How to Practise Better Options

[jod]

It is cooler today, but with a boil up to thunderstorms I had very foggy brain that post storms is now clearer.

Talk about the pooh-like "Bear with little brain and long words hurt me", I felt like "woman with very foggy brain and complicated textures in music hurt me"

...still I managed somehow.

Today it really was a case of fibro-fog sucks but is an occupational hazard.

[schraeubchen]

It is cooler today, but with a boil up to thunderstorms I had very foggy brain that post storms is now clearer.

Talk about the pooh-like "Bear with little brain and long words hurt me", I felt like "woman with very foggy brain and complicated textures in music hurt me"

...still I managed somehow.

Today it really was a case of fibro-fog sucks but is an occupational hazard.

Hope you will feel better soon.

Yesterday I practiced for about two hours. In the beginning my tone was still a bit to harsh but I just went on and in the end I found it was a lot smoother but still pretty strong. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I will think about this. Seems that it takes it's time after a long day in the office to switch to music. It's meant in a physical way. So there must be a solution for this.

[corenfa]

jojo, that was a really interesting analysis of how watching a violin player might be more helpful than watching a pianist or a horn player - especially with horn playing, sometimes the things that work are not as easily seen.

...Seems that it takes it's time after a long day in the office to switch to music. It's meant in a physical way. So there must be a solution for this.

For me, what helps is to just sit down and dive straight into it, as a matter of routine - come home - feed cat - eat dinner - sit down at piano. But that's just what works for me, good luck with finding your own thing.

Tonight I think I had the equivalent of a stern talking-to from myself. There is this bit of the C# major prelude in Well-Tempered Clavier book 1 that I keep messing up. Why do I keep messing up at that part? Because I have never bothered to think about what is actually going wrong. I know I know, I just posted that about some other piece. Yes well, I told myself: You are not stupid. You can play far harder things than this, what do you mean you can't play that, go and fix it NOW. There is no more excuse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

I think scared myself into learning it right (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) I can play it now.

Most of my problems have to do with misjudging distance. This happens in two ways. The first is that I think that an interval is physically closer than it should be, and undershoot with either the wrong finger, or the right finger on a note closer than the right note. The second is that I think the distance is greater than it should be, and overshoot with the whole arm.

Playing chromatic scales with only the 3/4/5 of the left hand is working. The muscles feel tired but in a good way. I will be away next week without access to a piano so I am hoping that the week's rest will precede a noticeable improvement the next week - that's what often happens for me.

[schraeubchen]

For me, what helps is to just sit down and dive straight into it, as a matter of routine - come home - feed cat - eat dinner - sit down at piano. But that's just what works for me, good luck with finding your own thing.

Thank you for your thoughts. Actually I am trying to use som Qi Gong to get into the best physical status for practicing. It seems to work like that and beside it might be good for my back anyway.

Tonight I think I had the equivalent of a stern talking-to from myself. There is this bit of the C# major prelude in Well-Tempered Clavier book 1 that I keep messing up. Why do I keep messing up at that part? Because I have never bothered to think about what is actually going wrong. I know I know, I just posted that about some other piece. Yes well, I told myself: You are not stupid. You can play far harder things than this, what do you mean you can't play that, go and fix it NOW. There is no more excuse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

I think scared myself into learning it right (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) I can play it now.

Most of my problems have to do with misjudging distance. This happens in two ways. The first is that I think that an interval is physically closer than it should be, and undershoot with either the wrong finger, or the right finger on a note closer than the right note. The second is that I think the distance is greater than it should be, and overshoot with the whole arm.

Playing chromatic scales with only the 3/4/5 of the left hand is working. The muscles feel tired but in a good way. I will be away next week without access to a piano so I am hoping that the week's rest will precede a noticeable improvement the next week - that's what often happens for me.

I don't know if it might help on the piano, but I was told, to look at my fingers what they have to do, in situations like you describe, and then play it slowly with special regard on what my fingers feel like while playing.

[corenfa]

...

I don't know if it might help on the piano, but I was told, to look at my fingers what they have to do, in situations like you describe, and then play it slowly with special regard on what my fingers feel like while playing.

It does indeed - thanks for the timely reminder. I've been trying to do that with the left hand in particular.

Aside from that, I sound terrible today (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Just really uncoordinated. Had to play Bach prelude in C# 8 times through at a much slower speed than usual before the hands would play together. Well, nobody ever said I was entitled to have 100% brilliant practising days... all we can hope for is that our off days still sound "good" on an absolute scale. That's what I'm aiming for anyway.

[schraeubchen]

...

I don't know if it might help on the piano, but I was told, to look at my fingers what they have to do, in situations like you describe, and then play it slowly with special regard on what my fingers feel like while playing.

It does indeed - thanks for the timely reminder. I've been trying to do that with the left hand in particular.

Aside from that, I sound terrible today (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Just really uncoordinated. Had to play Bach prelude in C# 8 times through at a much slower speed than usual before the hands would play together. Well, nobody ever said I was entitled to have 100% brilliant practising days... all we can hope for is that our off days still sound "good" on an absolute scale. That's what I'm aiming for anyway.

Thank you for the feedback, I mentioned it, because I found it a good way to get difficult parts going.

And YES! There are off days in practicing. Maybe they are designed to let us think about our practicing and to look especially on the difficult bits to find out a few days later, that this bits improved a lot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[corenfa]

...
And YES! There are off days in practicing. Maybe they are designed to let us think about our practicing and to look especially on the difficult bits to find out a few days later, that this bits improved a lot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I've gone from "off days" to "days off" - am currently in your lovely country visiting friends (but I don't know any German though, only musical terms that I learnt from playing Mahler.. so I only know two words, "schnell" and "langsam") No piano for a week. I miss my piano, but it's lovely to see my friends. I am hoping that when I go back, some of the things I was working on in the last two weeks will have "clicked" in my head.

