What to do when a piece/section resists improvement?

[atticus]

Hi all,

I have been working on the Bach prelude in C minor, WTC, Book 1 for some time now.  I wondered if anyone has any suggestions on how to practice the Presto section of this prelude to make it more reliable? 

I have practiced this section hands separately with the metronome and hands together with the metronome.  I've also investigated different fingering.  I can play the section pretty well at home (when I'm warmed up and playing on my own piano) but when I play it for my teacher on her piano this section falls apart.

Thanks,
atticus

[ramseytheii]

The important thing here as always is creative practice.  If you can play the rest of this prelude, the problem lies not with your fingers, but my guess would be with an insecure general rhythm (even if you have used the metronome).  The reason is the musical line is more complicated than it looks.

Attached is a series of creative exercises inspired by methods suggested by Kirkpatrick.  The important thing is to practice them with the most perfect rhythm, so that when you go back to the full version, you are aware of all of these lines within the complete line.

When I write "etc," it means to play the rest of the presto in that manner.


Please let me know if this is useful.


Walter Ramsey



PS There are surely more possibilities, if you only take the time to discover them

[term]

What to do when a piece/section resists improvement?

Be more persistent. 

[pianowelsh]

Have you tried hands together with your hands crossed!?!?! thats fun.. if you can do it that way it will be easy in front of your teacher - trust me!

[atticus]

Dear all,

Thanks for the responses.

Walter Ramsey - Thanks very much.  I will try these exercises this week!

Kind regards,
atticus

[valor]

  I can play the section pretty well at home (when I'm warmed up and playing on my own piano) but when I play it for my teacher on her piano this section falls apart.

Um... Maybe your just nervous? You have to relax, it happens to me a lot, even infront of my family. You get nervous because you doubt your abilities, but if you have practiced as much as you said you have then you should have no problem playing it.

[teresa_b]

Here are some things that help me with difficult passages: 

Obviously, HS practice and slow practice

HT, think about each 1-bar phrase and play that phrase, which ends on the downbeat over the bar line.  Play only the first one--then the second, then play them in sequence--keep doing this until you have the whole passage.

Observe what seems to trip you up, try to analyze why.  HT rapid parallel stuff is difficult, partly because the hands are mirror-images and you are playing the opposite thing in each hand when you play in parallel. 

Practice hard one day, and get a good night's sleep.  Maybe don't practice that hard part the next day.  You may find amazing improvement next time you play it!

Think the passage is actually a breeze!  Sometimes just getting over a mental block is all you need.   

Good luck and have fun!
Teresa

[matterintospirit]

Hi all,

I have been working on the Bach prelude in C minor, WTC, Book 1 for some time now.  I wondered if anyone has any suggestions on how to practice the Presto section of this prelude to make it more reliable? 

I have practiced this section hands separately with the metronome and hands together with the metronome.  I've also investigated different fingering.  I can play the section pretty well at home (when I'm warmed up and playing on my own piano) but when I play it for my teacher on her piano this section falls apart.

Thanks,
atticus

Hello Atticus,
Have you tried dotted rythms (for hands together) part?
I used to often get nervous at piano lessons---especially when the difficult parts were coming up and sometimes I had trouble "letting go"----too worried
My solution was to practice the part soooo much, and know it sooo well, that it became harder to do, what I call "mind games", while I was playing. The "uh-oh, here it comes" stuff became sort of irrelevant. Practice helps to overcome worry. Practice, practice and more practice, and practice playing the piece in front of people---anyone. Practice builds more  confidence than anything else . Also, focusing on the music. playing this line melodically, will keep your mind of of the "right" notes.