This morning I awoke from a very strange (and highly moral, weirdly) dream to the Allegro from Handel's violin sonata in F. The performance was light and graceful, and it reminded me of what I was thinking about during the Vivaldi: now that I can feel my fingers, I need to take my playing to the next level. Time to start playing elegantly.
Playing elegantly takes energy, more energy than just playing in a totally relaxed way. It takes faster and more controlled fine motor movement. It takes more breath. It makes me tired. And boy, I'm already tired enough these days--I don't dare sit down on the couch until after my last violin lesson because whenever I do I end up falling asleep. 2 hours later I wake up with Bonita purring on top of me and groggily try to figure out what time it is. Yikes! So I haven't been improving my violin playing the way I'd like. I need to change that, because I've been feeling unsettled -- too much time at work and not enough violin. My artistic self hasn't been getting enough love lately.