Lately, I've noticed that I'm a little sloppy with my execution of certain things. Also, my sight reading has dropped quite a bit along with my endurance. Not to mention, my altissimo range seems a bit compromised.
I guess to put it another way, I'M A MESS! I recently told one of my students that I estimate that I'm only playing at about 65% of my previous peak level of roughly three and a half years ago, which pretty much coincides with when I bought my house. The past few years have seen the most erratic practice routine of my career and I have to reign it in now, before even more damage is done. Being a home owner, and now a father, takes up a lot of time, but I need to work out some time to practice on a more consistent basis again.
I think it's important to do a periodic self analysis like this.
At any rate, I've decided on starting a "Back to Basics" practice routine for myself. I will go over the things that are fundamental that I haven't touched in at least 7 years or so.
On the one hand I feel like I'm going backwards. But that's my ego talking. I know that in order to get back to the level I was at a couple of years ago, I need to get back to basics for a month or two - or how ever long it takes for me to get back to where I was at. From there I can then move on and try to surpass the level I feel I was at when I was at my previous peak.
