Eliminating Errors Options

[Jennyanydots]

By the way, notice how I always get to a discussion when it's over (either 'Oh thanks everyone' or 'That settles it...' or something). Drats.

Sorry - I didn't mean to close it off. I just wanted to thank people who had already replied for all the helpful and encouraging comments.

1. Your expectations of how the piece should sound after all the work have increased quicker than your technical ability to catch up - ie you now realise even more than before what isn't quite right.

Definitely true.

2. You haven't really allowed yourself time for the work to fully settle in, if that makes sense. After a prolonged period of very intense practice it does take a while for it to fully sink in and become completely effective. Sometimes the mere fact that the practice is so intense will be stressing you so you are tense when you try to play it so that anything that is not absolutely 100% will stumble. You are so concerned about not making errors that the playing becomes about that rather than the making of music.

This might also be true.

Is this piece for an upcoming performance - if not it might be worth taking a complete break from it for a few days.

No!! - At the moment I can't perform anything properly in front of anyone. (It took several months before I was able to practise effectively with our cleaner in the house.) But longer term I want to change that. There are several people in my village who play various instruments - clarinet, oboe etc. and I would love to be able to accompany them. One of them is even converting her barn into a small concert hall. They always seem to be looking for pianists but I've had to refuse for the short-term. Realistically, it is probably at least two years away. So that's why I was trying to eliminate all possible errors. If I just made the errors I make when I play things on my own it would be fine, but the additional stress of playing in front of or with someone else means they increase at least 10-fold. It's a long-term project and it will also need a massive improvement in my sight-reading so I'm working on this too.

My first step will be to be able to play something to friends who come to stay - but not yet. As Robodoc and Composing Head have said, I'll need to get a lot better at playing through any mistakes and not allowing them to affect the rhythm or interpretation. Based on Mad Tom's comments, I will resurrect some very easy pieces which I think people will like, and I might risk some Bach.

I've concluded that this piece is not going to be candidate for playing to anyone for a long time. I'm not going to work on it intensively again - I'll just enjoy playing it privately, try out the technique Undividedself suggested and occasionally work on the odd error that crops up.

[music margaret]

Hi!

I am a teacher with a student who sounds very similar to you! He gets very frustrated with himself every lesson as his performance of the piece he has spent a great deal of time learning never goes as well as he would like it to in lessons. However, as I frequently tell him, a good teacher can see through these nerves (eg the movement of his hands indicating the right fingering has been learnt even if his fingers then fall on the wrong notes). We focus on the same pieces for longer than I might with another student and there is steady progress every week. I have suggested to him to record himself in the safe environment of home, although I suspect that the tape recorder may well have the same effect of having a different person in the room. I encourage him to very carefully learn all his pieces, in small sections, hands seperate and to take time before he pulls it together. It is a slow process, but he is definately gaining in confidence and, after two years, I'm starting to hear pieces more how he plays at home. I also ensure he has sight reading practise every week (he's not taking exams) as this is helping him gain confidence with new materials.

[Jennyanydots]

I have suggested to him to record himself in the safe environment of home, although I suspect that the tape recorder may well have the same effect of having a different person in the room.

I do sometimes record pieces, but only once they are have got beyond the 'learning in lessons' stage. It's not as bad as having someone in the room and for me is quite good for identifying potential mistakes in a similar way to speeding it up beyond normal playing speed. Apart from actual mistakes, usually the things I notice that I don't like when playing it for a recording don't sound as bad as I expected, but I always pick up a whole load of other things that I had not noticed before - especially in difficult, fast sections where I just don't have enough mental bandwidth to listen properly. I don't think it necessarily builds confidence as it shows me exactly how far away I am in reality from my mental image of how I want it to sound. But it certainly provides a focus for more work!

It's encouraging to hear that your student is now managing to play pieces in lessons almost as well as he does at home. Maybe I'll manage that eventually!

[lostchord]

Instead of ramping up the speed why not slow it down and make sure you can play all of the piece perfectly at a slow speed especially the difficult bits. Once these are no longer difficult gradually increase the speed but also play slowly again to make sure the fingering, note recognition is really embedded. Speed is the last thing to add into a piece.

