Hi everyone

I'm new here and need some advice.

About 5 years ago I did grade 8 about 5 times and couldn't pass it because I never practiced. I ended up getting fed up and didn't go near a piano til February when I called my old teacher and started learning again. This time I have practiced and i'm very proud of myself.

However, when I play my grade 8 pieces I can never get them perfect. A few bits always tend to go wrong and the annoying thing is that it's different bits all the time - if it was the same bits all the time I would be able to work on them.

It's so frustrating.

Does anybody have this problem, or has anybody overcome it?

Thanks, Anna x

Join the club.
I also tend to make mistakes in different places each time I play something.
At least we are not predictable.

Are you able to quickly recover after a mistake or do you let it affect what comes next?
It could be a concentration problem, I know that's what my teachers have put it down to.
It may also be a confidence thing.

Has your teacher any suggestions?

Hi,
Welcome to the forums
It's incredibly hard to get a piece perfect the whole way through. Still, as my teacher says, practise makes perfect

If I'm "performing"- whether it's in a concert, for an exam, or even just mock concert - I do extra practice on these pieces. What I mean by this is that I would play through at half a speed, very accurately, with very critical ear. I believe that this teaches the fingers where to go - how much to stretch, jump, fingering... etc etc. And when I perform, I trust myself! If I have done enough slow practice, my fingers would do it! and I can just SING in my head!

Someone said to me several years ago : Amateurs practise until they get it right; Professionals practise until they can't go wrong!

I don't think I am answering your question but this is what I do...

I'm afraid if it's different bits that go wrong each time, that means you need to practise all of it.... As the above quote says you need to practise until you can't get it wrong; not just until you get it correct. Try starting from the beginning of the piece and playing it through, every time you make a mistake you must play from a bar before the mistake (not just from where it happened) to a bar after it five times correctly in a row before you can move on. If you do it wrongly you start counting at 1 again. Be careful not to let yourself off some mistakes because it only happened that time: go back for every mistake: after all if it was only that time you'll easily be able to play it correctly five times anyway .

Then do the same thing starting from the end of the piece (don't literally play it backwards but play the last line and check for mistakes etc.). It will also help to do this with a metronome so that you're not slowing down for the hard bits. Start playing it at a speed you can play it reasonably consistently (even if that's awfully slowly) and then you can identify the trouble sections and work on those . Hope that's of some help, if you analyse the bits that go wrong you'll probably find that it's not quite as random as you first thought, which will give you a basis from which to work .

I think AP I right here; there is no alternative to again - again - again - again. I was in a similar state before my own Grade 8, having come back to the piano after a long time away, and I found consistency a problem. I didn't really focus on little bits, because, like you, the little bits were always different bits; I just told myself I wasn't getting up from each practice session till I'd played the pieces through at least three time each without any blunders! I do think that with Grade 8, and more especially, diplomas, stamina in concentration is a very big factor, and musicians just have to build that up.

Hi Anna,
I want to congratulate you!!! It is great that you took up grade 8 again!
I know exactly what you mean as the very same thing happened to me, I never practiced enough and nearly gave up.
Well my exam is towards the end of this month
Regarding your practicing, I too had some problems (and sometimes i still have some slips here and there in the pieces), however, the best thing to do is to take the music section by section - you have to divide it into small bits and study it very well.
This is the only advise I can give you.
It worked on me... at first it didn't seem to but the one fine day i just played the piece well!

Good luck

It is really good to ready this post as I am having the same problem. I am working on Grade 6, have all my pieces learned (at least I thought I did) but yet keep still making mistakes here and there ..... and I too was wondering on how I get that "perfection" on my pieces - the final polish seems to elude me too.

this has been really helpful!!

Good Luck on your Grade 8. someday i would love to be that good!

Elizabeth

Good advice, but make sure too that if you do split it into sections you also practise the bridges between those sections: otherwise you end up having the joins between sections as the weakest bit...

Hey Anna...

I had this problem too, in a way... I was never motivated enough to really go for the Gr8 exam, and with GCSEs looming at the time, I decided to leave it and concentrate on "branching out" to other things... After all, I'd done seven piano exams, and was ready for a change! Jazz piano, composition, improvising, sight-readingm even another instrument!!

If you really wanna go for the Gr8 now, then do it, and good luck! But I decided against it - after all, I'm still fairly young, and I can always go back to Gr8 later in life, should I want to! I probably should't ask you how old you are, so I won't, but if you're young-ish, you can always pick it up again many years later!

If you think about it, Gr7 is still an excellent level of playing - and something you should be proud of!




At the end of the day - it's down to you, ofc... But you probably ought to think about what you really want... If you wanna become a professional concert or session pianist then Gr8 is probably a very good thing to have... If, however, piano playing is simply a hobby for you, should you be pushing yourself to the extent where you no longer enjoy it? Or where it infringes upon something which is more career-orientated?

Like I say, it's your choice, but I'd advise you to think about it!!




Anyway - whatever you decide to do, good luck and enjoy it!!

I have heard this too...

But since hearing it, I have got to know many more professional musicians... And have realised that any decent professional has a large enough repertoire and enough gigs and session work to not have the time to practise everything until it "doesn't go wrong"!! The real art of being a professional muso is knowing the balance between practising and covering up the fact that you haven't practised!!

I'd agree with that as far as accompanying is concerned - and playing in church, for another example. However it's not quite the same when practising for exam purposes. Those damned examiners have a tendency to listen very closely!

That is very true...

But most professionals play to the public, not examiners with-a-copy-of-the-score!

Not sure I agree with some the other posters, but I am sure its a 'concentration' thing. I often find my mind wandering a bit when playing something very familiar, then mistakes start to happen , at any point in the piece. I am not so sure that practising a piece excessively is the answer.