How to stop the habit of stumbling specially play mozart, Beethoven, chopin

[dora96]

G'day all,

I have a very bad habit of stumbling all the time when I play mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. It is  driving me mad. It doesn't matter how many times I  play and practising. It seems my fingers cannot be articulated enough, specially the piece in a fast tempo.  My fingers like lead. When listening to CD or look at YouTube, the professional pianists play so beautiful. Each note is clear and light. I feel depressed sometimes, the more I practise the less I can achive the result. Is there any particular method stop stumbling? I practise with hand separately, and try to master the difficult section. However, I can't put the whole song from start  to finish without  stumble. My exam is coming up. If I can play fluently now, how can I do it when the pressure on

[pianorin]

dora96,
sometimes I face this problem too.. My way is--- not to practise too much because no matter how much I practise, the outcome is still the same. I'll rest for while.. well, instead playing the same pieces over and over again, try playing other pieces to relax yourself.. dont pressure yourself even though the exam is coming..

as for those professional pianists.. they can play so well because they are professional.. 
don compare yourself with them because you will be pressured.. so dont feel depressed!! it's good enough if you can improve 1% a day.. 

[dnephi]

Try easier pieces which you can play well.  Don't play all of these pieces which are too hard for you!  It's  much more impressive to hear an easier piece played well than a poorly played difficult one. 

[slobone]

Slow practice is essential to really learn the notes "in your fingers". Spend some time doing it every day when you're learning a piece. Only work on one short section at a time (just a few measures). Play the section very slowly over and over until it's perfect.

Then you can keep moving the metronome up a little bit and repeat the process. But don't be in a hurry to play faster, because it's at the slow tempo that learning is really taking place.

Once you really know the notes in your "muscle memory", you'll be surprised how easy it becomes to play both quickly and correctly at the same time.

[rc]

If you're too compulsive about practice it's easy to slip into careless habits.  When you sit down you want to have the mindset of perfection - less tolerance for slipups.  It's one of those things that you work at gradually, forever adding more polish.  But I find having a good mindset at the beginning of a practice session makes a big difference.  If I'm practicing a scale for example, I might take a moment to imagine myself playing the scale flawlessly.

It helps to feel grounded, solid posture on your seat gives a more secure feeling in the hands.

A lot of it is a mental game.  I've noticed sometimes I will be able to play one difficult section with the greatest ease and for some reason I always stumble over another equally difficult section.  Often the reason for that is because I'm psyching myself out over it - I anticipate the difficulty, which screws up my focus and like a self-fulfilling prophesy causes me to mess it up again.

What I found was that after a certain amount of practice, the fingers know what to do and it's better to not consciously meddle with it.  So it helps to practice confidence.  You can do it mentally by trying to capture that feeling of graceful ease, or by careful practice and proving to yourself that you can play the difficult section consistently.  Eventually you get a sense of when you can leave details of execution to your subconscious.

Another mental practice is to imagine the ideal sound you want to express.  Sometimes I find that my mistakes are so ingrained that they occur even in my imagination.  Sometimes I find that I actually DON'T have a very clear conception of the sound I want to create, and by working on that gives me a good guide of what I need to do and so my practice is better focused.

I would like to pick a nit with pianorin and say that you SHOULD compare yourself with professionals.  I believe everyone ought to aspire to give professional-level performances (not necessarily virtuoso repertoire), I wouldn't want to listen to any less and I wouldn't want to subject anyone else to it either.  There's no virtue in mediocrity...  Just remember you're a work in progress and have patience with yourself

[ramseytheii]

You're asking a really huge question, and at  best you can only hope to get some pieces of inspiration from these posts; so don't expect any answers!

First of all, I think your mindset is detrimental.  When you write things like, "my fingers cannot be articulate enough," "the more I practice the less I achieve," "I can't put the whole song together..." etc.  you reveal a harmful self-deprecation that will only impede your ability to improve.  What I mean to say is, smile!

Also, don't expect things to go your way in a matter of minutes, or even a couple of practice sessions.  As Vladimir de Pachmann said, "If only I could tell you how many hours, years, went into those thirds!" referring to Chopin's nocturne, op.37 no.2 in G major.

Now for some practical advice.  Every time you make a stumble, you have to turn that mistake into a principle.  If you stumble in a trill, you have to say, "My trills need work."  If you stumble in a scale, you have to say, "My scales need work."  If you stumble in a complicated contrapuntal passage, you have to say, "I need to work out counterpoint better."  Every mistake relates to a principle.

Then, everytime you approach a piece, you see the same things pop up over and over again: trills; scales; counterpoint; arpeggios; fast chords; parallel chords; everything that gives you a problem in place, will do it in the other, if it goes unchecked.  That's why every time you stumble, you have to search for the correction.

When you find the correction - and sometimes you will, sometimes you won't - you have to then do two things: 1, try and apply it to other pieces with similar problems, and 2, remember the mindset that led you to the correction; forget saying things like, "I can't," or "my fingers can't;" instead, say "I have solved this problem, and I can do it again."

Any problem at the piano exists at so many levels of difficulty, and if you can solve it at one level, it doesn't mean it will be easy at the next, but it means you have a record of success that you can apply to the next case; you have a permanent head start in solving those problems.

