What is essential in practicing?

[go12_3]

This morning a topic was brought up in chat room about essentials.
               Essential is doing something absolutely necessary. 

Is is essential to study about music theory, exercise studies and techniques in order to become a better pianist or musician?  Is is essential to practice everyday in order to learn a piece completely?  How essential is it for you to keep practicing your pieces?  How essential is it to know you are progressing in a piece? To me, doing something essential has to give me satisfaction in the practice that I put forth into a piece.  It is essential that I play one of my instruments everyday.  But, if I don't , it's okay, sometimes it's essential to take a break from practicing and do something else.  There are times, I feel it essential to play other pieces that I haven't played for a while and let the present pieces that I'm learning put aside and then return to them.   

best wishes,

go12_3

[m19834]

That the precise demand is being recognized and met.

[db05]

I asked my teacher what is essential, and he answered thus:
I cannot discuss that. Each person must find his or her answers to that, based on individual observations and experiences.
Go figure. 

[m19834]

This morning a topic was brought up in chat room about essentials.
               Essential is doing something absolutely necessary. 

Is is essential to study about music theory, exercise studies and techniques in order to become a better pianist or musician?  Is is essential to practice everyday in order to learn a piece completely?  How essential is it for you to keep practicing your pieces?  How essential is it to know you are progressing in a piece? To me, doing something essential has to give me satisfaction in the practice that I put forth into a piece.  It is essential that I play one of my instruments everyday.  But, if I don't , it's okay, sometimes it's essential to take a break from practicing and do something else.  There are times, I feel it essential to play other pieces that I haven't played for a while and let the present pieces that I'm learning put aside and then return to them.   

best wishes,

go12_3

It's easy to forget that all of these things are not an end unto themselves, but serve one main purpose (and what I think is really actually the highest purpose) : to make music.  And, I don't just mean playing pieces, but actually making music with every, single tone.  Everything we do at the piano starts in concept, and our practice regime will entirely reflect our approach to music and the piano in general.  What we are "looking for" in our practice, I think, basically boils down to "how is this supposed to sound" and "how do I achieve that sound" ?  And, these should/can truly be very precise.  If they are not precise, then there is a disconnect between you and the music.  Every single time we play the piano or play even the same piece, the investigation into sound should be there anew. 

If we ask ourselves how, *exactly*, something should sound, and there is fogginess (with a big fog horn, too) and unclarity, then that is how our music is going to sound.  If we don't know how something should sound, or have some idea but don't really know how to go about achieveing that (though ultimately they are probably inseparable) then there is need of investigation into some way of figuring that out.

There is a reason that Music Schools design courses to cover theory and aural skills and history and all of that.  They can seem all disconnected, one from another, but that reason is ultimately the music of the moment.

I personally think that a teacher is *invaluable* in the process, but we are each thinking individuals and because of that, trial and error --individual observations and experiences-- are a necessary process no matter what.

In general though, I think that people too readily gloss over shaping sound and dismiss what we are doing at the instrument as almost something like "white noise" ... just like all the other white noise that goes on in our heads.  We can *always* *always* *always* be better listeners.

[Bob]

What's up with this Courier font?

[lostinidlewonder]

First we have to know are we trying to attain muscular memory of a piece or trying to improve the quality of our musical playing of the piece. Of course our method depends on our ability level but I will relay what I would expect from a student who can teach themselves at an intermediate/advanced level.

If you still haven't a passage memorized you should always have pencil or colored pens to make out observations in the score, logical statements which help you remember a group of notes, highlight particular fingers which fail you. I believe the initial stage of conscious memory needs to be accelerated with personal observations which make sense to you and which help you the most to accelerate our progress into muscular memory. Not always what we write will be important and our comments will even evolve into a more efficient state of observing the entire passage both hands.

You have to know when you say, "I'm full." That is your brain has reached some maximum of memory. In these cases you should move onto the next piece briefly then return to see what you still remember. Do not stay on the other piece too long, it should be used less than your main piece you are studying. It is used to ensure that our rate of learning doesn't flatten out due to a saturation in our memory in one particular piece. I have found that focusing on one piece can produce a learning rate inefficiency when our brains feel full. When you switch over to another piece, it sounds fresh for the brain and we have a renewed inspiration to learn something new without confusing what we already know in the other piece.

When trying to achieve our muscular memory everything that is done must be done with control. That is, every pause or hesitation must be deliberate, when we pause we must freeze every action in our hands, consciously notice where we have to move to, either a single note will prompt our fingers or an acknowledgment of a position for the hand, then immediately move to that position in a way which we would move if there was no pause. This is where the difference between right and wrong is very close to one another.

