Good day bad day

[zheer]

I have recently arrived at the conclusion, that one should avoid playing the piano on a bad day since its a waste of time, insted do the thing far removed from the piano. Do you agree or diagree?

[thalbergmad]

My teacher used to tell me you can never replace a missed practise session.

I have learned that you gain nothing if you force youself to practise.

I agree with you.

[pianalex]

agreed-the negative effect of the discouragement is probably best avoided..Neuhaus (or some russian) used to tell his students:  'in summer we learn to skate'.  ie tell your brain what you want to do (by working), and then step back and allow your unconscious to sort it.  experience seems to verify it.IMHO.(

[pianistimo]

i agree too.  if you're tired, you can't make yourself untired by just drinking a cup of coffee.  and, for me, coffee makes me shake - so, then i can't play the piano anyway.  sometimes, it's not about missing a whole day.  sometimes, it's a portion of the day. 

in reality, for me right now - practicing is too much bother.  my leg doesn't feel well - therefore, i don't feel like practicing.  so, piano forum is better for right now.  i have this computer foot rest and my leg feels better than dangling off the bench.

maybe it gives our muscles and ligaments a rest.   

[ramseytheii]

I don't necessarily agree.  Sometimes exhaustion may set in, and then the only thing one can do is take a rest.  But "bad day" can really mean anything.  Maybe it means you got up on the wrong side of bed, and are having a hard time focussing; but you still can focus if you work hard enough.  Brahms used to say on the days when he had no inspiration, he wrote counterpoint. 
Another danger is that every day we may get into the habit of practicing in the same way.  But we have to cultivate many many different ways of practicing, many approaches, so that on those days when we are having trouble seeing the big picture, for instance, we can take an hour on smaller details.  If we can't play something we know better musically or beautifully, take the time to learn something new.  There are all sorts of considerations!  I say play, play, play, but never "forcing yourself" or otherwise; you shouldn't have to!  Find something to love about playing even on the bad days, and do it.

Walter Ramsey

[allthumbs]

I agree with Walter, on a 'bad day', I try to work on little details in pieces that I already know, as he suggested. Sometimes, I may work on something new and go at it for a shorter period of time or on a shorter segment.

Try to at least accomplish something, you'll feel more satisfied than if you skip it altogether. Once you take that attitude, you'll find that it is easier to sit down to practice than not.

My problem is that I work shift work. I can get a practice in on days off and on afternoon shifts, but I find that after a 12-hour shift and a commute to and from work, I'm too tired and hungry to practice. Then it's time to relax a little and off to bed for a 5am wakeup.



Cheers

allthumbs

[danyal]

I practise, regardless of my mood. If I have no inspiration on the day, I will choose a random difficult phrase that needs work and drill it for a few hours. A drill session is when I have my thinking time. It doesnt matter what mood I am in, I just play accordingly. I cant afford to let my daily emotions get in the way of my practising, and thus my career. I dont have that kind of time to waste. Gonna go practise some more now. Another 3 hours atleast. Screw the neighbours.

[m1469]

Well, fundamentally I agree that what we glean from a practise session depends on our mental state-of-being in those moments.  And that, if there is absolutely no focus, very little will be gleaned from practising. 

However, rather than avoiding practising under such circumstances, I would prefer to gain more control over my ability to reside within the mental state which allows me to practise effectively.  Some of the suggestions given above can be very helpful; finding something to love about whatever it is you are working on (this is capable of changing one's ability to focus, as well as one's energy levels), or change something that enables a new facet of practise to come to light.

At the same time, I think it wise to discern when a 5 minute jont outside will afford one the necessary focus for effective practise, versus staying in the practise room forcing oneself to comply. 

If one wishes to do any kind of performing, as danyal is suggesting, practising mental control is important anyway, so why not use it in daily practise to get necessary work done ?  One must learn to practise, and practise effectively, regardless of mood.  And in most cases, one ends up enjoying it anyway.

