I have been having piano lessons for a couple of years, after having at various times in my life dabbled on the piano informally since I was a child. I am preparing for grade 5 and get frustrated as I find it hard to play pieces without making mistakes.

I practise everyday, at least half an hour, usually an hour or more, and have a lesson most weeks.

I feel that my playing is developing, but sometimes wonder when I will become more fluent!

Would be interested to hear other people's experiences + any advice.

well im doing grade 6 in 13 days and i still make mistakes!

when i make a slight mistake, i am ok for the next few bars then i make a big one! and then its a disaster

i hope its just practise that will improve it!

Is it certain sections or is it the whole thing? If it's just sections, practice that bit until it kind of fits with the rest....

But if it's the whole thing.... I suppose practice makes perfect...


Keep at it!

Hello
I am lucky I never make mistakes...my playing is perfect and my teacher says she wishes she could play as well as me. I have been invited to play for the Queen. You should see where she lives..it's like a palace.....
Then I move on to do a world Tour at all the major venues...
Wake up Mike ...Wake up.....you having a nightmare.....
Ah, that was a strange dream.....
Yes even when I can play something well I think my brain does it on purpose to punish me for making it learn the piano. My piano teachers says .......play on play on...........but I want to stop as I am annoyed and want to do it right.....
BYE Mike

QUOTE (Booney @ Feb 19 2005, 11:24 PM)

and get frustrated as I find it hard to play pieces without making mistakes.

Hi Booney

I started from scratch nearly 4 years ago and started lessons about 15 months ago, but it wasn't until I decided to take an exam (starting with Grade 4) that I really felt I was beginning to play pieces well. I think it's got to depend on how much & how carefully you practise. Before I decided to do an exam, I realise I wasn't really bothering to iron out all the mistakes in the difficult bits but now I've had to, I know it's possible. I can sit down & play my list A piece now without mistakes, and keep on playing it several times ditto. I do make mistakes in my other pieces (both exam and others), because I haven't spent so much time on them, but even they are improving gradually - so yes, you will become more fluent if you keep up the practising - but try & do at least an hour a day, and try not to miss a practice!

Jen

Teacher used to tell me to practice very slowly until that bit is entirely right. If you can't play it properly slowly you'll never play it fast, accurately and with confidence.

V

Hey, I did my Grade 5 piano in December and passed. Don't worry if you can't play your songs perfectly. I didn't even know all my scales until 2 or 3 days before the exam because I think they are really boring to learn...

wow, and what did you get for your scales?!

18, lol. I'm very lucky

so did i in my hrade 5 in december! but i had been learning thme for ages! hmm not fair lol

lol, I just sat down one day and forced my self to learn them. The only thing that dropped my mark the most was sight reading - im useless at that. I only got 12 marks.

i got 17 for that only becasue it was a slow one! what pieces did you play?

*Gets out old Grade 5 book...*

A2: Allegro Molto
B2: Lied
C2: Bossa Nova

How about you?

wow the same as me lol. i hated allegro molto!!

yer, lol. The A peices are always the hardest.

what did you get in total? i got 113. i failed the aurals hehe

I got 108 cause I failed my sight reading. I was slightly dissapointed with myself cause in my grade 3 exam i got 127

what were your other marks? i got

A- 21
B-24
C-22
scales- 18
sight reading- 17
aurals-11

hmm, I don't have the sheet with me at the moment, but from memory, I think I got

A1: 22
A2: 23
A3: 22

Scales: 18
Aural: 12
Sight reading: 12

Or something like that...

kool, anyway im off! bye

Bye!

QUOTE (Wyldbabi @ Feb 20 2005, 10:57 AM)

Teacher used to tell me to practice very slowly until that bit is entirely right. If you can't play it properly slowly you'll never play it fast, accurately and with confidence. V

*nods* really good advice - feels counter-intuitive at first, but actually it totally does work.

Yes, learning something slowly first in order to avoid mistakes can be tedious at the time, but you will reap the rewards later on.

QUOTE (Booney @ Feb 19 2005, 11:24 PM)

I have been having piano lessons for a couple of years, after having at various times in my life dabbled on the piano informally since I was a child. I am preparing for grade 5 and get frustrated as I find it hard to play pieces without making mistakes. I practise everyday, at least half an hour, usually an hour or more, and have a lesson most weeks. I feel that my playing is developing, but sometimes wonder when I will become more fluent! Would be interested to hear other people's experiences + any advice.

dont worry i get that all time!!!!!! especially with my scales!!!!!!
its well annoyin! im just gonna keep practisin! thats the only way to improve i find.

and also, try and find the parts where you go wrong, and practise those parts more, because i am working for grade 2 and one of my pieces that i am playing is Rigadoon and i had to play one part over and over to get it right again!!!

hope this helps!!

QUOTE (Booney @ Feb 19 2005, 11:24 PM)

I practise everyday, at least half an hour, usually an hour or more, and have a lesson most weeks. I feel that my playing is developing, but sometimes wonder when I will become more fluent!

Good advice here already, look at how you are practising, not just how much you are practising. Play until you hear a mistake and then stop and practise that bit (and a little either side) until you've done it correctly several consecutive times, play as slowly as necessary (If you're well below the tempo you'll need to practise it over several days or even weeks gradually speeding it up, it helps to do this with the metrenome). You'll be amazed what sleep can do too, if you practise something over and over during the day then your brain will reinforce the learning overnight and you'll be better at it in the morning, so don't try to cram too much of the same thing in one day or you'll do more effort for the same amount of learning.

QUOTE (Booney @ Feb 19 2005, 11:24 PM)

I have been having piano lessons for a couple of years, after having at various times in my life dabbled on the piano informally since I was a child. I am preparing for grade 5 and get frustrated as I find it hard to play pieces without making mistakes.

I notice that you've not been playing for long to be at grade 5: can you play easier pieces with fewer mistakes (I say fewer because I don't think that anyone is ever perfect)? Maybe you're struggling to play without lots of mistakes because the pieces you're attempting are too hard, just a thought.

wow thats pretty good advice......... thnx for me aswell!!!!!

Thanks to all for very helpfull advice.

Feels like I need to keep practising and focus on the bits I find hardest.

I agree that it is very helpful to play difficult passages slowly, not so easy to make myself do this!

I was going to do my grade five in the summer, but have decided to wait until the autumn term, and build up my repetoire + maybe do some theory in the meantime. My teacher thinks this is a good idea, as it will provide a more solid foundation to build upon.