How to Practise Better Options

[Juan Carlos]

So, given that my friend who is a professional musician and does this all the time, doesn't sound perfect, why should I? I'm just writing this to remind myself. I do remember it most of the time.

I think if we could bear this in mind it'd help relieve lots of the tension derived from this aspiration to perfection at all times. In many articles I've read they say that if you sound good during practice time it most probably means that youre not really practising, or that you're probably not practising correctly, but simply playing through (and perhaps making no progress or, in the worst of cases, assimilating bad habits and erroneous ways of playing things).
let's give it a thought; it sounds self-evident and yet we're often trapped by this feeling that mistakes are bad, shameful and so on while, in fact, there are simply another way of learning (and perhaps the most effective one!).

[schraeubchen]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

[thouston]

So, given that my friend who is a professional musician and does this all the time, doesn't sound perfect, why should I? I'm just writing this to remind myself. I do remember it most of the time.

I think if we could bear this in mind it'd help relieve lots of the tension derived from this aspiration to perfection at all times. In many articles I've read they say that if you sound good during practice time it most probably means that youre not really practising, or that you're probably not practising correctly, but simply playing through (and perhaps making no progress or, in the worst of cases, assimilating bad habits and erroneous ways of playing things).
let's give it a thought; it sounds self-evident and yet we're often trapped by this feeling that mistakes are bad, shameful and so on while, in fact, there are simply another way of learning (and perhaps the most effective one!).

Excellent point, Juan.
I think I'm going to print this out in large letters and stick it on my wall...it's probably the single biggest factor that has held me back through my whole life...the obsessive need to sound good at all times (even when nobody is listening).
Thank you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Juan Carlos]

...it's probably the single biggest factor that has held me back through my whole life...the obsessive need to sound good at all times (even when nobody is listening). Thank you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This is what held me back as well until after long hours, weeks, months and years of introspection, I decided it was no longer the case ... 6 years ago ... at 48 years of age.
Now at 54, I think taking up the piano seriously was one of the wisest decisions in my life (IMG:style_emoticons/default/party1.gif)

[corenfa]

I'm back in the piano game after a week off...

I have not lost any technique, which surprises me. Some things have sunk in, as I hoped. Octaves in both hands are sounding much better. I did do gentle stretching exercises every day which may have helped. The octave run in the left hand at the beginning of Chopin Op. 53 sounded good, for once. Of course, I only got it once and then it all fell apart (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I have decided that I must be vigilant about spending 2/3 of my practice session on LH-only stuff. My left hand is still weak and out of control and there is only one way to cure this. I've added the Revolutionary etude by Chopin to my current list of stuff. After the first session of putting this into practice, my left arm aches in new places. I think this is a good thing because it is the sort of gentle dull ache that my legs get after climbing lots of stairs or running more than I'm used to - it feels like the sort of ache caused by working the muscles rather than the sharp pain when I've damaged my hands. I did damage them last year by practising wrongly, and it felt different from this.

I've also found that when I play fast LH-only passages, I clench the left side of my jaw. How utterly bizarre (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

... yet we're often trapped by this feeling that mistakes are bad, shameful and so on while, in fact, there are simply another way of learning (and perhaps the most effective one!).

Indeed - my learning went by leaps and bounds once I was able to accurately analyse my mistakes. i'm very thankful that my horn teacher taught me that what was important was *why* the mistake happened, because the same wrong notes might be caused by different things in two different players.

[schraeubchen]

I'm back in the piano game after a week off...

I have not lost any technique, which surprises me. Some things have sunk in, as I hoped. Octaves in both hands are sounding much better. I did do gentle stretching exercises every day which may have helped. The octave run in the left hand at the beginning of Chopin Op. 53 sounded good, for once. Of course, I only got it once and then it all fell apart (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I have decided that I must be vigilant about spending 2/3 of my practice session on LH-only stuff. My left hand is still weak and out of control and there is only one way to cure this. I've added the Revolutionary etude by Chopin to my current list of stuff. After the first session of putting this into practice, my left arm aches in new places. I think this is a good thing because it is the sort of gentle dull ache that my legs get after climbing lots of stairs or running more than I'm used to - it feels like the sort of ache caused by working the muscles rather than the sharp pain when I've damaged my hands. I did damage them last year by practising wrongly, and it felt different from this.

I've also found that when I play fast LH-only passages, I clench the left side of my jaw. How utterly bizarre (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

... yet we're often trapped by this feeling that mistakes are bad, shameful and so on while, in fact, there are simply another way of learning (and perhaps the most effective one!).

Indeed - my learning went by leaps and bounds once I was able to accurately analyse my mistakes. i'm very thankful that my horn teacher taught me that what was important was *why* the mistake happened, because the same wrong notes might be caused by different things in two different players.

Good to hear, your back home save!
I hope, you're right and it's only the pain of muscles being more stressed than they are used to. Have fun practicing.

[corenfa]

OK, not so much mindful practising this week because my brain has been over-tired from work..

Am in one of my obsessive phases where I have been playing only one piece every day but I have learnt that this style of practising is OK for me. If I give myself a hard time about it, it will be counterproductive.

I can't tell if I am improving faster or just noticing the improvements more, so it seems like faster improvements. It doesn't matter, even if I'm deluded, sometimes it's fun to be deluded (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[schraeubchen]

OK, not so much mindful practising this week because my brain has been over-tired from work..

Am in one of my obsessive phases where I have been playing only one piece every day but I have learnt that this style of practising is OK for me. If I give myself a hard time about it, it will be counterproductive.

