Recording yourself

A few years ago I was telling a student: “If you record yourself, you will catch your mistakes sooner and then you can learn from them sooner.” She said, “Oh, no, I don’t want to do that because I know it will sound really bad.” I sat there for a second to process the irony of her statement — and then I said “Well…. isn’t that the point?” She said, “No, I don’t want to be reminded I don’t sound good.” I realize that recording yourself makes you face the cold truth that some notes may not be in tune, some sounds may be scratchy but — good news: all those things are temporary! The only way to fix those problems is if you know to fix them. The sad news is mistakes can be permanent if you never know to fix them.The happy news is if you record yourself, you will know what to fix. Gulp, head over to my “hear me” page if you want to hear my recording of my practice session of the Haydn C major Cello Concerto.