Effective practice

[yamaha]

Hi all

This is my first post, I have been reading the board for a while though, very interesting  

I wonder if anyone has any tips on the most effective way to practice?  I have a performance diploma (DipABRSM)  coming up in 8 weeks and my pieces arent ready yet!!

At the moment I do about 3 hours practice a day weekdays, 1 hour Sat and Sun off.  I play my pieces through and if I make a mistake (or rather WHEN I make a mistake  )  I stop and correct that part over and over until I have played it correctly at least 2 times.  Then I continue, reapeating this process.

I am not especially talented and I have to work hard at my playing, and progress is sloooowwww.  Are there any better, more effective ways of practicing that I could try?

My programme................

Bach Prelude and Fugue No.14 in F# minor  (book 1)
Beethoven Pathetiqe sonata complete
Schubert Impromptue No 3 in Gb  D899/3
Bartok Dance in Bulgarian ryhthm No 2 from Mikrokosmos Vol 6

Thanks in advance

[JK]

In all honesty I have personally found that just playing through pieces can only do so much to improve your playing and you will find with this method that progress is slow. Do you always make the same mistakes in the same places, if so then you need to do more slow practice, this may seem ineffective at first but I have found it to be the best practice method. After all if you can't play something up to speed then no amount of repeating at speed will help until you have slowed it down and got the notes clear in your head.

The way I practce is to focus on one part of one piece intensely for say 30-60mins, in this time I practice slowly, or in slow motion to be absolutely correct, and encorporate all the details of the music such as dynamics, articulation and phrasing. Of course it is important that you get to know the piece as a whole as this will be important for your understanding of the overall strcture, but you need to focus on sections rather than movements, for example you could spend an hour on the exposition of the pathetique.

I would also reccommend that you try and practice for at least an hour on sundays as it is important that any progress you have made over the week is maintained. Don't worry if you don't practice for that long, 30mins of focused slow practice on one section is better than 2hrs playing through over and over!  

Slow practice may seem boring and you may think it's not having any affect, but if you stop playing through all the time and make the majority of your practice slow motion practice then this should improve your playing hugely! (this is the method that works best for me, other people practice in different ways, ultimately you have to find the method that works best for you and that gets the best results )

[A.C.]

Well...I agree with JK. the most effective and efficient way of practising is slow practise.

I start practising pieces with metronome every day at a slow speed to make sure I get all the notes correct and my fingers really go deep into the keys. Afterwards, I'll change a faster tempo and eventually reach the max. tempo, which is a tiny bit faster than what I used to perform. In each tempo, I'll practise places where I feel technically insecure.

It is a must that you have to run through the pieces from the beginning to the end a few times every day, but it doesn't mean that this is the only way you practise. A real practise needs dedication, not just enjoy playing without satisfactory outcome. Sometimes it is very easy to just learn the notes of the pieces, but it is really hard to perfect the pieces. My piano teacher always tells me once I learn all the notes and basic elements of the pieces, "Real practice starts now."

Learning a piece of music is a slow process, you cannot hurry. Do not think that the exam date is coming nearer and nearer, and you just keep running through the pieces. Slow practices are in effect needed now. Practise both with pedal and without pedal. The only thing you can help to make the progress go faster is to concentrate while you'r practising.

Anyhow, wish u goodluck with the exam!

[JK]

Did you know that that was the way Rachmaninoff used to practice, with a metronome, starting slowly and gradually getting faster?!!

[A.C.]

I dunno he did this as well, but I know that many pianists and students do this. It is because it really helps to improve our playing.

[ThePhoenixEffect]

It's bad to use the metrenome to "speed up".  It encourages practicing "slow" rather than "slow motion".

Remember, you want to practice in "slow motion" not "slow".  There is a difference.  "Slow Motion" is how your hands move when playing the piece at the right speed but slowing it down, "Slow" uses quite different motions from the "proper" ones.

[goalevan]

You should practice playing through the piece WITHOUT stopping when you make a mistake, just note the place(s) the error occurred and practice the individual problem bars until you have it down well.

[mosis]

I'm also playing the Pathetique Sonata and the 14th WTCI Prelude, so I'd appreciate help too.

[Piazzo22]

It's bad to use the metrenome to "speed up".  It encourages practicing "slow" rather than "slow motion".

Remember, you want to practice in "slow motion" not "slow".  There is a difference.  "Slow Motion" is how your hands move when playing the piece at the right speed but slowing it down, "Slow" uses quite different motions from the "proper" ones.

Kochevitsky said that correct movements in piano playing are learned and executed by the subconscious mind. It doesn´t mind too much what movements you do when practicing. When all the spatial sequences are executed automatically (after many repetitions), you don´t decide what movements you do. They come all naturally for THAT situation (fast, slow, nothing). So, DO practice slowly. It doesn´t matter if you practice in slow motion or just slowly.

When you learned to talk, you didn´t go llllliiiiiikkkeeee tttttthhhhhiiiiiisssss, you went "like...... this". And that is motor coordination too. Like when learning to walk, and all motor coordinated tasks.

[Piazzo22]

a. Mechanical practicing is irrational and obsolete
b. Correct movements are NOT DEVELOPED CONSCIOUSLY
c. Only preparatory work can be accomplished with the conscious mind
d. The physiological system learns the real piano technique

You don´t have to FIND any correct movements and practice it slowly.
You have to learn the notes (of course slowly and repeating)

look at this:
https://www.cs.bsu.edu/homepages/kevinp/Kochevitsky.htm