout to weird kids. shoutout to the guy who’s worn a cape to school every day since 6th grade. shoutout to the freshman who brings a stuffed animal to school & uses exclusively it/its pronouns. shoutout to the ppl who dye their hair a different color every month. shoutout to the girl in my econ class who wears the same hoodie every day. shoutout to weird kids. i love you.
i headcanon him as having a bit of a mullet tbh
mullet orin bcuz i have a mullet and am projecting
I MIGHT DELETE THIS LATER.....ITS OLD!!!!! this is my current sona btw
the music nerd in me is absolutely eating this up rn
oh also, fun little tidbit about orin's songs: dentist has very prominent and consistent percussion (im convinced it was inspired by "oh yeah, maybe baby" by the crystals.) this sets him up as a character who is stable, powerful, methodical, and consistent in his actions. its also a musical contrast to audrey, whose music is very melody-focused
now (it's just the gas), on the other hand (specifically during orin's parts) is the complete opposite. the rhythm speeds up and slows rapidly, which not only makes it a horrifically difficult song to play and perform, it also symbolizes his slow fall toward death! as he gets weaker, that steady rhythm he once had fades and it becomes more erratic and inconsistent. its super clever and im surpised i havent found other mentions of this
I played in the pit of one little silly horror shop musical and now the whole course of my life has changed forever :)
I do believe that orin was flirting w him idc
Steve Martin in the mid-‘60s
listen, what if i did....
you do NOT
whys he so hot i cant handle it
hey.
Teeth are bullshit. What do you mean you’re decaying. Get a fucking grip. You’re a bone now act like it. You don’t see my finger bones decaying from jerking it too much now do you
YOU GUYS ARE ALL FUCKING PSYCHOPATHS WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON
2 minutes no looking at pictures of The Character
