Hidden Silver Lining?

Image from sciencealert.com

I stupidly overdid it again.  my arm was nearly better,  so in a fit of enthusiasm/stupidity I spent an entire Saturday morning practicing one piece. This was not wise (note the understatement)  because it caused my tennis elbow to flare up again.  Why didn't I follow my physical therapists advice to warm up first, not play for more than 45 minutes, have breaks and stretch, ice etc?    Wish I knew.

As a result I'm reduced to 15 minutes playing before I get to take a break, check the arm, add some ice and do something else.  The good news?  there are actually advantages to being limited to such a short period of time.

• I'm more inclined to think of a small goal for that time than when I have "as long as I feel like playing"
• breaking things down into  small chunks to do in 15 mins is an excellent way to learn something new or tackle a problem.  The time limit prevents frustration setting in.
• Those exercises  I normally can't be bothered with fit nicely into 15 mins.
• I've been learning scales by doing them as a very light staccato (as recommended by my guitar teacher, who is, annoyingly, always right) to prevent stress on the left arm. Turns out that once you've got the movements mastered,  it's not that hard to switch to playing them legato.
• Right hand exercises by themselves actually allow you to focus on what is going wrong with the right hand...
• In the breaks between playing, I've picked up my music theory book again.  I'd stopped working through it because I was at a point where I was truly frustrated. (I think voice leading must be the most arcane subject on the planet!) Now I just do one problem or 10 mins then I can go back to playing again.😊😊 

This time I'm going to follow my physical therapist's advice.   Really.

Quote of the day:  "Sometimes we must do exactly the thing that terrifies us most in order that we may live the life we were meant to have.”  - not attributed.