Perfect playing almost impossible

[chopin53]

I've a very big problem: at the moment it's very difficult for me to play perfect because when I play I think too much other things and then I make often little mistakes. That`s not only in concerts (i think then it`s even better!) but also at studying at home. I have no problems with the technic and i play without sheets. I really don`t know what I should think while playing. please help me if you can.

(At the moment im playing Chopin Etude op 10/3 25/1, and i`m working the ballade g minor)

[pianoteacherkim]

I have two thoughts for you.

One:  training your mind to focus is something that can be learned.  It's hard, but it can be done.  The ability to "be in the moment" and keep your thoughts centered on what's happening right now (and not what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow) can be really valuable!  It will help lower your stress level and improve your playing.  Folks who learn to meditate are working toward the same goal -- learning to focus the mind and thoughts.

Two:  perfection is a myth.  We are imperfect people in an imperfect world.  I know the goal of playing is perfection, and we're all reaching toward the ideal -- but it's important not to let perfectionism mar your practicing and your performing.  Especially in performing -- the ability to let go of mistakes and not be  shaken by them (again, part of focusing on "the now") is really helpful.

Even while playing memorized pieces, I'm often seeing parts of the written music in my mind's eye.  This helps me to focus.  You can also pick a particular part of the technique to focus on -- for instance, the phrasing, or perhaps note endings or beginnings.  As you progress past the point where you've memorized the "biggies" (notes, tempo, dynamics, phrasing) you can drill down to details and shape each note and phrase the way you'd like it.

Best,

Kim

[counterpoint]

Perhaps you have concentrated too much on the technique, so your fingers do now what they want - and not, what you want  

A fluent technique is important of course when you want to play Chopin Etudes.
But this are not only pieces to get fast and "strong" fingers - this is also very fine music! Try to play more musically (I didn't hear you, so this is only a supposition!)
Play every time a little different, so you are forced to be present with your mind while playing. Perhaps that could help.

And something additional:

Playing perfect is not a very interesting goal. Perfection is so boring. Better make some mistakes and bring out a performance with character, liveliness and phantasy than a perfect but uninteresting one.

[infectedmushroom]

You can ask yourself the question: what is "perfect playing"!?



Yes, you can give a performance with superb technique and without making mistakes, but it could be a boring performance... So that wouldn't be perfect. Also, a performance with some mistakes, but very interesting and feeling, would also be not perfect. Is playing without a single mistake, interesting and feeling performance perfect then!? Probably not. There is also something like "musical taste". Someone might say a performance is perfect, but someone else will say it isn't. So, what exactly is "perfect playing"?

[ramseytheii]

I've a very big problem: at the moment it's very difficult for me to play perfect because when I play I think too much other things and then I make often little mistakes. That`s not only in concerts (i think then it`s even better!) but also at studying at home. I have no problems with the technic and i play without sheets. I really don`t know what I should think while playing. please help me if you can.

(At the moment im playing Chopin Etude op 10/3 25/1, and i`m working the ballade g minor)

Nobody can tell you "what to think" when you're playing.  Also: there is nothing you "should" be thinking.  First you have to get this generalization out of your mind, it's a sign of mental agitation (possibly latent), and it reflects a state of unease.

What you have to do, in my opinion, is solve the problem of being uneasy.  The only thing you can do to feel secure is increase your knowledge rationally and systematically.  But this knowledge has to start at the local level: in other words nobody can tell you one answer that will solve your problematic approach.

I recommend then playing the pieces, and rather then dwelling on how you "often" make mistakes, correct every single mistake.  Identify and correct I should say, because I've noticed a lot of students who know they made a mistake, but can't say what or where.  It has to be local, because I am guessing that you just aren't going as deep into the music as you are capable of doing.  If you were being as thorough as you could, the mistakes wouldn't bother you in thsi irritating way.

This can be a frustrating process because the more mistakes you stop to correct, the more you will notice, in fact it may even seem like they are multiplying.  But eventually you will gain control, and the only other option is to watch helplessly as mistakes are committed beyond your control.

Walter Ramsey

[rc]

I was writing up a long reply, then I realized that teacher Kim said it better...

So, I second what she said!

[ramseytheii]

I have two thoughts for you.

One:  training your mind to focus is something that can be learned.  It's hard, but it can be done.  The ability to "be in the moment" and keep your thoughts centered on what's happening right now (and not what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow) can be really valuable!  It will help lower your stress level and improve your playing.  Folks who learn to meditate are working toward the same goal -- learning to focus the mind and thoughts.

I think we can all agree with that, but the question becomes, how.  How does one train the mind to be focussed?  Focussed on what?  Focussing on not making mistakes, for instance, is precarious, because you're focussing on a negative.  I think that every mistake should be mined for the most information as possible: what is the mistake - a wrong note? rushing? memory lapse? uncontrolled sound? general messiness? - what could be the cause - misreading? not studying a passage enough? a physical problem? bad voicing? too much pedal? - and what is the solution - studying a passage from different angles (harmonically, structurally, melodically, in individual parts, perhaps transposed),. practicing without pedal, practicing with metronome, experimenting with voicing, analysing the physical condition.

Any mistake is an opportunity to expand our knowledge, as long as we are strict with ourselves, and objective about our mistakes.

I have reservations about your last comment about meditation.  As I understand it, meditation is about achieving a passive state of mind, where the thoughts come and go, but have no effect on the general balance of being.  I propose an active state of mind when dealing with problems like sloppiness, and using all the powers of reason and intellect to solve those problems.

Two:  perfection is a myth.  We are imperfect people in an imperfect world.  I know the goal of playing is perfection, and we're all reaching toward the ideal -- but it's important not to let perfectionism mar your practicing and your performing.  Especially in performing -- the ability to let go of mistakes and not be  shaken by them (again, part of focusing on "the now") is really helpful.

