big Concentration problem

[piani0player]

hi everyone
    when im practicing the piano my mind often wanders ,so it makes me impossible to concentrate for even just a few minutes.do you know any good ways to practice that can help you fully  concentrate  when practicing?

thank you

[zoolander]

I also got this problem.. especially in times I got much to think of.

I try to think chords, how the piece is built up, and of course dynamics, dynamics dynamics . Try to get every single detail perfect, and it wont get boring

[jeff]

try singing along with what you play. and even if you can't sing , any vocal externalisation of what you're playing might help you keep focussed. i found that this works for me. and also try to really feel that you're working with the instrument.

[NetherMagic]

pianoplayer are you playing pieces that you don't like?  perhaps that's the reason why your concentration is faltering, I remember I was like that during the early stages of piano when the songs were just horrible to bear

[la_carrenio2003]

Don't worry, maybe you just have to expand your concentration time. There is a difference between playing and working on a piece. When the piece is not ready, you have always some trouble to solve: you have to focus on the passage or whatever is giving you trouble until you finally solved it. After that, you can take some minutes off or change the part of the piece or the piece itself or just rest playing it from the beginning to the end. When you have the technical problems solved, you have to work on the artistic image of the piece and that's what you have to think about,it can be a picture or a feeling that helps you get into the atmosphere you want to create. I reccomend having a clock on the piano and write the time you started and the time you have to stop because you lost the concentration. Afterward you have to try expanding this time,not day by day but maybe week after week, give your brain time. It's  normal to lose the time you achieved after the vacations.The longest time you can focus is 4 hours consecutives, no more. But remember that Richter practiced in periods of minutes watching the clock...

[Hmoll]

The most important thing to learn in piano playing is how to learn, and how to practice.
Concentration while practicing is extremely important, and you will only carry that concentration over to performing if you can do it while practicing.
Every minute you practice without focused concentration  is a minute where you are reinforcing this habit.
What you could do is practcice in smaller blocks of time, and try to maintain that focus within those periods of time. Constantly monitor your state of alertness.
Also, plan ahead what you are going to practice, so your practicing is structured.

[Laurie_H]

Yes I have the same problem! I haven't really found how to solve it yet but I find it easier to really listen to what I'm doing; it sounds obvious but it can be easy to wander of while playing something that you've played loads of times before. Try to hear the phrase just ahead of what you're playing and imagine exactly how it should be played. Tell me if you find anything that works!

[BoliverAllmon]

I had to just force myself to concentrate when I first started playing. I have goals to accomplish and I did whatever it took to do that. It all comes down to, do you want to accomplish this or not?

boliver