routine

by Joshua Roman

Sitting in my seat on the flight to my first performance of the 16-17 season, I find myself reflecting on new beginnings. I’m a sucker for New Year’s Day and the first trip of the season is no different. Thinking back even further, I’ve always enjoyed the start of the semester as well. Fresh scenery, new classes and ways to learn, a structured environment after the laissez-faire chaos of summer…

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I used to have a hard time taking breaks – it’s still not the easiest thing for me to do – but I’ve recognized the value in allowing the mind, body, and spirit the chance to rest and relax. A real break gives one the chance to reassess ingrained habits and patterns and start anew with fresh energy. I’m a firm believer now that breaks are an essential part of life, especially when it comes to learning, growing, and developing new skills, but even if you don’t feel you have time to stop completely, a change of setting or routine is the perfect opportunity to alter your approach and renew your energy and focus.

When it comes to habits, I have found limitless value in experimentation. Having a sense of “home base” is helpful; a routine that you are comfortable with, that becomes second nature, and is a space around which you can play with details. An example from my cello practice is my scale routine. I have several that I’ve developed over the years, all of which I can rely on to keep me sharp with minimal fuss. Once I had the first routine solidified, I was able to start really experimenting with different warm ups and ways of interspersing the routine throughout my day’s practice – or even sometimes throughout the week – which led to the development of other routines I could add in. All the while I had the security of being able to fall back on the original when I felt the need to concentrate all of my creative energy in other areas of my practice and still be able to count on daily technical results.

Here are the videos from The Popper Project, a result of rethinking my practice habits back in 2009-2010.

Going back to school, beginning a new season of performances, or any kind of change in setting or schedule presents the opportunity to break whatever habits you have and rebuild them in a better way. It doesn’t always last forever–but if you stay aware of how you are affected by the changes you’re making, and the new routine, you can at the very least get a better sense of how you work.

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This year, I’m not only rejiggering some of my practice habits, but looking at the tools I use in my everyday life to see what might work better. Using multiple Google calendars, moving more of my work to shareable platforms like Google docs and Google drive are just some of the possibilities that help organize and streamline the logistics of many of the tasks on my list. I’m also committing to spend 45 minutes at the beginning of each week contemplating key questions about my career, independent of the to-do lists that end up dominating my thought patterns.

Structuring time, looking at key elements of organization, and reprioritizing areas of learning and work are all ways to give your progress a jolt of energy. There are many resources available to help with this – some that have been helpful to me include:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

This book gave me lots of valuable tools that I’ve used at various times to help organize and restructure many parts of my life and career. I especially like the four-part diagram regarding urgency and importance.

Beyond Talent by Angela Beeching

If you’re seeking to up your career game, this book is a fantastic resource. Great ideas for everything from setting up and promoting a concert to how to manage your time so that artistry doesn’t get lost as you seek to create your self-run business.

Think Simple Now by Multiple Authors

This blog has many great articles about reorganization, and has been an inspiration to me when it comes to simplifying and prioritizing the things that matter most in life.

This is a process that never ends, but taking the time to recognize a naturally occurring change of pace and attach extra significance to it can elevate your experience and sharpen necessary life skills. I’d love to know what resources and ideas you have found useful; this isn’t the first and won’t be the last time I lift up the hood and tinker with the engine of productivity. May your semester, season, and fall be fulfilling and challenging in ways that bring you joy and learning.

(“In which a Roman quotes a Greek”)

by Joshua Roman

So, after all of the drama of 2015, what’s in store this year?

The number one thing that’s now set and will help in my quest for a focused year is: a place to call home. After almost eight years in NYC (and a few months in Jersey), I’m now living in a small one bedroom in Chelsea. It’s ideal for getting around town, close to all kinds of subway stops, and walking distance from many of my usual hangs. It’s only 20 minutes to visit my sister and her family, and there are great grocery stores about a block away in every direction. Last night I was able to get to Carnegie Hall to see the Philadelphia Orchestra in about 15 minutes.

View out my window… The Metlife clock tower

This is the reason to be in NYC! Especially for someone who’s gone a lot, it’s hard to justify the rent if you’re not taking advantage of the many wonderful goings on. There are so many wonderful people doing exciting things, and this year one of my top priorities will be feeling grounded in the cultural life of this city. Reconnecting with friends I haven’t seen while on the road can be difficult, but I have renewed hope and energy now that I’m in a central location.

Everything else this year flows from that, the physical settling that I can now begin. I still travel a lot, but another goal is to develop a sense of routine. Of course, my idea of routine might be very different from someone else’s – mine revolves around performance dates, writing deadlines, and flight departures. But it’s still an important concept, especially at a time when there are many balls in the air that need to be managed with careful attention.

Some of the results I hope to achieve:

Feeling ahead of the practicing game, enough so that I can do extra projects like Everyday Bach with regularity.

Polishing my existing compositions to satisfaction.
Getting ahead with the projects I’m working on. Examples: this blog, concerts at Town Hall Seattle, other programming.
Engaging more with my communities, especially my music friends and TED friends, so that the relationships I care about most are well tended.
Finding ways to integrate the issues I’m most passionate about into what I do when appropriate. Some of this needs to happen regularly, like continuing to expand diversity in my music making, both in terms of performing partners and in the music itself. Some of it is a little trickier to pin down: how does one do anything to promote campaign finance reform? Some of it is related to relationships with organizations like Street Symphony in Los Angeles, and will happen project by project over time.
More performance opportunities.

The balance of fresh and routine is always important. Last year was fresh-heavy, but this year it’ll be fun to find ways to develop routines without closing the door to great opportunities. You never know what’s coming your way, on the street, or when you glance at your inbox, or even sometimes on stage! I welcome any tips on time management, especially from those who are juggling similarly diverse projects. By March, I hope to be far enough ahead to watch one movie without feeling guilty.

To close today’s thoughts, I want to talk about the zone. We’ve all felt it, I hope. I get the feeling a lot on stage, but it can happen other places as well. There’s a zone when exercising, there’s one for reading (easy to get into), there’s one for writing, and for cooking, etc. There are also zones that are shared, when there’s a mutual connection in chamber music, for example. Or, if you’re lucky, sex.

I’m a zone junkie, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that SOME kind of routine or trigger, whether conscious or not, is very important in getting into that creative or performative zone. We create the habits we live by – I think it was Aristotle that said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” If you’re interested in digging into the zone, I recommend this book which I read more than a decade ago. It resonated with a lot of what I felt to be true but was unable to articulate at the time: The Inner Game of Tennis.

So, 2016’s broad goals: Openness by way of focus and maintenance.

Methods of achieving this: Routine, buffer time, and management of distractions.

We’ll get into some details of the various manifestations of these practices later. For now, I leave you with a playlist and some encouragement to stake your claim on your time, and go for whatever it is you’ve been holding back on.

The Westerlies: Wish The Children Would Come On Home (SI’s Album Review)
Third Coast Percussion: The Works For Percussion 2
Jeff Buckley: Grace