How to make practising effective, etc.

[Lucy]

Firstly, I'm new here, so hello!! Having read a few posts from this forum I can see that it's full of helpful, knowledgeable, generally fantastic people.  

A bit about me - I'm Lucy, I'm 18, from England. I've just completed my A Levels and have the whole summer holiday ahead of me before I go to study music at university in October. I play the piano and violin, and sing (but not particularly well!) Piano is my first instrument and I love it, love it, love it  

ANYWAY, onto a couple of questions. Firstly - I have finished lessons with my current teacher at school, and won't be having any more until I'm at uni. I have a lot of time on my hands to practise - theoretically, I could practice all day, every day this summer. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on a good practice routine? At the moment I don't feel like I make particularly effective use of my time ..

And one more thing ... I find that quite often when playing, I get a lot of tension along the top of my lower arms. It's usually when playing things that are quite fast and repetitive - the things that stick in my mind that give this effect are Khachaturian's Toccata and Grieg's 'Puck'. Am I doing something horribly wrong in my playing? Any ideas on how to overcome this?

Thanks. ~L

[Hmoll]

Hi Lucy,

Good luck at university.

You will be busier there, so you might want to take the summer and make sure you have a well developed method for practicing. Have some fun this summer, and don't try to kill yourself practicing. However, make sure the hours you spend practicing are focused and you manage your time well. You are between teachers, and  you don't have one to set goals for you, so you have to set your own goals. Make sure they are reasonable and achievable by going over your past lessons and what you were able to accomplish week-to-week.

Tension and pain anywhere in your arms, hands, or wrists are not good and alarm bells should go off immediately when you feel this. It means you are either not using the correct technique and/or are not relaxed enough. You should try to correct this if you can because it could lead to injury, and whatever you are doing that creates the tension or pain is reinforced if you continue and will become habits that are hard to break.

[Bob]

[Motrax]

What I'd give for all that time to practice...

What works for me (so maybe not for you) is practicing for an hour or two before and/or after every meal, and then again before I go to bed. My ideal schedule if I didn't have work would be to practice an hour or two after breakfast, two hours after lunch, an hour before and after dinner, and an hour or so before bed. Staggered practice allows your hands time to take a break, and your brain time to process what you've been practicing.

[Bonobo]

I'm new here too, this is actually the first post i read, and i find it interesting.
My lessons don't give me so much because i'm almost as good as my teacher.
But when practicing, is it good to practice much arpeggios?
Should I keep a very slow tempo when reading new sheets?
My level of playing is maybe around "Minute Waltz".
Is it good to warm up those stuff for piano too?

[rhapsody in orange]

Hmm for me, an effective practise would be one that is planned beforehand. I'd plan out what I want to accomplish during the 2 hrs of practise (eg. getting the last section of a piece right or working on the musicality etc). You gotta be specific at what you want to do to avoid aimlessly playing through the pieces. Also, I would listen to a few recordings of the piece to do a comparison.. which interpretation sounds better etc. Listening does help a lot =)

[bernhard]

Start with these threads (just the tip of the iceberg ):


https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1759.msg13695.html#msg13695
(Practise drive – athletic/physical enjoyment of playing).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1825.msg13858.html#msg13858
(Accommodating practice times – 10 minute sessions – some mention of mental practice)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1844.msg13949.html#msg13949
(Overpractising – always stop at the last perfect rendition).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1867.msg14268.html#msg14268
(Getting technique from pieces – several important tricks: hand memory, dropping notes, repeated note-groups)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1651.msg14344.html#msg14344
(How to gain hand independence – dropping notes)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1894.msg14707.html#msg14707
(mental practice – Glenn Gould interview)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2053.msg16886.html#msg16886
(How should an adult beginner practice? - Chang and practice spot)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2061.msg17178.html#msg17178
(how to deal with boredom)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2082.msg17230.html#msg17230
(how to concentrate).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2097.msg17480.html#msg17480
(imitating pianists – good or bad idea?)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2075.msg17593.html#msg17593
(silent practice and its advantages – Good post by faulty damper about unenthusiastic parents)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2173.msg18976.html#msg18976
(dropping notes)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2241.msg19043.html#msg19043
(short attention span)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2255.msg19129.html#msg19129
(practising long pieces – Good discussion if one should or should not listen to CDs - Slow motion practice, comparison with walking/running)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2298.msg19672.html#msg19672
(Practice environment – the Virgil Clavier)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2355.msg20277.html#msg20277
(common mistakes made by students)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2265.msg20306.html#msg20306
(How much practice a day?).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2368.msg20470.html#msg20470
(Virgil clavier & silent practice – Ted gives some good information. – how Arrau used one)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2429.msg21061.html#msg21061
(Technical studies x pieces – the genesis of Studies and how Czerny derived his exercises from Beethoven sonatas - why scales are useless and at the same time essential – Chopin x Kalkbrenner story – Unorthodox fingering for scales).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2411.msg21202.html#msg21202
(Alkan op. 39 no. 4 – outlining as the best strategy to deal with this piece).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2449.msg21204.html#msg21204
(repeated note-groups as a way to tackle Czerny op. 740 no. 2)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2458.msg21365.html#msg21365
(Mental practice – tips for fingering)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2485.msg21499.html#msg21499
(How to keep a piece in the repertory – learn/forget/relearn)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2526.msg21829.html#msg21829
(how to organise piano practise in short/medium/long term – Principle of memory retention – Principle of 15 minute sessions – stopping when you achieve your goals. Teachers should teach how to learn)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2599.msg22431.html#msg22431
(How long does it all take? – self-taught students, the cake analogy, criticism of ABRSM for expecting people to reach grade 8 in 10 years, learning is not gradual different ways of learning, the dispersive method of teaching, and a 15 list to “disperse” learning).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2615.msg22522.html#msg22522
(Piece analysis – Comparison with the process of film making)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2611.msg22637.html#msg22637
(Slow practice – Glenn Gould’s finger tapping)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2720.msg23353.html#msg23353
(How to practice aim and accuracy – Full discussion on left and right brain).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2802.msg24467.html#msg24467
(When to join hands)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2864.msg25252.html#msg25252
(how everyone in the forum practises – the scientific method to decide what practice routine is good and which is not. Comments on Chang book)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2916.msg25572.html#msg25572
(Bad habits when playing/practising)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3002.msg26246.html#msg26246
(When to use the metronome)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3039.msg26525.html#msg26525
(how big are your hands, and does it matter? This is the thread where Bernhard talks about 7 x 20 minutes – exercise/activities to strengthen the playing apparatus – ways to deal with wide chords – 3 stages of learning – Example: Chopin militaire Polonaise- scientific principles for testing practice methods – Example: Prelude in F#m from WTC1 – when to join hands and why HS – practice is improvement – the principle of “easy” – Example: Chopin’s ballade no. 4 – repeated groups)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3064.msg26866.html#msg26866
(Repeated note-groups applied to Gottschalk)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3085.msg27140.html#msg27140
(Hands together: when and how – dropping notes)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3371.msg30141.html#msg30141
(zoom-zoom – speed playing)

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[rhapsody in orange]

GeeZ that's really helpful. Thanks a lot =)