How to practice?

[virtuoso_735]

What is the most efficient way to practice? I think I'm really lost on this. Case in point: I practiced a set of pieces for almost a year for a evaluation/competition kind of thing, and I totally messed up and blacked out in several spots during my performance. What I did to practice most of the year is the typical H.S.--->H.T. routine, then after memorization I just played the pieces through once every few days.

I know there must be a more effective way to practice than just playing the pieces through. I'm going to play in my first competition in about a month and will be playing the same pieces that I totally messed up on. I need to learn how to practice. Please help!

[rc]

Phew, what a big question!

First, do you think your mistakes were caused by nerves?  That sounds like it could be stagefright.

There are a variety of ways to memorize a piece.  Kinesthetic memory, where your body knows the sequence of motions.  Aural memory, visual memory (of the notes on the page, also the keys on the keyboard), analytic memory (structure, motifs, all that theory stuff)...  A lot of this works itself out in the process of learning the piece, but you can also focus on improving your memory specifically.  Mental practice is great - being able to recall the image of the printed notes in your head, the keys, hearing the piece, the feel of playing it.  Give that a shot; mental practice isn't always easy - I have some difficulties in visualizing in my head clearly, but the results are worthwhile.

A lot of solid memory is from sheer repitition, but you don't want to be mindlessly repeating - that'll numb your brain for sure...  You want to take the perfectionist approach, playing something over and over again because you want to get just the right sound, then repeating it more to get that sound consistantly.

You can also practice overcoming stagefright, by pretending that you're playing in the competition, imagining all the details until it feels real - you can simulate the feeling of stagefright, and work on overcoming it (by keeping your focus on the music, not letting mistakes stir you to making more mistakes...)  Also experience: just perform as often as you can, for family, friends, at the music store, wherever there's a piano.  Go out of your way to perform more often!

The most effecient way of practicing is something we each must develop.  There are as many methods as there are pianists.  Here's a site with ideas: https://www.practicespot.com/home.php, or you can browse through the forum... Then try out the ideas, see what works for you, adapt things.  Our practice is an ongoing thing, constantly developing, trying different ideas finding what works.

I believe concentration is the most useful trait to cultivate.  Whatever methods you're using, concentration is what determines how effectively you'll use your time.  You want to be able to practice without becoming distracted by thoughts unrelated to the task at hand. 

Also, be patient with yourself.  Good practice habits can take time to develop, and we're always coming across new ideas to try out.  If you get sidetracked, just get back on track.  Persist and you will outlast any problem you come across.

My two favorite books: The Art of Playing Piano by Heinrich Neuhaus - just what it says.  Full of piano solutions, the kind of book you can pick up again and again.

Mastery by George Leonard - small book, describes the right attitude to take in learning.

[molto-marcato]

Neuhaus is a very fine book. Especially his focus on tone-control and the fact that you cannot or should not separate technique from tone/music.

[danny elfboy]

What is the most efficient way to practice? I think I'm really lost on this. Case in point: I practiced a set of pieces for almost a year for a evaluation/competition kind of thing, and I totally messed up and blacked out in several spots during my performance. What I did to practice most of the year is the typical H.S.--->H.T. routine, then after memorization I just played the pieces through once every few days.

I know there must be a more effective way to practice than just playing the pieces through. I'm going to play in my first competition in about a month and will be playing the same pieces that I totally messed up on. I need to learn how to practice. Please help!

The answer to your question also implies an answer to your other question about "relaxation". Of course practicing menthods are just "means" and there are many of them with work for different people in different circumstances. It's like diets, there's no "one fits all".

What is virtuosity? The "bodybuilders" of the piano will tell you that it is "fast fingers" "strength" and "stamina". They are also the one that end up either injuried or have to give up a piano career for chronic inflamation or that just lose their "virtuosity" with age.

Virtuosity is actually "ease" "effortless" and "accurate" playing

So accuracy is the solution to your problem here and effortless ease is the solution to your tension problem.

What is relaxation and how much relaxation is too much?
This is a very ambiguous question because it develops from the premise that either relaxation or tension are fixed and stable conditions
They're not
Relaxation is the state muscles have when there's no contraction
Contraction is the shortening of muscles to redirect the weight towards the arms

It's not true at all that relaxation may be too much or that there's something as "too much relaxed"
Your muscles are supposed to be as relaxed as to be dead when there's no contraction and contracting just for a fraction of a second, that is when you come in contact with the keys. Effortless playing and hence speed and hence virtuosity is just fast contraction/release as you play. When your muscles are released they're like jelly bean and they can move as lifeless parts of a puppet manouvred by strings
When your fingers touch the keys contraction is necessary but it lasts for less than a millicon and is followed immediately by the same lifeless condition of your muscles

Tension is "unrelease contraction" hence you become tense when you contracted by forgot to release. The contraction/release is so quick that it's almost impossible to see for the viewers but when it has been tried it keeps underlying the whole playing and tension becomes IMPOSSIBLE. This is important to bear in mind: tension is not caused by effort, strength, powerful demanding actions. Even the hardest and longest task can be done without any kind of tension whatsoever and even the most easy task can lead to tension. Tension is only possible when previous contractions has not been released.
This also explains what speed is all about. Moving fast does not depend at all on the strength of the muscles or in some kind of "mythical" perception of speed but on "speed at contractin/releasing in the shortest amount of time.

