Practice or play?

As I sat down to practice today I felt quite relaxed with no expectations. When I practice sometimes it is a very organic process and I'll do scales followed by a song I am working on and pick out some areas that need polishing and work on those. Indeed during the week I had a nice session with Dall'Aquila's Recercare, refining fingerwork and tempo. It was tough but I enjoyed this applied aspect of solving problems in music and technique.

Today was somewhat different. As I have already mentioned, I sat down to play with no expectations so did my scales and picked out a piece I wanted to hear and play. The session then turned into somewhat of a 'concert' (to myself) attitude where I simply accepted the songs as they came. When I made a small error, I acted as if I were performing and went on to maintain the integrity of the song, leaving that mistake behind. Once one song was finished, I moved on to the next and spent a blissful half hour or more playing through my old favourites. Was this practicing or playing? A bit of both I guess but the mindset is different.

Something in particular that struck me between songs was the allowance I gave to the final note or chord to ring out. I try not to snatch the final sounds away or damp the strings generally but this time, in my 'concert mode' it was clear that this dying sound was part of the entirety of the playing session and a preparation for the next song, linking my pieces together. A very nice revelation.

Here was my 'concert' programme:

Fortune My Foe, by Dowland

Mistress White's Choyce

Les Pantalons, by Nicolas Vallet

Ricercar (1) by da Milano

Christina by Widman

Bourée by Vallet

Fantasia (1) by da Milano

Fantasia Terza by da Milano

Recercar by dall'Aquila

Recercare by Spinaccino