why do i make so many miss keys????????????

[cucudas]

WHY ? WHY? WHY!!!!!!!!???

well seems like my friends don't make as many miss keys as i make
i don't think i practice less than them
my teacher said i get miss keys by my habit.
habit of making miss keys?? why do i have that habit?
how can i get rid of miss keys other than "just practice" ??

[abell88]

Slow down, take a deep breath, step back from the music and analyze: where and when do you make your mistakes.

One very common cause is you actually practise playing wrong notes -- for example, say there's a spot in the twelfth bar that gives you trouble. Instinctively you may do one of two bad things when you make a mistake there:

1. After playing the wrong note, play the correct note and continue from there. The reason this is bad is that what you are actually drilling into your mind is "wrong note - right note".
2. After playing the wrong note, you go back to bar 1 and try all over again. The problem with this is that you have done nothing to correct your problem; more than likely you will make the same mistake and go back to bar 1, etc.  Thus you are training yourself to stop at bar 12.

What to do instead? It really helps if you can figure out why you are having problems with particular notes. Then, isolate those sections - start a bar before the problem, continue to a bar after. Work on it slowly and deliberately. Your teacher should be able to help you find the movements you need to make to play correctly.

Also, when you sit down to practise, don't just play through the piece. Think about what needs work and work on it.

When you do play through the piece, choose an appropriate tempo - a tempo at which you can play the whole piece accurately.

These are just a couple of things that may help you. Good luck!

[alzado]

You don't give any details, so it is hard to advise.

I keep a pencil at the piano and when learning a new piece I will write in an occasional sharp or flat that -- for some reason -- I tend to miss when playing.  And sometimes other markings.  You can always erase the piano markings later if you wish.

My teacher also adds some pencil marks.  Her marks may not always be for playing a wrong note -- sometimes they are for rhythmic problems as well.

I have found that more practicing is important.  Do you really practice enough?  Be honest.

Good luck--

[crazy for ivan moravec]

i totally agree with abe88. Let me just add to has been said:

1. A. think of the notes like they're all you've got in ur life!!!! this is during the first stages of practice only.
    B. think of the sound, your movements..

2. when u miss a note/s in a passage, STOP! correct it right away! but make sure that you correct it five times or more so that u make the habit of playing the correct note/s. if you got something correct, don't stop right there and proceed to the next passage! make sure that u would be able to do the right thing again by practicing it more times perfectly. it's simple, if u repeated the wrong way five times and practiced the right way 3 times only, surely you'd make that mistake again.

3. repeat the process of number 1 after you've been playing the piece for some time already! it's good to review the theoretical part once in a while, even if you already think you know them.
one way of knowing if you've mastered the notes by heart: play the piece from beginning to end at an EXTREMELY SLOW TEMPO!!! why? coz when you seemingly dnt make any sense with the piece, that's when u find out that you really don't know the notes; also, play RH alone from beginning to end with the correct tempo, rhythm, rests are counted, then proceed with LH.  another way of doing it is by playing the whole piece on air or on a table.

why am i stressing mental practice here? coz you will find out that the real reason for missing notes is all in the brain. that's why they say that technique is all in the mind and not with the fingers. so stay focused during practice! (i posted "What are your worst distractions during practice?" hehehe...)

you should be able to remember how your hand moves for particular passages(muscle memory). u should remember how the sound goes (aural). u should remember how the keyboard looks like with u playing a piece (visual). and etc.

but of course, before all these, you should already have that perfect concept of the musical part in ur mind before commencing with the technical part--- because you will base your technical problems with how you want the piece to sound.

the habits that your teacher is saying is very true... once they've become habits, it is very difficult to undo because a habit is something you do without much thinking. (like for me, i wake up and go straight to the kitchen for coffee, never fails).

hope that helped. good luck to you! let us know...

crazy

[pantonality]

The others have offered good advice, but I'd like to add some more. Practise hands separately more.  This allows you to concentrate on the movements necessary for each hand more effectively. All tough spots should be drilled hands separately then hands together. Work your tough spots up to speed hands separately then slow down and put the hands together. I've only recently discovered the effectiveness of this approach (formerly being a hands together all the time guy). It's amazing how well it works. Slow practise is helpful once you know a piece as a way to remind you how to play correctly. Finally, always finish working on a piece by playing the tough spots correctly (slowly if necessary). This leaves you with a final memory of the correct notes that your brain will continue to process subconsciously.

Let us know how it goes.

Steve Chandler
https://www.audiostreet.net/stevechandler
https://www.soundclick.com/stevechandler

[randmc]

My teacher always tells me to practice in sections, so maybe you should try that. She gave me an idea for how to learn new pieces: What you do is copy on a copy machine 1 page from the music and then just practice that until you get that page down. When you finish that page, move on to the next. Like stated earlier, use a pencil to make corrections when practicing. I always look at correcting in different levels. The first level is wrong notes played; second level is wrong beat; third level is dynamics (i.e. dimuendo, legato); fourth level is transitions from different keys or measures; fifth level make sure its up to performance standards. Now these are what I use to make sure the piece is good.

[thalbergmad]

I don't generally worry about wrong notes, unless they are the SAME wrong notes.

[tocca]

2. when u miss a note/s in a passage, STOP! correct it right away!

Have to disagree with you on that!
In my opinion, if you miss a note DO NOT stop! Play on but remember where you missed. Then go back and practise that passage afterwards.
Reason: If you always stop when playing a wrong note, you are actually "teaching" yourself to stop when you play something wrong which could come back and bite you during a concert.

I had that problem when i was young, if i played a wrong note in public i often stumbled and got lost. My teacher had to work for a long time, using the "do not stop when playing wrong" approach before i got over it.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

oh right, i agree with you on that point. what i actually meant was when you practice a passage/section which means you concentrate to perfect that part only. nevertheless, one should not stop when playing the whole piece. how's that?

[gruffalo]

i think a bit of everything what these guys said should work. like there are many exercises we can do to practice, there are many methods of practicing your pieces. try everything, some will work more than others but it all contributes, as long as the method is correct. some may give bad advise