Free Day

[shingo]

Hey,
I have some completely free days coming up soon (which is incredibly rare) and I would like to invest these days wisely.
I would like to use these days to the best possible potential in terms of progression, however I am not 100% sure how to go about this.
I could try and go for all out slogs hours at a time, although keeping motivation could be a problem. On the otherhand I know if I don't knuckle down I will get distracted with other things and time will fly by (as it usually does). I have looked at other topics on similar subjects but it is hard to cross generalise somtimes due to the differing nature of questions and motives. I realise individualism will play a large role in practising methods, but if any of you could suggest a possible regime, it would be a greatly appreciated.
Also is there any pre-practice session things I could prepare in advance to make these days more productive or enjoyable. I have no idea what these may be, but while i'm thinking about it I thought i'd ask.

[shingo]

I am sure that many of you practice for longer than 2 hours a day, or so I gather from reading various posts. Surely you must have your own ways of doing this?

[phil13]

On days when I don't have other things to do, I try to split up the practice time with other things. I practice 6 hours on weekdays, so that's 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 2 in the early evening. I have no problems with motivation that way. 

Phil

(EDIT: I just realized that this may not help you if you are practicing 2 hours a day as that is a single block for you. D'oh!

Just split it up into sections of 30 or 45 minutes and you should be fine. Or, go the Bernhard way and do 20 minutes, take a break, 20 minutes, take a break, etc.)

[molto-marcato]

Hi Shingo,

in my holidays i sometimes manage to play more than 4h a day. I usually start as early as possible which is 9 a.m. at the best. I found the early hours are the most productive, so i start with some technical excercises (Brahms) for like 15-20 minutes. After that i work on the most demanding sections of the pieces i am currently working on (for example the octave runs in Chop. op.23). After 2 hours usually my concentration is at a temporary low and i try to find something to eat. I'll pause until 3 p.m. and then start again this time focusing on musical issues (the truth is, you cannot really separate them from technical issues, but you know what i mean). I will hopefully play until early evening and at the end of the session i try to just play a few pieces of my repertoire, because its fun und this way you keep things polished.

A suggestion: If possible try to take a recording of the pieces you are working on. I find this is a good training for concentration. Because i am an amateur i don't get to play in public very often, so this way you can somewhat simulate a recital situation, having to play flawlessly AND with musical expression.

[pianowelsh]

I did 11 hrs once!!! and im recovered.  I used to do 10 regularly as a student.  If you hav lots of rep this time can go VERY fast. Split your pieces into sections, your sections into lines and your lines into bars. Go for 5 perfect repetitions of each bar (do what every it takes re speed/hands sep to get that) Add a bar (x5) the the two bars (x3) and so on till you have a line. Do the line once slowly perfect then crank speed up a bit - still 100% accurate (inc dynamics voice leading etc) do a whole page in this way. Then change the piece and get up make a cuppa or something. this way every half hour you knock off at least one page of a piece and its well learned. You can even analyse as you go slow and aim to memorise the lines as you go - this is a great asset as you can them pick up anywhere (masterclasses and lessons).  You should start the day with a bit of a warm up - maybe a scale in splits (ie 2 octaves split - cont motion to the 4 octave point and back in again and the paralell to top and then to middle point and then split again and  to top and then back to middle and down to bottom) they are great fun !! Do a couple of quick chromatics too to get the finger tips really focussed up and the joints warm. then maybe an etude if your working on one or into one of your pieces in the above mentioned way.  Happy practsisng - enjoy it however you do it.

[shingo]

Thank you very much for all your replys, I found them all very helpfull. I am particularly excited/intrigued by pianowelsh's technique. However all the posts were interesting, and I will try to split up my time and get some of those early hours in to be more productive.
Thanks again.