If you are playing the piano strictly for a mood-experience, with absolutely no strings attached, then sure, play when you feel like it.  Otherwise, training oneself how to practise consistently is indeed necessary imo.


m1469

[ted]

I find it difficult to make any general pronouncement on that, especially this morning. Last night, Sunday, I didn't feel like doing anything. I had done several hours' work at the piano since Friday, I was playing pretty well and had spent most of the day labouring in the section. I'm not sure I would describe it as a "bad" day, but for some reason, unusual for me, music was the last thing I wanted to do.

However,  something internal instructed me, "You are going to record, you are going to work - start now." So I took a fresh tape, opened the piano, set up the mic, sat down with my mind a weary blank and began to play. The result was a three movement improvisation lasting an hour, which pleased me more than anything I have done in months. It seemed to say something I had been trying to say for a long time. The musical details are of no concern here, but suffice it to say that many doors previously closed to my understanding were opened at one blow.

So I don't know now, perhaps I should try this discipline business more often. Mind you, I was emotionally and physically wrung dry at the end of it but the mental reward was magnificent.

[Jacey1973]

I really do agree with you - i'm glad i'm not the only one who gets bad days when you have sooo much to get through and you just aren't in the mood.

When i get reeally annoyed with myself because i'm having a bad day i tend to give up, go for a walk, smoke and try and get rid of my bad mood!

Although sometimes i just need a little break and then i can really get back into practise later on. Otherwise i just sulk and watch tv - normally soap operas which i normally miss due to practise!

I agree with the coffee thing pianistimo. I'm getting a little worried though, these days i rely so much on coffee to help me practise longer. But if i'm practising early in the day i find coffee works wonders i'm always able to practise a couple of hours longer, plus i don't get hungry all day as i have coffee instead so can practise through lunch till evening. And the shaking doesn't get so bad, until after about the 4th cup...

Is lots of coffee very bad for you? Do you think i should try and cut down?

Bad days are bad on their own but try being female - when i get PMT on top of of a bad day it's lethal. I had it the other day, i just had to leave the house and walk as i was throwing various objects around my room and everyone and everything was irritating me, i just had to be on my own - piano practise was really out of the question!! I probably would have ripped up my Beethoven sonata if i hadn't gone out......well maybe not!

[arensky]

I practise, regardless of my mood. If I have no inspiration on the day, I will choose a random difficult phrase that needs work and drill it for a few hours. A drill session is when I have my thinking time. It doesnt matter what mood I am in, I just play accordingly. I cant afford to let my daily emotions get in the way of my practising, and thus my career. I dont have that kind of time to waste. Gonna go practise some more now. Another 3 hours atleast. Screw the neighbours.

This young lady will be sucessful, y'all will see...

Hey how's your eye? 

[arensky]

I have heard this before, "you can't practice in a bad mood, the result will be bad". That's fine for those who do not have deadlines. I had "not prepared" recital nightmares last night. Before I went to sleep I was sitting listening to the Rachmaninov Cello Sonata (near future project)and looking at my datebook trying to figure out when I can give the other performance of my program, my college just got it's first grand piano. So I'm looking at the dateboook and I realize that any of the dates that are convenient for me are LESS THAN THREE MONTHS AWAY. Then I realize that the date in the next town over (on a prestigious series) is ALMOST THREE MONTHS AWAY.

I'd had a couple of drinks but was suddenly sober. The point of this is that guess who gets to have only good days from now on. If I am in a bad mood, I must change it. If it does not change, I'll do the danyal thing (see above). I'm going to make a seperate post about this, but now I must go grade papers so I will have time to practice. The heat is on...  

[lisztisforkids]

Yes.. I agree that practicing on a bad day is not a good thing and can be frustrating.
But I have the problem of turning a good day into a bad day in my head just because I dont feel like working that day. I think that practicing takes practice, and its just as important as devolping the right psychological approach as is the physical one. After all, its the mind that controls the hands, not vice versa. Although with Ravel im not so sure.

