Practice when tired/it's late?

[shingo]

Hey,
     I have thought about this numerous times and always longed to find out what is best to do in this situation. When I have been busy all day/evening and get back late I often want to do my days practice but become torn between wether it will actually be worse attempting so - increase in errors becoming engrained, general annoyance due to tiredness maybe quashing my desire for tomorrows session. Or whether it is best to keep the (key) consistency going and practice anyway.
     I am currently typing this in one of these situations and have kind of resigned to not practicing today, obviously getting it done first thing in the day or at least some other time is the real answer but what is it best to do. Maybe I am thinking about it too much and should just get on with it. Leaving it always sounds the easy option but I am genuinely concerned about the damage it could do to the passages I am learning or as I say the enjoyment I have of it. I could gritt my teeth and do it but would it be worth it?
     Thanks for any light shed upon the matter, maybe it wont be in time to save tonights session, but at least I will know what to do in the future.

[m19834]

Under any circumstances (tired or not tired), the more true to the music we can be, the better.  I mean that in the sense of rhythm and pitches, as well as expression and whatever else people feel is included in the process of learning and playing music.

Tiredness or not, I am becoming more and more convinced that errors at any time are a result of trying to take too much on at once.  The size chunk we are deciding to work on at a particular time, well, perhaps that will (and should) vary, in some degree, from day to day depending on our circumstances.  If it's truly the integrity of the music that you are concerned about, try taking a smaller chunk to ensure you will not sacrifice your standards, even if that means it's only two (or one (!)) notes at a time.

I find that successful practicing is actually a stimulus, and even if I was tired beforehand, once I am experiencing what I love about practicing, I am revived enough to have my session be fruitful.

[ramseytheii]

Under any circumstances (tired or not tired), the more true to the music we can be, the better. 

Very well said!

Sometimes, you may find yourself waking up inexplicably in very early hours.  This is always your body, trying to tell you something.  If you feel the urge, or in the original posts words, the "concern," to practice even after a long day, you should do it.  Your mind is telling you, that it is ready to tackle the problems.  You never know; perhaps your having worked all day will clear out some bad mental habits, and you can approach this task freshly.

Listen to the demands of your body and mind!

Walter Ramsey

[dorfmouse]

I was going to suggest something similar to Karli. Just so something really small. When I have the it's too late/I'm too tired/have no energy left for practice feeling, the worse thing I can do is just sit down at the piano and think "I've got to practice". Instead I cast my mind over the piece and mentally bookmark a bar or two that I'm struggling with and say to myself I'll just spend 10 minutes working out a fingering for this, or just practising an awkward jump. No emotional angst involved, just like the feeling I must brush my teeth before I go to bed.( Now, you don't skip that do you!) Very often your energy gets rekindled and you find yourself happily practicing for an hour. If not, at least you've got one tricky spot sorted.
It's just like when the housework or paperwork has built up to giant unmanagable proportions, you say okay, I'll just clean the loo or sort out the junk mail from the bills, and well, at least some of the time, you end up with a sparkling bathroom or a pristine tidy desk.
(Also thinking about the preparation I should be doing for work next day reliably gives me a marvellous surge of enthisiasm for piano practice instead. Is that a displacement activity or something?!)

[shingo]

Yeah thats probably the best way to do it then at least some would be done. I think one of my weakesses at the moment is to see my practice as 7/9 individual blocks and not 7/9 blocks all linked together. An all or nothing approach if you will.

[slobone]

Give it a shot and see what happens. Some of my best practice sessions have come when I was really tired. And I've had awful ones when I was feeling great.

Just try to do whatever you're up to. Give it 15 minutes or so, and if nothing is coming out right, go to bed and try again tomorrow.

[bonjing]

if you feel your mind is wandering or even tired when you're practicing, stop. Begin again only when you are not tired or when your mind returns to the music. Concentration is essential in all study. You should plan your work each day and budget your time.

[slobone]

if you feel your mind is wandering or even tired when you're practicing, stop. Begin again only when you are not tired or when your mind returns to the music. Concentration is essential in all study. You should plan your work each day and budget your time.

But don't you think it's valuable to learn how to work hard and concentrate even when you're tired or in a bad mood? That's when discipline, and having a definite plan, come into play.

After all, you won't always have the luxury of being at your best when you're scheduled to play for other people, even if it's just your teacher.

[Bob]

A quick thought....

When your mind is tired, you can still have the body go through mindless technical exercises.  That does work.

However, the body still needs good energy to recover, so you might just wear yourself down doing that.