Hi everyone

I'm in need of support!.

My practise..and more importantly my will and desire to practise has gone to pot.

It all started with a combination of my teacher going away for the summer and no lesson for a couple of months, and starting a new job.

I used to do my practise before work in the morning for an hour, and then a couple of hours saturday and sunday. Now, my routine has had to change as I now leave an hour earlier for work, and since I've started the new job, it's been soooo busy I've not been able to practise in the evening. But the main issue is that I have no desire to practise...I have just forced myself to do half an hour, played through my pieces, struggled a bit, and just gave up. I need to get my mojo back!

It hasn't helped with my teacher not teaching over summer...but my next lesson is looming, and he wants to hear all my pieces (for grade 8 piano) in the next lesson, and I'm unbelievable behind where I wanted to be and I fear disappointment not only from me but from him too.

Do other folk have these low periods? How do I snap myslef out of this and quickly!!?

Please help!

Zoe

Hi

I think everyone gets these low periods from time to time, and especially when there is something else going on in their life that takes up a lot of their time and energy - you can't do it all at once!

The usual advice is to take out some of your old pieces that you love to play, something nice and easy and fun to play (not something that you will have forgotten how to play that will just depress you - I've tried that and it just makes things worse) - so some of the books of easy and fun stuff that is easy enough to sight read through but will lift your spirits - I like "its easy to play Gilbert and Sullivan" for example, but whatever is your sort of thing - not old exam pieces - and just have a play through - remember what is fun about playing the piano!

If you can, have a go at playing some fun stuff through with a friend who plays another instrument or sings, again, just for fun, another way to put some of the "fun" back into playing and get you to remember why you were learning the piano in the first place....

And then, after you've had some fun, maybe have a look at your pieces again. Maybe just the one you like the best or can play the best to start with. Don't depress yourself with the hardest one to start with. Work up to it when you're feeling a bit more motivated. You need to get your energy back. Like I said, it sounds like right now you are putting all your energy into your new job so it is inevitable that you won't have much left over for practice etc when you get home. So just have some fun, let your fingers keep supple, and as work becomes more familiar and take up less energy, you will get your piano mojo back!

Good luck!

Since I had not gone through the annual exam experience typical of someone preparing for Grade 8 last year, I didn't know how I'd fare studying the same three pieces for nearly a year, feeling guilty if ever I went to the piano and didn't practise those pieces.

Starting out was OK, getting to grips with the scales/arpeggios etc but after six months it was difficult to feel enthusiastic when I was going over the same material for the umpteenth time, knowing that I ought to improve, yet fearing that I was actually regressing!

This year, counting movements, I had 7 to keep me going, but for a whole year, and with the prospect of having to perform Liszt (with which I was having to overcome technical difficulties) there were several times when I didn't even go to the piano at all.

The impending exam soon snapped me out of it, knowing that I just had to get to a stage where I could perform my programme, but there were ups and downs along the way.

It never stopped me playing something at least, as Collyermum suggests, in my case Scott Joplin Rags.

I haven't played at all today, nor yesterday, cricket on the radio, crosswords and catching up on iplayer all seeming like a better prospect. So, rather than sit at the keyboard lacking motivation, I shall wait until I feel like it, knowing that that day will come when I want nothing to do other than to play/practise the pieces I'm currently working on.

If your teacher is worth his/her salt, they'll recognise the symptoms and help you get back on track.

Good luck with your preparations.

Hi Zoe,

Sorry to hear your mojo's missing. Mine went walkabout over Christmas/New Year. I got round it by doing what Collyermum suggested and just played stuff I like. As my teacher says, it's important "to play" as well as "to practice." What he means is don't lose sight of the pleasure of playing behind a mountain of practice and learning and scales and. . .

I bought a book of easy arrangement "classics you'll know from the adverts" (I'm very much a beginner) and had ago at a couple of favourite tunes and also revisited some of the stuff I'd worked on during the previous thress to six months. That was very motivating as I could remember how I'd struggled with what had become easy pieces to play.

