How long can you stand NOT touching the piano?

[jhon]

How long can you tolerate NOT playing the piano?  I have this problem of ANXIETY and DISCOMFORT - mentally and psychologically - when I am not able to practice for AT MOST 1 day!  In fact, in my day work - an Account Executive - I am sometimes restless especially during overtimes.  Do you experience likewise?  Is such feeling normal or it's just, as they say, "all in the mind?"

[ryguillian]

Approx. four minutes and thirty-three seconds elapse before piano-withdrawal sets in.

—Ryan

[rc]

haha, I know exactly what you're saying.

If a day goes by without piano, I feel like that was a wasted day. Sometimes though, if I've been practicing a bit too much, a day or two off is just what the doctor ordered.

I have the added discomfort of being able to listen to CBC during work, classical music all day, taunting me that I'm not able to practice...

Even before piano, working too much will make a person restless. Who wants to spend any more time than necessary at work?

[jamie_liszt]

haha, I know exactly what you're saying.

If a day goes by without piano, I feel like that was a wasted day. Sometimes though, if I've been practicing a bit too much, a day or two off is just what the doctor ordered.

I have the added discomfort of being able to listen to CBC during work, classical music all day, taunting me that I'm not able to practice...

Even before piano, working too much will make a person restless. Who wants to spend any more time than necessary at work?

true

I agree with everything said there/

[brewtality]

As long as necessary, though I usually play at least an hour or so each day. When I was studying for my exams just recently, I didn't touch my piano for 3 weeks. In the meantime I forgot how it sounded, the tuning and the touch. It was quite a nasty shock when I eventually played it again.

[JP]

I NEED to practice everyday.. Other, like the previous posters have said, my day feels incomplete.

Typically, I study around 8 hours, during which I listen to classical music mostly piano, and practice ±2 hours.  I'd love to get more practice time per day, but post-grad studies in accounting = very little free time.      

Sometimes I just feeling like tossing everything through the window and just playing the piano..  Capitalism, what a wonderful thing.

[pianogeek_cz]

Pfft... Approximately one day... But, as has already been said, I feel that the day was somehow wasted, or, better to say, incomplete.

If I'm away from the piano for more than two days, I can't really focus on anything because my hands are so restless it looks like I've got a mild mutation of the Parkinson disease in the fingers... 

[lava]

Well I play every day, only when I have an appointment in the evening, I have to skip one day. That's about the maximum I can take.

How do you all experience vacation?

It's rather terrible not playing the piano for a few weeks. Just looking around if I can see somewhere a sign "Piano Bar". On vacation I bring a mp3-player with me. Although it bothers not being able to play myself, it give the chance to listen carefully to pieces and learn them better.

First thing after vacation: i play hours and hours

[gouldfischer]

What a perfect topic! Exactly how I feel... "wasted day"...

In my case, I get anxious and nervous and ill humoured (really), already in the morning, if my perspectives of playing the piano during that particular day are not promising. If, say, I have people visiting me in my apartment on a Saturday. If they stay too much and I start to foresse that I will not have at least one hour to play before 10 PM (I can only play until 10 PM, because of neighbors, the silence rule and stuff), I really have a bad time trying to control myself. My fiancée is the first one to notice that I am getting a bit crazy. She tells me I'm a bad host haha...

Vacation is also a problem...

Fortunately, though, I need no more than one hour or so to feel accomplished for that day. It's not that I won't practice much more than that, if I can. But one hour will do, as for making a day count.

Cheers,
    Vinicius.

[deja vu]

Oh, God. This reminds me of something painful.

A coupla summers ago, I went to be an au pair in Germany, and that was for SIX WEEKS.

Yup, you guessed it, the family didn't have a piano.

I found a house down the road that had an electric one, and I just knocked on their door one day and asked could I play the piano?

And there was a schimmel 9-foot concert grand in a church in the next town. I got three hours a day from time to time.

Generally, though, I nearly died of withdrawal symptoms. I was staying at my grandma's there for a few days and she was doing a dinner party (!!!!!!!). I was moaning a little, and my grandma said to the guests: "Please ignore her. She's just a poor tortured pianist."

Thanks.

[m1469]

Well, right now I can't stand to have my hands off of the piano for too long at all.  I have been letting it fill up my time... he he... and loving it (I play almost every chance I get).  I am hating the prospects of not having much time to play in the next several days, and secretly devising a plan.  Also, I will be somewhere else for 2 weeks during December and devising a plan to practise then too.  I have to locate somewhere that will let me practise for several hours a day, I will gladly pay them.

Now, on a related subject, I have gotten this strange ache in my hands before, if I go too long without playing the piano.  It's like they get deeply itchy or something... and I start wondering "what's going on with my hands" and then I realize they are literally aching to play the piano.  At first I thought "hey, man, that's weird" but then my hands were like "hey, man, it's cool.  Just let us play" so then I am like "okay man.  Let's play"  and then they're like "oh, thanks, we feel much better now"  and I'm like "you're welcome, I guess.  Anytime.  And, would you like fries with that ?"  and they're like "no thanks, we're trying to quit... but maybe if there's ketchup involved we'll have just a few" .... and so on... 

