Practice strategies for balancing a large program

[pla635]

Hi,

I'm about to do my first big competition and I have no idea how to work on so much music.  Does anyone have any tips or can refer me to some books?  My teacher is away on a concert tour now and I am eager to have some good advice before he gets back. 

Have to rotate 2 full length recital programs and 2 concertos. 
Am playing Scriabin 5, Couperin pieces de Clavecin (a set), Mozart D major sonata 310, Liszt paganini etude no. 6, Chopin op. 10 #8, Rachmaninoff etude op. 33 #3, Stravinsky Petrouchka, Schumann Davidsbundlertanze, Ravel ma mere l'oye (transcribed for solo piano).  Concerti-Brahms d minor and Mozart 488. 

Everything but couperin and Rachmaninoff is old, any advice??

[dnephi]

You're nuts!  Youre going to kill yourself .

I recommend practicing slowly with a metronome through all of your pieces, counting aloud once a day.  Follow that with a medium runthrough with metronome, and then tackle the technically most difficult passages by themselves.

[shevinka]

Hi,

I'm about to do my first big competition and I have no idea how to work on so much music.  Does anyone have any tips or can refer me to some books?  My teacher is away on a concert tour now and I am eager to have some good advice before he gets back. 

Have to rotate 2 full length recital programs and 2 concertos. 
Am playing Scriabin 5, Couperin pieces de Clavecin (a set), Mozart D major sonata 310, Liszt paganini etude no. 6, Chopin op. 10 #8, Rachmaninoff etude op. 33 #3, Stravinsky Petrouchka, Schumann Davidsbundlertanze, Ravel ma mere l'oye (transcribed for solo piano).  Concerti-Brahms d minor and Mozart 488. 

Everything but couperin and Rachmaninoff is old, any advice??

[shevinka]

sorry for the mess up...

this is so cool! i wish i would have a competition! your stuff is hard too!

I would choose two piecs a week from the same era, and go into detail plus emphasising on specific points.

All the other pieces in the mean time should be played slowly, with a metronome, to mentain your playing.

[mike_lang]

You're nuts!  Youre going to kill yourself .

I recommend practicing slowly with a metronome through all of your pieces, counting aloud once a day.  Follow that with a medium runthrough with metronome, and then tackle the technically most difficult passages by themselves.

I'm sorry, but this is the most inefficient practice method I have ever seen.  With a repertoire this large, there is no way that everything can be practiced more than superficially every day.  Furthermore, at this stage, a metronome has no role to play unless there is a pulse-related problem such as a tendency to drag or to rush in a given section.  Practice should be specific to problems, and not generalized as above, otherwise it is an incredible waste of time.

It is true that slow practice is a useful tool - employ it in sections that are difficult on the memory and at the end of practicing any passage.  However, you are no longer experiencing the labor pangs of the initial learning stage of the majority of these pieces, so why backtrack by playing slowly too much?  Slow practice has a purpose, but it is not a fix-all and should be used for specific goals: testing memory, smoothing unrefined motions, and concluding practice of a passage.

It goes without saying that technically difficult passages should be isolated in order to attain mastery.  In keeping with the former paragraph, make sure that you use the correct practice tool (rhythms, slow practice, accents, presto possibile, Cortot hold-and-poke, etc.) for the correct problem.  At this point, you do not have the time to waste "polishing shiny objects."  Only practice what needs attention.

The last piece of advice I have is to practice your pieces mentally as you walk - daydream them!  Sing them when you are in the shower, making dinner, even in the street!  Repertoire needs not only practice room time, but to be lived as well.

Best wishes!

[j849266]

Sounds exciting! So what competition are you playing in and when does it start? You have a very demanding and strong rep. are some of these pieces required for the competition? I am also curious who do you study with?


Best of luck

Jerry

[iumonito]

I agree with Lang Lang (sorry, M. L'Anglois, too much of a temptation both times).   

The Couperin and Rocky should pretty much learn itself while you are getting concert ready, so just fit them where they go. 

Play each round two times a day, one under tempo (not much) but with full emotional and concentration focus, the other with the score, to avoid re-composing the music and to trigger you subconcious to continue to do creative work.

With the concertos, will you have to play them back to back if you get to the finals, or on separate dates?  If back to back, you have to treat them as one unit (play them twice a day, same as above, three or four times a week), if they are separate, then you can practice them in alternating days.

Watch out for tiring yourself physically.  Attentive, intelligent work is what you need to do at this point, including practicing the long-span concentration to play the rounds without the start-stop typical of the period when you are learning the pieces.

Lovely program, BTW.  No chamber music, though?

[james_bath]

I'm sorry, but this is the most inefficient practice method I have ever seen.  With a repertoire this large, there is no way that everything can be practiced more than superficially every day.  Furthermore, at this stage, a metronome has no role to play unless there is a pulse-related problem such as a tendency to drag or to rush in a given section.  Practice should be specific to problems, and not generalized as above, otherwise it is an incredible waste of time.

It is true that slow practice is a useful tool - employ it in sections that are difficult on the memory and at the end of practicing any passage.  However, you are no longer experiencing the labor pangs of the initial learning stage of the majority of these pieces, so why backtrack by playing slowly too much?  Slow practice has a purpose, but it is not a fix-all and should be used for specific goals: testing memory, smoothing unrefined motions, and concluding practice of a passage.

It goes without saying that technically difficult passages should be isolated in order to attain mastery.  In keeping with the former paragraph, make sure that you use the correct practice tool (rhythms, slow practice, accents, presto possibile, Cortot hold-and-poke, etc.) for the correct problem.  At this point, you do not have the time to waste "polishing shiny objects."  Only practice what needs attention.

The last piece of advice I have is to practice your pieces mentally as you walk - daydream them!  Sing them when you are in the shower, making dinner, even in the street!  Repertoire needs not only practice room time, but to be lived as well.

Best wishes!

Wow.  This sounds like great advice.  I find myself (a self-educating novice) already practicing most of what you wrote in your reply to your questioner.  It's nice to learn that the path I am naturally following is actually well-worn by others.  One question though: Why slow-practice at the end of a piece?  Reinforcement?

[dnephi]

Wow.  This sounds like great advice.  I find myself (a self-educating novice) already practicing most of what you wrote in your reply to your questioner.  It's nice to learn that the path I am naturally following is actually well-worn by others.  One question though: Why slow-practice at the end of a piece?  Reinforcement?

I realize now that my personal experience is different from what he is doing.  He has put together an enormous program, and what works for me on my shorter programs is not practical on that scale.

It has given me senses of pulse, unity, and held the pieces together.  It sort of solidifies and concatenates all of the segments I've put together myself.

Thank you, Mike, for setting me straight!

Daniel

[pla635]

Thank you for all your advice!!!!  I am doing the technical isolation on difficult passages-as well as slow metrenome practice.  THere was some debate as to the usefulness of metrenome, and I have been using it quite a bit, (Stravinsky, Couperin).  The comfort and readiness of each piece is different.  I nixed the rachmaninoff-don't want to play something new.  So things like the Brahms concerto, I know really well like 2 years ago...The Stravinsky is in my fingers now.  Schumann was in my fingers 6 months ago, and Scriabin 5 I performed many times 2 years ago.  Liszt etude is relatively new.  So is my goal to even out the level, bring everything into my fingers, then rotate the program.  If this is the case, then I need to be focusing my attention on one or two pieces a week...
Michael, your advice is really good.  I do sing it in the shower!