Even while playing memorized pieces, I'm often seeing parts of the written music in my mind's eye.  This helps me to focus.  You can also pick a particular part of the technique to focus on -- for instance, the phrasing, or perhaps note endings or beginnings.  As you progress past the point where you've memorized the "biggies" (notes, tempo, dynamics, phrasing) you can drill down to details and shape each note and phrase the way you'd like it.

Best,

Kim

All of our senses have such a wonderful memory.  My first CD was Bach violin concertos, with the Double played by Perlman and Stern.  I listened to that CD probably a 1000 times, because I didn't have the money to buy another one.  The liner jackets had a certain smell, and the cover had a certain look, it was one of those "Great recordings" series on some label.  Every time I hear the double concerto, I can smell the liner notes.  When I see other discs with a similar format for the cover, I can also hear the double concerto.

By the way, when people talk about synesthesia, they usually mean hearing music and seeing colors.  But actually the dictionary defines the word, "a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality."  Modality referring to the senses.  So synesthesia is the integration of any or all of the senses, not such sight and sound.  I think the synesthesiatic state is one we can also aspire to, because it will guarantee the most durable and reliable memory, using all of the memories combined: visual, aural, smell, touch, intellectual. 

You can study scores away from the piano in this way: seeing the notes on the page, for instance; haering it in your mind's ear away from actual sound; smelling the inside pages, whether they are moldy, musty or inky; touching the binding, writing in the score, making it your own; and analysing the harmony and structure of the piece.

This kind of multi-sensual study will guarantee you a level of familiarity that can't be achived by sitting at the piano and struggling for hour after hour.  It's about taking a piece of music, which always starts out as a labyrinth to us, and making it into the most well-worn corner of your house, the one you will always turn to in times of need.

Walter Ramsey

[jakev2.0]

Heh, Ramsey...reading the second half of your last post was the first time I consciously thought about an aspect of memory I've experienced vividly all my life.

[Mozartian]

I think a completely perfect performance at a less-than-established-virtuoso level has a great deal to do with luck. I wouldn't worry about your mistakes. If you're playing well, people aren't going to mind a few mistakes, and will enjoy you much more than they would a technically-perfect android!

I make.. shall we say.. my fair share of mistakes in performance. This used to bother me a lot, and led to extreme tension and nervousness- which resulted in more mistakes and, greater than mistakes, memory blanks. I finally realized how counter-productive this was and have been able to snap myself out of it. Since then, performing has been much easier for me, and I'm beginning to really enjoy it- and- yeah! less mistakes!

You need to always be cognisant of where you're going with the music (I prefer to be able to 'play back' the piece completely in my head without the score before I ever perform it), and make sure that you're very secure in your memory of the piece, using whatever memory device(s) you use (I personally rely heavily on visual and a type of aural memory). And also key is to never think negatively- don't think 'don't make mistakes', think 'do this'. It sounds silly but it makes a huge difference. And FORGET about the mistakes you've made- really. Stay in the moment!

Hope this helps, somewhat!

[rc]

I have reservations about your last comment about meditation.  As I understand it, meditation is about achieving a passive state of mind, where the thoughts come and go, but have no effect on the general balance of being.  I propose an active state of mind when dealing with problems like sloppiness, and using all the powers of reason and intellect to solve those problems.

What I find useful in meditation is the mental discipline.  In achieving a passive state of mind, you have to be able to let renegade thoughts pass and remain focused on... nothing, heh.  What's important is the focus.  Just like in music, when you're focusing on whatever aspect you're practicing, it's a valuable skill to have the mental discipline to not be taken off-track by random thoughts.

I find it's often the lack of focus that causes random mistakes, or focusing on the wrong things.  Chopin53 says he has no trouble with his technique, so I suspect it's, as requested, a matter of focus.

For me, the nerves sometimes play tricks on me, make me too worrysome, and when I'm playing something I know, for some reason my analytical mind puts my hands and keys under the microscope - things I already know how to do, and messes it up.  Fixing what isn't broken.  Which also can happen in practice, to a lesser degree.

Again, as everyone agrees - perfection is an ideal.  Hold it in your head and always strive for it, but don't expect to recreate it in reality.  A lot of ideals aren't even literally possible on the piano, though still useful.  They guide what you're trying to get out of the piano, and being an impossible ideal, keep you improving indefinitely (whatever the threshold of your sanity is ).

[pianoteacherkim]

I have reservations about your last comment about meditation.  As I understand it, meditation is about achieving a passive state of mind, where the thoughts come and go, but have no effect on the general balance of being.  I propose an active state of mind when dealing with problems like sloppiness, and using all the powers of reason and intellect to solve those problems.

I agree with you, both about the end goal of meditation and about having an active state of mind while playing and dealing with problems.  The parallel I meant to draw (but which came out murky due to my limited time to reply) was that in learning to meditate, one of the first exercises one does is to begin to be aware of and to focus thought -- say, on breathing, or on a chanted syllable.  When your thoughts roam, you again bring them back to your focus point.  It's the awareness of the thought process -- and learning to focus on what you want to, rather than what you don't, that I was getting at.

You can study scores away from the piano in this way: seeing the notes on the page, for instance; haering it in your mind's ear away from actual sound; smelling the inside pages, whether they are moldy, musty or inky; touching the binding, writing in the score, making it your own; and analysing the harmony and structure of the piece.

This kind of multi-sensual study will guarantee you a level of familiarity that can't be achived by sitting at the piano and struggling for hour after hour.  It's about taking a piece of music, which always starts out as a labyrinth to us, and making it into the most well-worn corner of your house, the one you will always turn to in times of need.

Very well said!  Excellent!

Best,

Kim