I can't will myself to practice anymore...

[dlu]

I desperately need to practice for a piano competition coming up but I haven't been able to will myself to practice lately. I don't know what is wrong. I want/need to practice and make progress so much. Any advice?

DLu

[pianistimo]

take a cold shower, turn on the air conditioner, go exercise and come back and you'll feel more energetic, don't practice and rely on your looks (post alot under the good looking pianists thread), listen to music to gain your interest again, think of your piano as free therapy, invite other pianists to your house that will ask you 'what have you been playing?' (it's too embarrassing to say 'the same thing i've been playing.'), get some new music to use as a reward after you practice (this is the most motivating for me, since it is used as dessert, and sometimes i eat dessert first).

[m1469]

Make a list of exactly what you need to do to improve.


*now speaking in sexy lady voice* 

....Get yourself into mental motion of your practicing, visualize and feel the sensations of standing yourself up out of the seat you're in, with list in hand, walking calmly and cooly over to your smirking piano and then sitting yourself down to at last touch its familiar keys... feel yourself touching the keys (maybe your palms are even a little sweaty), hearing the sound of its unique voice as you press, feeling the vibrations of the music through the instrument... feeling your body warm up to its own physical activity as you sink into a stimulating rapport with your musical acquaintances... give in and surrender...  let it take over your enitre self... 


m1469  


hey, I think I just effectively *talked myself into practicing*   

[raffyplayspiano]

i feel the anguish.  sometimes you want to, but you dont.  its weird. 

what i do is pop a DVD of some piano performance to get me excited again, and refocus my energy.  I also make a list of what  i have to do, so i feel productive and so i dont get side tracked.  lastly, i remind myself why i play piano--if its a passion, you will drag yourself to the piano eventually.  i hope this bit helps, and i hope you practice!

raffy

[nero21]

what you need to do ( at least this works for me) is just get the stress out of your head anyway you can. Mabye even take one day of the piano just to clear out your mind.

[jeremyjchilds]

Do something insanely physical.

Go an an all day hike or overnight trip. Don't touch the piano for at least 2 days...on the way home, listen to some good piano music...

[practicingnow]

Nothing motivates better than fear - remember the last time you screwed up a performance???  Now think about how that felt - That's what's going to happen, my friend, unless you get your ass on that bench and start - now GO!

[rapmasterb]

Check out this thread my friend and all your troubles will go away.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,12016.0.html

[llamaman]

Take a break from practicing for a while. How long away is the competition?

[alzado]

Just at a wild guess, I would imagine you are getting deathly tired of the material you are practicing.

It works that way for me.  After several weeks on the same piece(s), and perhaps I wasn't too wild over them to start with, I just can't get motivated.

Finding new material that really interests you can change things.  Of course, if you are preparing for some sort of recital or something, I know that's not possible.

[Dazzer]

I haven't practiced for 2 months. = sigh =

[donjuan]

if you dont feel like practicing, any practice you force yourself to do will not be beneficial in any way, but will just frustrate you further.

Now, if this slump is a long term thing, maybe you have temporarily lost interest in the piano and should cancel plans to play in a competition.  At this point, just spend lots of time listening to your favorite music (and if you arent even motivated enough to listen while doing nothing else, put a CD in on car rides, or listen to music while you work on something else).  Eventually through all this listening, you will rekindle your interest for piano and play something new and exciting to you.

If you are just burned out from practicing so much, take the advice of many people here and take a break from it until you feel like playing again.  You are not a kid - you shouldnt need mommy to chase after you to practice your piano.  The ambition to do well at the competition should fuel your desire to play again.  Its just a matter of time.
donjuan

[pianowelsh]

I know how you feel i ve been there many a time. Sometimes we just get all practised out and even the biggest most pressing goal dosent seem to spur us into action??! Can i ask how well prepared are you in activity can be caused by either feeling boredom and a feeling that there is nowhere else to go with the rep (in which case you should consider changing your rep as soon as poss after your competition and in the mean time try doing lots of away from the piano study with the score and some recordings and treat yourself to go and listen to pianists playing your pieces in concert - this may motivate you?!). The other extreme can also be true however that you feel there is no way you will achieve what you feel you need to achieve in the time and your brain in panic numbs you into a state of inactivity! In which case review your situation what can i do to make these pieces as good as i can get them in the time - never mind if they are not going to be as good as they can potentially be they will be as good as i can manage and hopefully that will be good enough not to disgrace myself.. I am not saying you are in this situation but i know i have been in both! in an ideal world if you are in the later it would be better to withdraw from the competition BUT in that circumstance you must replace that goal with something - ie a concert soon after or the learning of some long aspired to favourite piece because other wise the process can be a double negative -been there too!!! Sometimes we do inexplicably wane in our interest, i believe its quite common even for quite well established pianists - perhaps this is a result of the pressure we are put under and put ourselves under to always be learning and improoving and competing! After your competition it might be worth reviewing your schedule and seeing if perhaps your are just under too much strain and perhaps you need to balance up other activities and focuss slighly less on the piano for a little while - you'd be surprised sometimes although the quantity of practice decreases the quality multiplies - Consider it?! Hope this helps - dont give up! Experiment try some new things (ie different styles of piano playing etc - improvising and using extended technique can be a great motivator for me sometimes i get too much of the old i iv i v stuff and need some fresh sounds.

[clef]

Make a list of exactly what you need to do to improve.


*now speaking in sexy lady voice* 

....Get yourself into mental motion of your practicing, visualize and feel the sensations of standing yourself up out of the seat you're in, with list in hand, walking calmly and cooly over to your smirking piano and then sitting yourself down to at last touch its familiar keys... feel yourself touching the keys (maybe your palms are even a little sweaty), hearing the sound of its unique voice as you press, feeling the vibrations of the music through the instrument... feeling your body warm up to its own physical activity as you sink into a stimulating rapport with your musical acquaintances... give in and surrender...  let it take over your enitre self... 


m1469  


hey, I think I just effectively *talked myself into practicing*   

um...

[jeremyjchilds]

Make a list of exactly what you need to do to improve.


*now speaking in sexy lady voice* 

....Get yourself into mental motion of your practicing, visualize and feel the sensations of standing yourself up out of the seat you're in, with list in hand, walking calmly and cooly over to your smirking piano and then sitting yourself down to at last touch its familiar keys... feel yourself touching the keys (maybe your palms are even a little sweaty), hearing the sound of its unique voice as you press, feeling the vibrations of the music through the instrument... feeling your body warm up to its own physical activity as you sink into a stimulating rapport with your musical acquaintances... give in and surrender...  let it take over your enitre self... 


m1469  


hey, I think I just effectively *talked myself into practicing*   

Wow!!

That was delicious.