I think also that you should be kind to yourself. Don't give yourself a hard time. I'm sure even Alfred Brendel has days when he wants to lock the piano lid. I've found it's easier to cheer up if you just think of it as like having a cold - you feel grotty today, but it will pass and you will get better.

I hope you perk up soon.

My piano mojo is a bit AWOL at the moment too and my violin mojo is totally there - unfortunately I need the piano mojo more as I too am preparing for grade 8 piano and am sick of it. My pieces are at the stage now where they are technically there and they need "tarting up". I am going to leave them all for a couple of months and learn some new, similar pieces and then come back to them.

One thing I found useful when I was totally fed up and totally unmotivated to practise was to print out a blank monthly calendar (A4 size with enough space for each day just to write a few things). Then I identified bars in each piece which needed serious work on them and wrote just 2 bars per piece per day on the calendar. The 3 weeks was enough to cover all the tricky bars in the pieces. I also wrote 5 scales per day.
Then I forced myself to do what was written on the calendar every day but nothing else to do with the exam. I did not play a single other bar in any of the pieces. I did not play the pieces through to check how they were doing. I stuck rigidly to my plan and after 3 weeks I played the pieces through and they were great! I was so happy.
This may help you - set yourself a tiny amount to be achieved each day and anything else you do should just be fun music that you enjoy because playing the same pieces all the time drives you crazy pretty quickly.

The other advice people have given is good too and you can see that we all feel like this from time to time.

You can also learn some other pieces in a similar style or by the same composer. I am doing the Piazolla for list C and I really like it but I could tell I was going to get sick of it quickly so I bought two books of arrangements of his music and I am having loads of fun learning new pieces but getting experience of the style of music too. Ditto for my Haydn for list B.

Sounds like a great approach. I think I will steal some of these ideas.

This has made me feel so much better...it's just the advice I needed. I do have the tendancy to have too high expectations of myself and beat myself up about stuff. So it's good to be reminded that I am only human and I can't tackle everything at once!

I don't really have any favourites I like to revisit, but what I do like is to get out loads of music books and sight read, so that's what I'm going to do!




This is definitely were I am at! My pieces are coming on, but I'm at the point where I can just about play them without it being too much of a disaster but I'm not really playing them if that makes any sense. And I've been at this point for some time so don't feel as though I'm moving forward. I seem to be going over the same bits that I struggle with and am at a brick wall. This is normally the point where I give up on a piece, but I'm committed to the exam now so I can't do that.




Love the idea of the piano greats having an off day. Makes me feel better already.




This is GREAT advice and something I'm going to adopt straigh away. I have the tendancy to give myself too much to do, so as apposed to concentrating on bars I look at pages. Setting really small targets I can see really working for me.

Thanks for all the advice, I'm looking forward to playing the piano later (I'm going to stop using the word pracitse)...even if it is just for 10 minutes. Small goals and fun...this is just what I need.

Z x

Life does get in the way at times doesn't it and we tend to have too high expectations of ourselves. Lots good of ideas from everyone, especially the "short doses of small bits" strategy. When you said " ... I have just forced myself to do half an hour, played through my pieces, struggled a bit, and just gave up" I thought, recipe for disaster! I know when I'm feeling unconcentrated and unmotivated and the pieces are still fragile, any attempt to play them through just knocks few more holes in them.

What helps me also is to decide to play just smallish sections very solidly and quite slowly, not putting in any subtle dynamics ... just relishing that lovely rich sound when you play really deep into the keys. Play a few bars just listening to the wonderful shifts in harmony or how a melody takes an unexpected course. I find slow and solid helps refocus me onto the music, and not me playing the music; it calms my mind and suddenly I find an hour has gone by, just enjoying sounds.