Well, okay, the aching hand part is for reals.


m1469

[gouldfischer]

Now, on a related subject, I have gotten this strange ache in my hands before, if I go too long without playing the piano.  It's like they get deeply itchy or something... and I start wondering "what's going on with my hands" and then I realize they are literally aching to play the piano.  At first I thought "hey, man, that's weird" but then my hands were like "hey, man, it's cool.  Just let us play" so then I am like "okay man.  Let's play"  and then they're like "oh, thanks, we feel much better now"  and I'm like "you're welcome, I guess.  Anytime.  And, would you like fries with that ?"  and they're like "no thanks, we're trying to quit... but maybe if there's ketchup involved we'll have just a few" .... and so on... 

huahuahuahuahuahuahuahua

[fryc]

I work a twelve hour day.  I practice for two hours before I go to work.  About midway through the day I start longing to be at my piano.  I get another two hour fix in the evening.

[•ÇØM]

Well, right now I can't stand to have my hands off of the piano for too long at all.  I have been letting it fill up my time... he he... and loving it (I play almost every chance I get).  I am hating the prospects of not having much time to play in the next several days, and secretly devising a plan.  Also, I will be somewhere else for 2 weeks during December and devising a plan to practise then too.  I have to locate somewhere that will let me practise for several hours a day, I will gladly pay them.

Now, on a related subject, I have gotten this strange ache in my hands before, if I go too long without playing the piano.  It's like they get deeply itchy or something... and I start wondering "what's going on with my hands" and then I realize they are literally aching to play the piano.  At first I thought "hey, man, that's weird" but then my hands were like "hey, man, it's cool.  Just let us play" so then I am like "okay man.  Let's play"  and then they're like "oh, thanks, we feel much better now"  and I'm like "you're welcome, I guess.  Anytime.  And, would you like fries with that ?"  and they're like "no thanks, we're trying to quit... but maybe if there's ketchup involved we'll have just a few" .... and so on... 

Well, okay, the aching hand part is for reals.


m1469

Haha. Comic genius

[zheer]

i can spend a long time on the piano, but i dont feel good about it. I think i should be at the gym or the library. To give you an example in the past 3 years i have lernt 6 etudes by chopin 1 by mendellson , the moonlight and Tempest sonata by Beethoven thats 6 MVT , 3 nocturns by chopin + 1 Ballad , 3 Preludes by Rachnaninoff, 3 Waltz by Chopin, A sonata by Mozart , 2 comp by debussy, FIMP by chopin + 5 - 6 preludes and a lot more i just cant remember + a lot of sightreading.

[rc]

i can spend a long time on the piano, but i dont feel good about it. I think i should be at the gym or the library. To give you an example in the past 3 years i have lernt 6 etudes by chopin 1 by mendellson , the moonlight and Tempest sonata by Beethoven thats 6 MVT , 3 nocturns by chopin + 1 Ballad , 3 Preludes by Rachnaninoff, 3 Waltz by Chopin, A sonata by Mozart , 2 comp by debussy, FIMP by chopin + 5 - 6 preludes and a lot more i just cant remember + a lot of sightreading.

Nice!

...and here I thought I was productive.

*rc turns off computer and starts practicing*

[quantum]

I ususally take at least 1 day off piano a week, so staying away from it isn't that painful.  I've gone 6 to 8 weeks without touching it, and it only took me a couple hours to get back in normal playing shape. 

m1469, love the post 

[whynot]

I don't emotionally miss playing, even on a long vacation.   But, like m1469, my hands start to ache.  My hands bother me a lot, generally.  Playing is the only thing that makes them feel normal.

[jhon]

So by and large, do u guys think all these felings are "psychologically" normal?

[rc]

So by and large, do u guys think all these felings are "psychologically" normal?

hahah, I doubt it. Psychology seems to be better at finding problems anyways.

Being unable to spend time away from the piano is a nice addiction to have though, keeps ya practicing! Better than not being able to go a day without a joint or a drink.

[ted]

Although I sometimes think I might feel that way, in practice I can go without almost anything for much longer than I think I can. It took seven weeks for my action to be replaced and I experienced no mental trauma. My fear was an illusion. When various life events have demanded it I have gone without playing for long periods. In each case I dreaded it but when the time came nothing terrible occurred either mentally or physically.

[pianistimo]

that's very encouraging, ted.  i'm almost at 6 weeks - so i might be able to put some pressure on my foot (on the pedal) at 7 weeks.  bones are amazing (sorry to keep talking about this) because they really do shed cells like skin.  and they regrow together if not broken again.  am thinking about playing the organ tomorrow.  i can just set my foot in the pedal  hold and use my left leg for the other pedals.  much easier.  still keyboard practice, right? 

[deja vu]

that's very encouraging, ted.  i'm almost at 6 weeks - so i might be able to put some pressure on my foot (on the pedal) at 7 weeks.  bones are amazing (sorry to keep talking about this) because they really do shed cells like skin.  and they regrow together if not broken again.  am thinking about playing the organ tomorrow.  i can just set my foot in the pedal  hold and use my left leg for the other pedals.  much easier.  still keyboard practice, right? 

Erm, so you broke your leg? Hope it feels real better soon.

I guess now you just have to play baroque pieces! Unless you use the pedal, of course. If you do, this will be good practise!!

[perfect_pitch]

I haven't been able to play the piano in 4 weeks, because I am on teaching prac and have to spend my free time writing lesson plans and stuff....

I'm starting to get antsy....