how can i regain my passion toward music?

[melvyn]

I am a grade 8  piano student. I had practice  6 hours a day but my teacher said i had made a lot of playing mistakes ex.phrasing and articulation. Apart from that , i cannot concentrate when i playing the piano .My MiNd will wander around when i start practisng piano.Can anyone give me a piece of advices?it seem that my practising is worthless .

[prometheus]

Listen to music.

[violinist]

practice less? 

Take a break from practicing completely?

Try a different instrument! or sing?

Come to the forum and let other people's enthusiasm work it's magic?

I don't think I could practice 6 hours a day.

But I wish I could practice 3 hours a day.

[debussy symbolism]

           Greetings.

You should be proud of yourself to practice that much and u have attained alot. Just take it easy and don't stress about it. It happens to all. Don't panic. 6 hours a day is alot and definately anyone would get so stressed. Just take a break and don't stress about it. I hope everything turns out fine and I know it will.




      Best wishes to all

[gorbee natcase]

When I feel like that I go back to my older pieces and pollish them up new. Its like a game and I write them down on a piece of paper totting up my repertoire.
as playing pieces you can play well boosts your confidence.

I suspect (I might be wrong) you are concentrating too much on your new pieces and making your practice all about work and no fun, If that is the case dont burn your self out.

keep a record of your practice  what you want to learn how much at once, organise it in to a way you understand etc. if you are practicing 6 hours its nice to know where they went so divide it up in to (e.g. hour 1 technical excercises, hour 2 this, hour 3 that etc.

[melvyn]

When I feel like that I go back to my older pieces and pollish them up new. Its like a game and I write them down on a piece of paper totting up my repertoire.
as playing pieces you can play well boosts your confidence.

I suspect (I might be wrong) you are concentrating too much on your new pieces and making your practice all about work and no fun, If that is the case dont burn your self out.

keep a record of your practice  what you want to learn how much at once, organise it in to a way you understand etc. if you are practicing 6 hours its nice to know where they went so divide it up in to (e.g. hour 1 technical excercises, hour 2 this, hour 3 that etc.

I think u are right ,i have the music as my serious career, Can u teach me how to enjoy music

[shasta]

Can u teach me how to enjoy music

Surround yourself with other musicians:  i.e. join a choir or a chamber music group or a jazz band - - - their passion for music will be inspiring and contagious.  You will learn a lot from other musicians.

[m1469]

how can i regain my passion toward music?

I think u are right ,i have the music as my serious career, Can u teach me how to enjoy music

There are a few things I am assuming while I respond to your post.  I am assuming that you have enjoyed music in the past and that you are simply going through a time of feeling as though you do not enjoy it anymore.  Somewhere, you know what it feels like to enjoy music (and that never goes away, it just gets out of focus sometimes).  The next thing I am assuming is that your initial enjoyment and past enjoyments are, essentially, what has led you into having music as your serious career (or it seems to me you are training to do so).  And in this case, perhaps the serious career part with realation to enjoying music, is more the aspect that you may need help enjoying.

Consider the difference between these two scenarios :

I eat the same kind of gourmet chocolate bar everyday for every meal and I will be doing so for the rest of my life.  Can you help me to enjoy it ?

AND

I spend every moment of my life traveling to and living in foreign countries, each with their own history, culture, etc..  Can you help me to enjoy those places and the constant traveling ?
 
I would say that, as far as the internal workings are concerned (and sometimes the external as well, but I am speaking more metaphorically than literally), the second scenario is much closer to what a career in music entails than is the first. 

Notice the first involves a specific thing, the chocolate bar, which in doses at the right times may be very pleasing.  But, if that is all we ever take in, day in and day out, suddenly it becomes anything but pleasing (not to mention health issues).  That is mainly because the chocolate bar itself does not change.  It is a low dimensional object which, for the most part, is static and only so capable of providing us enjoyment and more importantly, only capable of providing so much nourishment.  Furthermore, for the most part, our relationship with the chocolate bar does not require much in the way of explorations of it, nor of ourself.  I think that sometimes, when we live music day in and day out, we think of music as something like a chocolate bar that has somewhat lost its appeal, but that we are forced to eat because that is what we have.

BUT, the good news is, music is not just a chocolate bar !  And the other good news is, we can spend every moment of our entire lives in discovery over the mutli-dimensional aspects of music and our relationship with it.  Sure, sometimes we get burnt out from the traveling, so we take a nap for a day.  But like traveling and living in foreign countries, there are so many different ways to get to know where we are.  There are the geographical aspects, historical, social, philosophical/religious, cultural and all of the etcs details of those aspects and others provide.  It is truly never ending.  There is always movement and there is always another layer or different aspect to it.

And, in the case of being invovled in something so rich on its own, I believe that if we reach a point of jadedness, it is because our relationship with it can grow.  In other words, we must look within ourselves.  One of the beautiful aspects of a career in music is that, there is plenty of room to grow !  (unlike within our pants if we eat too much chocolate.. he he )

I think that, to a large extent, to know is to love and to love is to know.  When we become out of love with what we are doing, we just need to know it a little better.  We need to go deeper, both within the subject, and within ourselves.  As we go deeper, we discover *new* things and gain a deeper appreciation of that which we have discovered before, and the mystery grows deeper.   By the way, I think it is important to realize that we are not ever going back to something we had before, it is impossible because we have grown past it, and that is the reason we ever seemed to have lost it.

So really, it is exciting that you have come to a place where you realize the need for more appreciation.  It means you are ready to go deeper.

All of the things mentioned before, taking classes, surrounding yourself with other musicians, etc.,  are simply ways to inspire this kind of growth.  But, the thing is, we must be looking for it and receptive to it, otherwise we might miss the opportunity.


m1469

[gaer]

Consider the difference between these two scenarios :

I eat the same kind of gourmet chocolate bar everyday for every meal and I will be doing so for the rest of my life.  Can you help me to enjoy it ?

AND

I spend every moment of my life traveling to and living in foreign countries, each with their own history, culture, etc..  Can you help me to enjoy those places and the constant traveling ?

I like that thought. I have to do many things with music in order to stay involved. If I play the same kind of music, day after day, or fall into any kind of rut, I start to look at the piano as a punishment instead of something to be enjoyed.

Gary

[rc]

Good advices!

...It's important to pay attention and not burn yourself out. Be able to motivate yourself, and strike a balance between working hard and not burning yourself out (losing your passion).

I know I've been there before. I think it's a lesson we've all faced.

[gaer]

Good advices!

...It's important to pay attention and not burn yourself out. Be able to motivate yourself, and strike a balance between working hard and not burning yourself out (losing your passion).

I know I've been there before. I think it's a lesson we've all faced.

I agree. It's also important to remember at all times that too much practice does more than cause mental burn-out. It can also cause physical problems and too much also leads to sloppy practice which is actually worse than not practicing at all. Negative progress!

Gary