[Mad Tom]

Instead of ramping up the speed why not slow it down and make sure you can play all of the piece perfectly at a slow speed especially the difficult bits. Once these are no longer difficult gradually increase the speed but also play slowly again to make sure the fingering, note recognition is really embedded. Speed is the last thing to add into a piece.

SLow practice is the advice of the great majority of respected teachers and instruction books: Practice slowly and you will be able to play quickly.

There are exceptions - Alfred Brendel claimed only to ever practice at the proper speed for performance - but I expect he did a lot of slow practice back when he was a relative beginner, and was developing the technique and the quick musical understanding that allowed him, as a mature concert artist, to do all his practice at higher speeds.

The basic idea of practicing slowly is perfectly sound and consistent with what we know about learning and developing skills, but there is one important proviso. Your slow practice of something that will eventually be played Allegro or Presto will be somewhat different from the practice you do for an Adagio, Largo, or Lento, because the technique of fast play is different from that for slow play (Just as you run differently when sprinting 100m than when pacing yourself over 10 miles). Just one example. Scale passages that will eventually be played presto can often be practiced with a crisp staccato rather than the lingering legato you would use in an Adagio. Then, when you take the passage at speed, the notes merge into a legato because of the sheer speed with which they are taken, but the earlier staccato work retains the clarity of the individual notes.

On the matter of ramping-up or gradually increasing speed I have always thought it to be counter-productive. I believe it is more effective to work on the difficulties in a piece or passage as slowly as is necessary to solve the problems, get the soluition "into the fingers" at a comfortable pace, then jump immediately to the highest speed you can manage without losing control. Intermediate speeds contribute very little, and are pretty much a waste of time. But straining to go any faster just introduces mistakes and bad habits. Over time (days, weeks, months, maybe years), as you come to know a piece better, and continue to improve through other work (scales, etudes, technical exercises, other repertoire, general musicianship) you will find that you are able to take things faster and faster without loss of control. But the greater speed is a natural consequence of your greater skill and understanding - not something that you struggle to increase during the course of a single practice session..

[Mad Tom]

3. Study performance psychology. Identify the particular causes of your own nervousness, tension, and mental seizures, and devise a plan to overcome them

Do you have any specific suggestions on what to read?

The book below is magnificent. I have recommended it two or three times before on this forum, and I have still not seen anything else that comes remotely close:

Mastering the Art of Performance, by Stewart Gordon.

But it is far more wide-ranging in scope than you'd expect from the titel.

[davidmackay]

Mastering the Art of Performance, by Stewart Gordon.

But it is far more wide-ranging in scope than you'd expect from the titel.

I've just had a look on amazon and read the first few pages of the introduction. Now added to my 'list of books to read'. Even as a grade 1'er I'm sure there'll be lots in here for me.

[Solari]

I might give this a go too, it frustrates me immensely when I make silly errors that I know I shouldn't!

[Jennyanydots]

The book below is magnificent. I have recommended it two or three times before on this forum, and I have still not seen anything else that comes remotely close:

Mastering the Art of Performance, by Stewart Gordon.

But it is far more wide-ranging in scope than you'd expect from the titel.

Many thanks, Mad Tom, for the recommendation. This sounds exactly what I need.

I'll also try some slow practice of the problem areas for a while.

[Mad Tom]

I was thinking some more about this, and it occurred to me that we are often guilty of chasing perfection (which we will never achieve) when what we should be doing is creating beauty.

A thing does not have to be perfect to be beautiful. Conversely something may be perfect, yet leave you cold.

When something is beautiful, if only in part, we can forgive many imperfections.

[Jennyanydots]

I was thinking some more about this, and it occurred to me that we are often guilty of chasing perfection (which we will never achieve) when what we should be doing is creating beauty.

A thing does not have to be perfect to be beautiful. Conversely something may be perfect, yet leave you cold.

When something is beautiful, if only in part, we can forgive many imperfections.

You are right. It's something I had lost sight of.

You expressed it so beautifully that I've printed it out and put it on top of the piano.