Also .. you are not responsible for your teacher's feelings! His job is to help you from where you're at now and not to be judgemental. If you feel the expectation to play through all your pieces will damage your confidence further, tell him and discuss the strategies you've been trying. That can only bring respect. And I hope you'll feel 100% better after your lesson; I know I always leave mine with renewed hope and optimism.

One of the books I've got is written by an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, King Palmer, who seems to be against trying to practise when you've "lost your mojo"...

"There may be times when playing something will provide solace from grief or disappointment, or relief from anger or frustration, but attempts to practise under conditions of stress, or great tiredness, are not usually rewarding.

"Never practise so long that you lose interest in what you are doing, and never practise when you are physically or mentally tired. Practice is, or should be, a step towards the greater enjoyment of music, so make it a pleasure in itself."

I don't think you should beat yourself up over it... most of us have other demands on our time as well as music, whether it's work, family, friends, domestic chores etc. At any particular point in our lives, any one of these elements will probably take priority over the others. At the moment, for you, it's your new job, which is understandably the current focal point of your thoughts and energy. Eventually the wheel will turn, and it will once again be the turn of music to take priority in your life.



It's very difficult not to feel that you've let your teacher down as well as feeling as if you've let yourself down However, if you explain your circumstances, hopefully he will understand and suggest some strategies to tide you over this difficult period. Could you do some aural work in your lesson if you're under-prepared on your pieces? Something I once did when I hadn't been able to practise one week was take in a CD in and ask if we could analyse the music - it was a really profitable lesson, even though I didn't actually play anything.

I hope you're enjoying your new job by the way!

My Mojo is returnng...

I did 4 hours of practice today and loved every minute of it!

I've spent the last few weeks doing little nuggest of practice as advised and that has really helped. Nothing too daunting, just a few bars here and there.

I've got my first lesson for 2 months on thursday....I'm sure it'll be fine because my teacher is really understanding, but I know I'll be really nervous before hand!!

Hey Zoe, I have lost my mojo from time to time. Often the exams give me an official aim, once their gone im left in a lul, with little inspiration. Also getting ill when music is your primary thought, makes you have nightmares which defo makes you lose your mojo.

glad your back up and shiny on your music again though.

My Mojo has well and truly gone - at least away from the pieces I'm studying "officially"... I did actually make a good go of sight-reading a Beethoven piece earlier though - it was odd, as if someone else was playing. I need to figure out how to access that intense mode of concentration on demand now...

All I want to play is Schubert at the moment... I don't really care for much else.

Fortunately he left you plenty to be going on with

Mojo levels are most definitely not constant through time. Don't beat yourself up when the level falls. Music is there for our enjoyment, so if we're not enjoying it, we're not doing it right!

I'm severely lacking in mojo. But only for piano. Practicing violin loads in the morning before work, just can't be bothered when I get home from work to start piano. Can't swap practice over to do piano in morning for a lot of reasons lol just gotta pick myself up!

No good excuses (second instruments) for me!

I have been managing to pull myself along - but finding it very difficult to get past the starting post on practice, though I have managed to do 15/20 minutes of bits and pieces most days.

But I am just not motivated; I fear I am not enjoying myself; I don't appreciate my achievements; and I suspect I've lost my direction.

Anyone want a slightly used (and badly modified) 1920s piano?

My new piano teacher, who I had had a lesson with before the summer and we had discussed working on Grade 6, I had a first lesson this term with and had explained before on the phone that I had lost my piano mojo, he decided that we should spend a term doing Grade 5 as if we were doing the exam next term, just to get my confidence back.

I was sceptical (and pride slightly dented) but I've actually had such a fun week practising pieces that are actually relatively easy to play, that fall under the fingers with no nasty surprises or rythmic horrors but are just fun! Not daft these teachers, I think I am getting my mojo back and finding the fun of playing again I certainly enjoy being a beginner at the harp where my expectations are lower...

As a serial over-pusher and self-motivator in life I may just start to discover the joys of the more laid-back approach! (better late than never)