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  The Undulating Practice Method How Modular Exploration Builds a Lifelong Creative Continuum By Sarnia de la Maré Introduction: Practice as Living Research Across disciplines, serious creative work rarely develops in straight lines. It evolves through cycles of curiosity, immersion, refinement, and return. Within the Continuum Approach, this process can be understood as undulating practice : a method of sustained, modular exploration in which ideas are entered deeply, developed fully, and temporarily set aside — not abandoned, but archived — for future reactivation. This essay outlines how undulating practice functions as a self-directed learning system, a creative research methodology, and a foundation for long-term artistic resilience. 1. The Undulating Cycle Undulating practice moves through recurring phases: Attraction — An idea, material, or question generates sustained interest. Immersion — Focused exploration of technique, language, and context. Expansion — Testing varia...

  Why Strings Wear Out — and How to Make Them Last Longer Every string player reaches the same quiet moment: the instrument is still in tune, technique feels fine — but the sound has lost its sparkle. The string hasn’t broken. It’s simply worn out. Strings don’t fail suddenly. They deteriorate slowly, for very practical reasons. 1. Constant Tension and Metal Fatigue All string instruments rely on metal strings held under continuous high tension . From the moment a string is fitted, it begins ageing. Over time: The metal core stretches microscopically Elasticity decreases The string vibrates less freely This is normal wear, not a fault — even in the most expensive strings. 2. Vibration and Playing Wear Every note flexes the string thousands of times. This repeated movement causes metal fatigue , especially in the core. As this builds up: Overtones disappear first The sound becomes dull or flat Response feels slower and less reliable A string can look fine...

The Continuum Framework™ — A Manifesto The Continuum Framework™ is a non-linear approach to musical learning that understands sound not as a series of achievements to be climbed, but as a field to be entered, explored, and returned to across a lifetime. Rather than separating technique, theory, improvisation, composition, and listening into hierarchical stages, the Continuum recognises them as interdependent behaviours that emerge at different intensities depending on context, nervous system, age, and intention. Musical development is not a ladder of progress, but a living relationship with sound. At its core, the Continuum privileges resonance over correctness, agency over compliance, and time over urgency. It rejects the idea of “beginner” and “advanced” music as fixed categories, acknowledging instead that the same material can serve radically different depths of experience. An open string, a single gesture, or a sustained field of sound can hold as much musical truth for a pro...