Hello
I have been playing for almost a couple of years now and didn't even know where middle c was when I started. I am taking grade 3 practical next month and grade 4 theory next Wednesday so am quite happy with things.
However , I am finding that I have reached a point where I can play a number of pieces but never seem to get past the difficult parts and so never end up with completed pieces to play.
It's like all my practising is improving the speed and quality of what I am currently doing but I'm not moving on to the next level that just takes me a bit further.
I suppose everyone will say be patient and just keep practising....and I know that's the answer.....
Just wondered if anyone else sort of reached a plateau and how long it lasted..
I think it may be my own auto-control system stopping me from getting ahead of myself...
What do you think...

That's how I feel too about my own playing. I am having my Grade 6 Organ exam next week. I have been working really hard trying to polish my pieces for the past few weeks, but my performance doesn't seem to get any better. I would fix one thing, but then a new problem would arise or an old problem would come back to haunt me. It's so frustrating!

Join the club...

I suggest piano students (and teachers, even) take a look at a very comprehensive free on-line 325-page PDF book on piano practice written by Chuan C. Chang. He proposes a number of clear practical methods which are well worth a look at IMO. I suggest you might try them out on one new piece only, and see how you get on. Even if you don't take on the whole package deal he proposes, you might well find something useful in there.

To get it, access the top-level of his site via this link, then click the "FREE DOWNLOADS" link, then click either the "in one file (HTML format)" or "as a PDF file" links half-way down the page. Chapter 1, "Technique", starting p35, is the most useful and interesting part.

Note, there are some ideas in there which may be of use to other instrumentalists, even though the physical requirements are very different in, say, the case of strings.

If you do try this, please do let us know how you get on, either way.

Thank you for posting this - I'll have a look through it as soon as I have time .

Mike, I know exacty what you mean about getting so far and no further.

One suggestion for working on pieces where you've ground to a halt at the difficult bit - practise backwards from the end of the work.

Either bar by bar (which some folks suggest) or phrase by phrase (which is what I do, particularly with singing, but piano too) work from the last one to the end of the piece, then the penultimate one to the end of the piece, then the antepenultimate one and so on.

That way, you know that there is something you've practised securely after the tricky bit, and it may even give you an insight into how the tricky bit fits into the whole. And it's really comforting to come out of a difficult patch of a work knowing that it's all sorted from there onwards

Good luck

Katyjay

It is easy to hit a plateau, but with this particular issue, have you ever concentrated soley on the parts of a piece that were giving problems? After all, it's the bits you can't play that need the practice. You don't have to practice the whole piece every time you practice, if you can play most of it but there are a few difficult sections, then you need to work on those bits till you crack them obviously there are also issues like your fingers may just not be nimble enough yet, or you may have to work out what practice techniques are useful for dealing with those problems, it may even be something as simple as adjusting fingering slightly to something that suits your hands: and sometimes some bits are just too hard for us right now and so we have to leave them and go back when our technical skills have improved. But I would recommend spot practising bits that you struggle with, as otherwise if you are playing/practising the whole piece everytime you are really wasting effort on polishing the good bits while you may still be struggling with hard bits!

Check out www.practisespot.com too

I know this is what u expected to hear, but whenever i came up to a peice of music which i couldnt play, i just practiced and practiced, finding out the best fingers, what felt comfortable and tat.
It does help if your completely determined to play the song.

Thanks for all the replies...I have a terrible habit of being very methodical in playing music....I can only practise a piece in the order it's written..(I do break it up and practise end bits etc..)..I sometimes can play the first half a piece really well when the other half hasn't even had any attention...I guess this is probably not the best way to practise either.
BFN Mike

The guy who wrote The Practice Revolution calls that "polishing shiny objects", I think! Not the most effective practice methods.

I think you need to just make yourself do whatever works efficiently, learn the practice the right way and you will get SO much more done.

I always find it spooky how often, when I come on these forums, someone talks about what I am currently having problems with!

At the moment I am trying very hard to learn 'Texas Boogie' as arranged by Dr John. I really love boogie and so I am trying to really learn it. However, I have gotten so far and then I hit a sticking point. It is nowhere near performance standard as some parts of it I can only play really slowly. It just seems like I am not getting any further with it.

If Jools Holland reads these forums, please notify him of my concerns!

Shelton (frustrated boogie-woogie cat)

that book that Chang has written on .PDF is brilliant!!