[zheer]

Waw last night was a very good day, a met a pianist who is entering a competition, once he playd his program he askd me politly to play for him. I playd various thing including Beethovens moonlight sonata first and third mvt, well anyway he started to conduct the performance and got very exited and teaching me things all the time,it was reall educational i have now completly changed my musical understanding of this master piece.

[danyal]

This young lady will be sucessful, y'all will see...

Why thank you! I needed that... Really.

Hey how's your eye? 

Better. I can see fine now and the scarring has almost gone away. I went to see the doc last week and he said that it couldnt look any better. But that I gave him nightmares after that op cos it was one of the most difficult he's performed in a very long time. And then proceded to tell me more of the revolting gruesome details...

[meli]

I  agree if you can't concentrate while playing its better to go and do something else even for a short while, and come back again. However, ironically I feel that I was more disciplined back in my high school days. I would practice EVERY DAY for 1 hour no matter what and the good results showed. I think I was even more stressed out then with tons of homework, peer pressure the list goes on etc.. Now its a different story. Strange.  Anyway, I would usually watch TV or even do some music theory or reading something related to music. However, the key is concentration I think which will take me a while to master I even heard that the only way is to practice whether you are in the mood or not? But for those really bad days, I think better not as it is a waste of time.

[arensky]

Why must there be bad days? 

[lisztisforkids]

Why must there be bad days?

More importantly.... Why cant there be sushi buffets?

[arensky]

More importantly.... Why cant there be sushi buffets?

Mercury poisoning...

[lisztisforkids]

Mercury poisoning...

If you eat natural fish though, you shouldent have that problem.

[lisztisforkids]

Why must there be bad days? 

Excellent.

[Jacey1973]

If you eat natural fish though, you shouldent have that problem.

I heard about this mercury poisening recetly - what's the deal? Is too much tinned fish bad for you? I eat loads of tinned tuna....now i'm worried! Hehe...

[pianogeek_cz]

I practise, regardless of my mood. If I have no inspiration on the day, I will choose a random difficult phrase that needs work and drill it for a few hours. A drill session is when I have my thinking time. It doesnt matter what mood I am in, I just play accordingly. I cant afford to let my daily emotions get in the way of my practising, and thus my career. I dont have that kind of time to waste. Gonna go practise some more now. Another 3 hours atleast. Screw the neighbours.

Wheee.... That's some attitude... 
I'll try to use the "drill" idea, that's something I imagine could work for me...



Good/bad day? A matter of concentration (for me, at least)... If I can concentrate on what I want (practice, mainly... ), then it's a good day. When I can't, I usually try to remove the distractions and have at least the evening labeled "good"...

[zheer]

Whether you like it or not, there are some days where nothing sounds or feels right at the piano, and no progress is made. On those days its a great idea to close the piano and go cycling or walking.Thats my opinion.

[infectedmushroom]

When I have a bad "piano" day, I mostly gonna watch an awesome DVD of, for example, Yundi Li or Boris Berezovsky. Watching those great pianists play inspires me and mostly I'm like playing the piano after watching a DVD like that.


If I have a real bad day, like feeling depressed cause of something, I mostly express this feeling in playing the piano. While playing the piano, I don't think of anything, I just play a piece wich really expresses the feeling what I'm feeling at that moment. Well, on a bad day, it's mostly a sad piece. I really like to play the piano when I feel sad. You can put so much emotion in it... That's what I love about playing the piano.


But hey, sometimes I just have a lazy day and don't wanna do anything. At a day like that I just sit back and relax, give the mind and the fingers some rest, wich they deserve after all those many hours of practise. 

[raeofsunshine]

Erm... it depends.  I often find that practicing cheers me up and lets me think things over.  And if i'm struggling to play a piece it's generally because i'm tired or distracted then it just being a 'bad day'.  But sometimes it's more constructive to just sleep.