If you are zealous about correcting every single error, every time, you will see very quickly an amazing improvement in your piano playing.  Your thinking will go from small errors to big pictures, you will be able to sustain a piece all the way through, and your experience of success will aid you in learning all new pieces - as long as you don't let yourself forget it.

Walter Ramsey

[dan101]

I believe that you should start practicing faster occasionally if your fingers feel like lead. Sections should be gradually increased in speed, with a metronome if necessary. Also, practicing the most difficult passages at a rapid speed will increase the type of muscle that you need in order to play pieces with quick tempo indications.

The one drawback with fast playing is that it can make you stiff in your wrist and forearms, thus requiring some relaxation exersices. Consult your teacher. Good luck.

[teresa_b]

I would take the middle road as far as comparing yourself to professional pianists:  Don't obsess and get yourself upset over not being that good (yet  ), but do use that wonderful pianist as an inspiration.  That person did not get where they are without years of sweat and slogging, and if they're human, they had the same thoughts as you at one time--and look how fabbo they are now!

There is some good advice in the previous posts as far as getting more sure of yourself.  One mental thing that sometimes works for me is, when there's a particularly sticky passage, I sometimes get a mental block.  I find I can get over this by simply saying to myself "Why, this passage is easy!"  (Obviously I also have to practice it slowly, analyze why it is difficult, etc)  Once I've done the physical work, it is amazing how this self-suggestion seems to work.

Good luck!
Teresa

[sette_md]

I d like to sum up the very important things already said in the previous posts: the answer to your ( our) problem is  just one that is to LEARN HOW TO STUDY.
I had 3  fine piano teachers but the 3rd was top just because she, and only she did teach me the best ways to study . This means that half our properly done means much more than 3 hours without a good methodolgy. Maybe you could enrich this debate by letting us know what and how are you practicing ? Which authors do you use?
Remeber, your problem is our problem.  An efficient , logical and well applied method of study is the only solution. 

[dora96]

Thank you so much for your help and prompt respond to my post. My stumbling mostly
occurs when I am lack of concentration, and fatigue of practicing. I also find that I can
play really well in Yamaha brand piano. The sound and touching somehow give me the
confident that I will play well. However, when I play in Kawai piano or other brand of
piano if I don’t feel comfortable. It will make me stumbling. I don’t know you gay have this sort of
experience or not. I remembered I performed once in Kawai grand piano few months ago, I
have practiced so well and I also knew the piece inside and out. But it seemed my fingers
have argument with the piano. I know practice makes perfect and right mindset. On the performance day, how to deal with if you don't like the piano you are playing.

[general disarray]

However, when I play in Kawai piano or other brand of piano if I don’t feel comfortable. It will make me stumbling. But it seemed my fingers have argument with the piano. I know practice makes perfect and right mindset. On the performance day, how to deal with if you don't like the piano you are playing.
 

Well, this is the age-old problem of all pianists, dora.  We don't get to drag our own personal instruments around like those lucky string players.  (The one exception, of course, was Horowitz, but he was an exception in every way possible.)  We have to deal with what is presented to us.

I'm sure everyone has performance horror stories about nasty instruments.  My personal favorite is the Steinway 7-foot in a private home for a recital run-through.  The day before, a cloud burst soaked the ceiling and dripped onto -- and into -- the instrument.  Hair dryers and space heaters got most of the moisture out, but the action was swollen, stiff and sticky.  Playing the Chopin B-flat minor Scherzo felt like wrestling an alligator.  Adding insult to injury, the carpeting beneath the piano had earlier been stained with cat pee -- the water only activated the latent odor.  I felt like I was playing in a litter box.

It's mindset again.  Just approach the instrument with the best of intentions.  Some things you simply can't control and I think it is here that you have to let yourself off the hook.

Do your best.  Audiences really and truly are on your side.  The want you to do your best and will overlook flaws when those beautiful moments come by.  And I'm sure you have many beautiful moments to share with your audiences.

Don't fret, dora.  You'll be fine.   

[guendola]

Actually, the secret to stop the habit of stumbling is to stop stumbling. This might sound odd but that is all there is - physically. It all happens in your head first. The more intimate you get with the instrument, the better you will play. Now, how to get more intimate with your instrument, I can't tell you but maybe the idea helps. It helped me a lot without any further explanation. It is a bit like stuttering when talking to a complete stranger: If you adjust your ego to the level of the strangers ego, you won't stutter at all.

By the way, I put "the instrument" intentionally, instead of "your piano" because physically playing two totally different pianos doesn't make as big a difference as one might expect (unless there are keys missing or something like that). It is a bit like walking: Generally you can walk and if the ground changes, you still can walk, it only feels a bit different. Of course it is also a good idea to play on as many different pianos as possible - but that is not the general key to stop stumbling.

[point of grace]

a month before my exam i leave the piano for a week, then, 15 days before the exam, i try the pieces again and they sound muuch better than before... for sure
i think u need some relax and a bit of faith, and confidence.

also try slow practice, some time with no playing between piece and piece.

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and when i deal with that problem i just stop playing, and some minutes later, i sit again.

come on!! you can do it!!