[katica]

And YES! There are off days in practicing.

And these can unfortunately turn into off weeks. I seem to have had several in a row. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[schraeubchen]

...
And YES! There are off days in practicing. Maybe they are designed to let us think about our practicing and to look especially on the difficult bits to find out a few days later, that this bits improved a lot. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I've gone from "off days" to "days off" - am currently in your lovely country visiting friends (but I don't know any German though, only musical terms that I learnt from playing Mahler.. so I only know two words, "schnell" and "langsam") No piano for a week. I miss my piano, but it's lovely to see my friends. I am hoping that when I go back, some of the things I was working on in the last two weeks will have "clicked" in my head.

Nice, you like my country. I do! Have a good time over here. And normaly it shouldn't be a problem to not speak german. Maybe the days off will help to improve. We all know it goes like this sometimes.

And YES! There are off days in practicing.

And these can unfortunately turn into off weeks. I seem to have had several in a row. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

So sorry to read this. Hope it will turn as soon as possible. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grouphug.gif)

[corenfa]

...
Nice, you like my country. I do! Have a good time over here. And normaly it shouldn't be a problem to not speak german. Maybe the days off will help to improve. We all know it goes like this sometimes.

Thank you. Being here around my musical friends has had the effect of reminding me how much I missed music in my seven years off. These are people whom I go back very far with - both personally and musically. This many years on, we still have the same discussions about music and we are making plans to play together again, though with one of us in Germany and one in London I do not know how this shall be achieved yet! Someone is trying to convince me to take up horn again and make my username meaningful again.

I don't think I can do that, I am a one-instrument musician and I just don't have the concentration needed to improve in two instruments at once. I greatly admire those of you here who can and do.

[Rosie91]

I think I had a pretty good day today in terms of mindful practising on the violin. Supposedly, I practised Bach, Brahms and Wieniawski, but anyone listening could be forgiven for thinking I'd worked diligently at the opening of 'Three Blind Mice' all evening. The same problems keep surfacing: in descending passages, I don't lift the fingers rhythmically, and/or I don't have the next finger on the string in advance and so can't play legato. Hence I have spent most of the evening playing 'mi re do' very slowly and with great concentration in several keys. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[schraeubchen]

...
Nice, you like my country. I do! Have a good time over here. And normaly it shouldn't be a problem to not speak german. Maybe the days off will help to improve. We all know it goes like this sometimes.

Thank you. Being here around my musical friends has had the effect of reminding me how much I missed music in my seven years off. These are people whom I go back very far with - both personally and musically. This many years on, we still have the same discussions about music and we are making plans to play together again, though with one of us in Germany and one in London I do not know how this shall be achieved yet! Someone is trying to convince me to take up horn again and make my username meaningful again.

I don't think I can do that, I am a one-instrument musician and I just don't have the concentration needed to improve in two instruments at once. I greatly admire those of you here who can and do.

What a great idea to make music together again. If you really want it, you will find a way to do so. Flights are much less expensive these times. And I do understand the "one-instrument musician" you talk about. Looking back it seemed no problem for me to play two or three instruments parralell, but today I am pretty sure it wouldn't work. My main excuse for that is: "I don't have the time for propper practice on more than one instrument!" My former piano teacher seems to want me pick up the piano again, but until now I defend it.

I think I had a pretty good day today in terms of mindful practising on the violin. Supposedly, I practised Bach, Brahms and Wieniawski, but anyone listening could be forgiven for thinking I'd worked diligently at the opening of 'Three Blind Mice' all evening. The same problems keep surfacing: in descending passages, I don't lift the fingers rhythmically, and/or I don't have the next finger on the string in advance and so can't play legato. Hence I have spent most of the evening playing 'mi re do' very slowly and with great concentration in several keys. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I try to defend thinking about what others might think about my practicing, if they listen to it, but not very effective.
To me it sounds like a great idea what you described.

[corenfa]

...
I try to defend thinking about what others might think about my practicing, if they listen to it, but not very effective.
To me it sounds like a great idea what you described.

Yes - when I practise, it often sounds terrible. But it's supposed to! I used to be very shy about people listening to me practise. I've got over it now, but I do also have a digital piano with headphones so I can bang away at repetitive things without "performance anxiety".

[corenfa]

I thought about something to do with practising even though I haven't been practising, because I am sitting here listening to my friend (who is a professional musician) get his morning practising in.

It should have been blindingly obvious, but wasn't - even he doesn't sound perfect! He sounds very good most of the time but when he is working on problem spots, it's all over the place, which of course it would be because if it sounded perfect he wouldn't need to be practising it.

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.

[schraeubchen]

I thought about something to do with practising even though I haven't been practising, because I am sitting here listening to my friend (who is a professional musician) get his morning practising in.

It should have been blindingly obvious, but wasn't - even he doesn't sound perfect! He sounds very good most of the time but when he is working on problem spots, it's all over the place, which of course it would be because if it sounded perfect he wouldn't need to be practising it.

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.

GREAT!!!!
Maybe one time you will get to the point, thinking "Nobody should judge how my practicing sounds, it's practicing not a concert!" And even in a concert there are mostly only a few people who have the knowledge that would allow them to judge.

I was practicing overtones yesterday to enrich my tone (must have sounded terrible though). When I went on to practice my pieces, I found out, my tone had grown massive. Today I thought about the reason for this all the while and found out, that it's logical. Getting a feeling for the overtones of a tone must enrich it, because it leads to involving them more. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) And that leads to a bigger tone.