I am working on some contemporary pieces which have two passages of demi-semi quavers in them with awkward fingerings.

I have taken the passages apart, played them adding one note at a time from the beginning to the end and from the end to the beginning. I have played them with different rhythms, with different articulations and I think I can safely say that my fingers now know what they are supposed to be doing.

BUT

when I play the whole piece I can feel myself tensing up as I approach these passages and somehow, even though there is a crescendo marked and I know I should be increasing the volume of air, every time I find myself withholding air with the result that not only is there no crescendo but that very often the last few notes don't come out. Sometimes it is even worse and my fingers tense up so much they can't move fast enough either.

How do I convince myself that I CAN play these passages and let myself breathe freely?

(Perhaps I should add that I am quite stressed about the pieces as I have only spent two lessons on them and am supposed to be playing them in a Masterclass in just under two weeks time and that it is currently half-term which in France means two weeks without lessons).

I'd be inclined to do more of the end-to-the-beginning stuff. Of the ways I know to get past a horrible bit, that's the one which most readily gets me past such gremlins. Don't worry about not having lessons in the meantime, because the practice work won't need your teacher - I tend to start each practice session on horrible bits fairly slowly, and build up the speed steadily. Sometimes it's the sequence of notes itself which needs the work, sometimes the tone of notes during a tricky bit. I also do "patch-practice", where I grab my recorder for an odd five minutes during the day just to do a horrible bit, then leave it as soon as it is fluent at whatever pace I've got to, maybe two or three times in the same day. I realise that picking up an oboe for an odd five minutes isn't so easy to do, because of having to get a reed going, but maybe if you know you will shortly have five minutes you could do whatever needs doing first whilst sucking the reed?

You should take it really slowly - back to the drawing board and steadily work up the tempo. I had a flute lesson ( I know completely different) on wednesday in preperation for an audition I had today and she told me to just go back to the drawing board because I had played it at tempo with some wrong notes in and I needed to just take it back down and forget what I had previously taught myself and today I played the piece perfectly, back up to tempo, but this time correctly all in three days so think what you can do with 2 weeks!

Is it worth making yourself play said passages a few times insanely loudly? So you get used to playing them loudly? Maybe then the crescendo won't seem such a big deal.

Much empathy though, I know what you mean about knowing you KNOW a section but it still not working in situ because of a mental block... sounds like 99% of my piano lessons

Slowing down the tempo totally works for me. Everytime I practice games I play it slowly first and then play it up to tempo and its almost perfect everytime! I know it's tedious but it works!

I always make sure my students have "refresh" points through out a piece. If they have made a mistake earlier in the piece, this is the point where they "reset" their mind & continue the piece in a fresh frame of mind. They are usually in obvious places - cadences, rests, etc, and most definitely placed after sections where there are psychological blocks.

I know this doesn't help with the execution of the passage you are working on, but lots of good advice has been given so far & perhaps this will help in addition.

Good luck with it

The thing is I haven't actually got 2 weeks worth of practise. I usually only work two days a week but these next two weeks I am working 3 and also all day before the Masterclass (leaving home at 6.30 am and getting back at about 9.30 pm) so won't even be able to have a quick run through the day before. Also my kids and partner are at home on holiday which marks it harder to play the same few bars over and over and over again (someone usually comes in and says "can't you play something else?")


The crescendo ought to be easy (and make things easier technically) because it is an upwards run. However, I might try just playing everything ff as my teacher's main criticism was that I was playing everything too apologetically and that nothing was really loud enough.




I think I need my refresh point first

*nods* ahh I see - same on the flute, it's easier to crescendo up! I have the same prob (on piano) of playing things too quietly... it might be worth a try

This may not be any help at all in the piece you're playing (depends on style and just how long the tricky passages are), but something I do is to practice the piece without the tricky bits, e.g. with a passage of semiquavers it may be obvious which is the important note in each group and which are the "ornaments", or failing that take the first in each group of 4. Play the piece substituting just that note for the tricky group, keep the dynamics as they should be, pulse etc. This helps to reinforce the overall feeling and makes sure that you're playing through the tricky section and getting out the other side. When you put the rest of the notes in somehow it seems easier to place them with the flow of the music remaining intact.

I think this is the most useful advice of all!

Funnily enough this topic was exactly what my lesson covered tonight! What my teacher tends to do is get me to play the difficult bit slowly then up to speed. Then you add on a bit of the phrase before it, then a bit more, and a bit more until you build up the whole phrase and it makes sense as you learn how to flow into it. I have used this technique in a piece at the moment and still find it hard but it made it a lot easier. I have ended up using an alternate fingering now (this difficult bit involves trills on semiquavers on a downward run). Working backwards to build up the phrase really shows you where it's going and also when you play it over and over when building up each section it also helps with practising that actually phrase to be sure of it. You want to be confident in the approaching phrase rather than anticipating as you have said you are, which is exactly what I do!