So during this last tour we were watching a video of the previous night's show. In the first song, I have to play the pattern don doko (right-right-left) for a long time, moderately fast, and sometimes pretty loud. I take pride in the fact that I can do it and with nuances in where I strike on the chudaiko, variations in volume to accentuate the song, etc.
And then in the video, I'm watching myself play the two right-hand notes unevenly. It's not quite don tsudon, which is a very common mistake, but it's not the constant I'd hoped for.
The next few concerts we played, I made sure to keep it steady. It was more tiring; I definitely had to push my muscles to keep things going. And I know I'll have to remind myself to keep on doing that for a while, because otherwise I'll slip into what was comfortable, which isn't the right technique.
Watching the video wasn't that damaging to my ego; I've seen myself doing worse! But I wasn't doing something as well as I thought, and I had a choice to let it slide since no one else had an issue with it. It meant swallowing a little pride and putting in more effort, but it also meant getting better and being satisfied that I *could* do it.
Have you watched yourself on video? Have you noticed things that you let slide because it wasn't a big deal? What would have happened if you pushed to make it better? Why not find out?
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