In fast piece there's one passage after another without pauses and it's very easy to proceed on the piece without releasing the previous contraction. In fact it may seem like there's NO TIME to release the contraction before a new contraction needs to occur
That's it: there's no time unless the contraction and release happen so quickly so occur in less than a fraction of a second. Speed in contractin and releasing (which is MENTAL or better yet neurocoordinative and no physical or muscular) is what speed is all about

To me the best way to practice with a focus on contraction/release, accuracy but also memory and phrasing is to practice CONTRACTION by CONTRACTION

So you play a musically meaningful section starting from a totally relaxed state and applying the right amount of contraction. Then you just stop and bring your hand to your lap and relax it completely. Only when you're sure it is completely relaxed you're ready to practice the next section.

The largest a section can be is 6 notes (sextuplet) but most section are no more than 4 notes.

A better to understand this is breath
Think about the maximum lenght of notes you can sing in just one breath before you need to re-catch your breath. Now imagine instead of practicing (as a singer) a whole song while trying to expire/enspire (so as to avoid tension which would be the singing of a new section without having re-caught a new breath) to practice "whole breath section" by "whole breath section".
So you sing what you can sing in one breath and then stop
Take the time to re-catch the breath and then sing the next section in just one breath and so on.

What happens is that tension is never allowed to accumulate as each impulse is not properly calculated to provide the right amount of contraction but it's also automatically released ALWAYS by the stop

Then you'll join sections.
When you'll start doing this you'll see that even if as you join the sections there's no stop anymore between the sections the previously trained contraction/release has become automatic and is still underlying all your playing and will instinctively underline the playing of the whole piece played as a whole

You'll also notice that in this way the focus is each time aimed at a section
This provides a very analytical perspective on the piece
It's very easy to remember pieces when they're practiced this way because the mind isn't overwhelmed by the task of remembering a whole piece at a time but remembers each section at a time within the whole piece context

But this applies to any aspect of the piece
It's very easy to be in control of dyamics when practicing this way because again the dynamic of each section is the focus of the mind and so on

You can see this mechanism at work even with other tasks other than playing piano
Take a DVD you seen for the first time for example

Then try to remember the whole movie and the important events as they chronologically happen in the movie. Then try to see one chapter at a time. Focus on each chapter and do a long pause between each chapter so as to relaxed the mind, process the information and enclose the chapter in a specific contextual scheme of what you're doing

You'll see that the second time you'll remember each chapter, the main events of each chapter and this will in turn allow you to better construct a mental image or memory of the whole movie

[virtuoso_735]

Thanks for input, guys!

[rc]

Your welcome, I hope it helps!

[pianowelsh]

SLOWLY, Hands sep, hands together, circular...these are the three main forms. Of course none of them are any good if you dont apply your brain whilst doing them, mindless repetition only builds finger memory - at best!  To be honest it does sound like more of a problem with nerves combined with memory anxiety. Much has been written here about memory already so I shant go over it all again except I had a teacher who when I was playing out from mem in the first instance would get me to write out a map for the piece on a piece of paper...with just the highlights.  Like a lead sheet...I would play from that as an intermediate step to memorising. Perhaps you need to spend some time at that stage to develop confidence in your memory and then gradually reduce the ques to 0%  Also regarding practice it IS scary how quickly a piece can fall out of control when you dont practice it for a while.  Simply playing it through every few days really isnt sufficient to stand up under pressure. Daily practice is ideal when you are being assessed on the stuff. It should be often slow practice too taking in all the detail and with the score... a bash through with the score in you bag somewhere isnt going to help you be confident. Having the score there means you are constantly refreshing and aiding your memory. You are giving security too and if you make a mistake you can fix it straightaway not gloss over it and carry on. The is room for playing through a programme BUT after practice has taken place - not as a substitute.

[jeremyjchilds]

This won't be a full answer, because of the many great posts already

Any practice routine may be judged by three words:
               concentration, Accuracy, Repititions

i think that using the mind is just as important as the fingers. It can be useful to think of the sub-concious as a computer, which responds to accurate repitions. The concious is what decides the best way to put these acurate repitions into the subconcious and muscle memory.

this means that all practicing should be the pursuit of accurate repitions. Any innacuracies in practice will lead to a "memory trace of failure"  that may come up in a performance.
It can be possible to practice in such a way that failures in the practice room may be minimized (remember, the performance is the sum total of the practice experience)

We must be constantly be manipulating the variables so that we are practicing accuracies
--play slower
--play hands seperate
--play smaller sections
--only tap the rhythm on knees (hands seperate or together)
--play only the strong beats in the measure
--understand what is played as a memory aid

There are many approaces, but this is what I use.

1) Decide on a small and attainable goal (Ex. m5-9 R.H. only)
2) Tap the rhythm in R.H. to reinforce muscle memory in rhythm\coordination
3) Think carefully about patterns, intervals, movements necessary think think think do not fool around on the piano untill something sound right
         -  Pre hear the sound that you want to produce..do not rush this stage
4) try slowly and carefully
5) Test with the metronome. When you can do it 5 times in a row, you most likely have this section reliable and confident (Notes and timing wise...)

[a-sharp]

Hi... new here... forgive me if this was mentioned [I didn't see it as I read through the responses] ~

Do you have starting places throughout your pieces and practice starting at different places [from memory]? I have found that to be invaluable in prepartion for a performance.

I find this especially important in pieces that are harder to memorize - like, when the changes are more subtle ...

Test yourself at various times during the day [starting at different numbers] - then, if you can do a "practice performance" for a friend or two [even those pieces you've performed before], a week or so before the 'real' thing, it helps to show you exactly where you need any more work [or not].

If it's technical/stumbling issues, I'm convinced, slow practice with a metronome fixes a ton of things - if you can discipline yourself to do it daily - that's the trick! ;)

my2c. :)