I can't tell if I am improving faster or just noticing the improvements more, so it seems like faster improvements. It doesn't matter, even if I'm deluded, sometimes it's fun to be deluded (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I bet you're not deluded. I feel like it makes a big difference to practice this way. But I also feel like it takes some time to get the change from mindless to mindfull practicing done.

I am happy to have reduced the pieces in my focus to three. But beside that I have now 4 Studies for practicing different aspects.

Yesterday I got an idea of what to write down to keep in mind and how to nail a goal. Unfortunaly it wasn't the day to do so. (maybe I needed something to blame on me) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Have you got an recorder to record yourself? I find it a good thing to temporary record myself. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to take the first record of a piece directly when starting to work on it. It could be a great documentation of improvement.

[Sunrise]

I have done a ton of mindful practice this weekend, and it shows a huge improvement. LH & RH much more together (violin), more control, cleaner playing. Intonation, particularly on shifts really improved too. It's amazing how a tiny window of opportunity can seriously focus the mind! I think I'm now playing nearly as well as I did after my grade 8 all those years ago, which is a bit of a miracle (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[katica]

First practice in nearly a week tonight. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

More mindful than usual, so double (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

But embouchure completely shot by 1hr 20mns (despite short breaks for marking up music). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[schraeubchen]

I have done a ton of mindful practice this weekend, and it shows a huge improvement. LH & RH much more together (violin), more control, cleaner playing. Intonation, particularly on shifts really improved too. It's amazing how a tiny window of opportunity can seriously focus the mind! I think I'm now playing nearly as well as I did after my grade 8 all those years ago, which is a bit of a miracle (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Yes, It seems to be a miracle!
Actually I feel like I found the missing piece of the puzzle and as I found it, it just clicked. Good to hear, you improved so much. What a great requisite for tonight.

First practice in nearly a week tonight. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

More mindful than usual, so double (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

But embouchure completely shot by 1hr 20mns (despite short breaks for marking up music). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Great to hear you made it back to practice! And it seems like mindful practicing doubles it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[corenfa]

...

Have you got an recorder to record yourself? I find it a good thing to temporary record myself. Maybe one day I will be brave enough to take the first record of a piece directly when starting to work on it. It could be a great documentation of improvement.

I have a digital piano which can record, and yes I do record myself regularly - there are two scenarios. The first is, I've got a piece mostly prepared, and I want to hear how I'd "perform" it - so I play it through and record it, and try to get it all in one "take". The second scenario is that I just can't seem to get something right, so I record it and see if I can hear what is going wrong.

I am going slightly out of my mind from staring at numbers all week / all day, but I had to get some piano playing in or I would go more out of my mind. It was productive anyway, here are my findings:

- mental practising without the piano REALLY REALLY works. I know this has been mentioned a lot of times, so I'm mentioning it again. I've been trying to memorise something so I've taken to bringing the score to work and reading it on the Tube in. Although I hadn't played for two days, I was able to get some bits memorised that I hadn't previously been able to.

- playing from memory at the moment is taking a lot of mental energy, and so the technical bit is going all over the place. I know from past experience that this will change once I have committed the piece to memory, so I'm not panicking about it. I might play it through a few times from memory and from music, the former to "set" it in memory and the latter to "set" it technically. There are people who would probably tell me I ought not to be trying both at the same time, and they're probably right.

- I am learning a 20th century piece which is just diatonically harmonic enough to throw me off. With some really modern stuff the whole concept of keys or tonality goes out the window, this is one of those evil things where it is bits of classical sounding stuff thrown together (it does make sense musically I think), and I keep going wrong because it doesn't resolve the way I think "it ought to". However, I also know that this is one of the defining characteristics of why this piece is interesting to listen to.

Congratulations if you read this far (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[katica]

corenfa, I am in the club of trying to memorise and work on technical issues at the same time because needs must.

Memorising is going very, very badly. Technical issues also unresolved. Maybe I should give up on memorising although I think it would help so I can feel more at ease with the piece I am studying and be able to concentrate more on musicality. But no time - has to be ready by Saturday.

I agree mental practising is useful but results of some hours of this on the plane over to the UK weren't showing in tonight's practice session. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Probably too mindless. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Desperately needing a "schraeubchen experience" of the puzzle clicking into place.

[corenfa]

corenfa, I am in the club of trying to memorise and work on technical issues at the same time because needs must.

Memorising is going very, very badly. Technical issues also unresolved. Maybe I should give up on memorising although I think it would help so I can feel more at ease with the piece I am studying and be able to concentrate more on musicality. But no time - has to be ready by Saturday.

I agree mental practising is useful but results of some hours of this on the plane over to the UK weren't showing in tonight's practice session. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Probably too mindless. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Desperately needing a "schraeubchen experience" of the puzzle clicking into place.

Hang in there - I'm a great believer in it all adding up. You may be in one of those periods where the practising isn't showing up immediately but may result in a Great Leap Forward in the near future. That's been my experience quite a few times.

All the best for Saturday!

[katica]

corenfa, I am in the club of trying to memorise and work on technical issues at the same time because needs must.

Memorising is going very, very badly. Technical issues also unresolved. Maybe I should give up on memorising although I think it would help so I can feel more at ease with the piece I am studying and be able to concentrate more on musicality. But no time - has to be ready by Saturday.

I agree mental practising is useful but results of some hours of this on the plane over to the UK weren't showing in tonight's practice session. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Probably too mindless. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Desperately needing a "schraeubchen experience" of the puzzle clicking into place.

Hang in there - I'm a great believer in it all adding up. You may be in one of those periods where the practising isn't showing up immediately but may result in a Great Leap Forward in the near future. That's been my experience quite a few times.

All the best for Saturday!

A Great Leap Forward by Saturday is what I need!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

(Sorry you won't be there)