Some ideas on practicing where talked about here:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,15877.0.html

[go12_3]

Today I have begun my new practicing routine.  I practice the difficult pieces for 30 minutes with a break after 15 minutes.  I work on a few sections with my right hand and left hand alone and slowly.  Throughout the day, I practiced only 15 minutes on the medium pieces(pieces I have already worked on and can play with both hands).  I was able to practice 4 pieces today.  And did 10 minutes of Hanon and 15 minutes of Czerny.  So altogether I practiced 1 hour and 40 minutes.  I like the breaks after the 15 minutes of practicing so that my mind can relax and do something different.  Some days I may have more time to work on the 30 minute difficult pieces and I have 3 of those which requires some "hand memory". 

Last night I have read some of Bernhard's posts and gained some insight about practicing effectively. I don't have to sit for several hours to learn a piece.  I like his concept on practicing in small sections at a time each day with separate hands until the piece "experience no technical problems."    And he mentioned:  "Practice not to get it right but to never get it wrong." 

It seems to me that Bernhard has brought the essentials into my practicing.  I haven't had a teacher for so long and it's great  to read something that will help me.
Where ever he is, a big thank you! 

best wishes,

go12_3

[ramseytheii]

This morning a topic was brought up in chat room about essentials.
               Essential is doing something absolutely necessary. 

Is is essential to study about music theory, exercise studies and techniques in order to become a better pianist or musician? 

Yes!  Anyone who says otherwise, is afraid that true knowledge will impede their emotional instincts.  Anyone whose emotional instincts are impeded by true knowledge, have weak instincts.

Is is essential to practice everyday in order to learn a piece completely? 

Depends on the person, but to learn a piece permanently definitely needs concentrated attention.

How essential is it for you to keep practicing your pieces? 

Very.  Neuhaus described how Godowsky practiced: he took several pieces out of his library, practiced a section here, a run there, and in that way kept a live a huge repertoire.

How essential is it to know you are progressing in a piece?

Totally - if you aren't being successful with something, you must change your approach or give up.

Walter Ramsey

[sharon_f]

Focus, focus, focus. Listen, listen, listen.

[db05]

Clear-headedness. Sense of self.

If thinking is practicing, we should always think in the positive, and be musical even away from the piano. Compose yourself. No excess movement. No excess thought. Confusion is a killer. So is self-doubt. Hope is also a distraction. Goals are set, but be prepared to fail them. Expect to be disappointed. Expect the worst, even. Love is also a distraction. Set feelings aside. Music music music. Practice practice practice. Be flawless, precise, perfect. Be intense, decisive, uncompromising.

[Petter]

Kill, kill kill!

[db05]

Face the back, face the outside, and if ye meet, kill instantly!

When ye meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha!
When ye meet your ancestor, kill your ancestor!
When ye meet a disciple of Buddha, kill the disciple!
When ye meet your father and mother, kill your father and mother!
When ye meet your kin, kill your kin!

Only thus will ye attain deliverance.
Only thus will ye escape the trammels of material things and become free.

[giannalinda]

Thinking of all the things your piano teacher told u in ur lesson and doing them...and playing the piece well... and not getting distracted

[go12_3]

Today, while I was practicing, I played through 2 movements of Beethoven's Sonata 10/1, which is a beautiful piece.....I come to realize that practicing the pieces I enjoy and love IS  *what is esstential in practicing*----just to love the music I am learning......  

best wishes,

go12_3

[kiwi_bd]

Patience and Determination

[jgallag]

Today I have begun my new practicing routine.  I practice the difficult pieces for 30 minutes with a break after 15 minutes.  I work on a few sections with my right hand and left hand alone and slowly.  Throughout the day, I practiced only 15 minutes on the medium pieces(pieces I have already worked on and can play with both hands).  I was able to practice 4 pieces today.  And did 10 minutes of Hanon and 15 minutes of Czerny.  So altogether I practiced 1 hour and 40 minutes.  I like the breaks after the 15 minutes of practicing so that my mind can relax and do something different.  Some days I may have more time to work on the 30 minute difficult pieces and I have 3 of those which requires some "hand memory". 

Last night I have read some of Bernhard's posts and gained some insight about practicing effectively. I don't have to sit for several hours to learn a piece.  I like his concept on practicing in small sections at a time each day with separate hands until the piece "experience no technical problems."    And he mentioned:  "Practice not to get it right but to never get it wrong." 

It seems to me that Bernhard has brought the essentials into my practicing.  I haven't had a teacher for so long and it's great  to read something that will help me.
Where ever he is, a big thank you! 

best wishes,

go12_3

go, I think one of the essentials mentioned above was "goal-oriented" practice. When bernhard makes his posts about time, he means finding a goal that will take that amount of time or less, not practicing for a certain amount of time and then stopping. You should always practice until you have achieved your goal. Therefore, I would like you to mention your practice in no. of bars practiced (and what you did with them, if you want to get specific), not time spent on a certain piece. Those are goals, not just "putting in the time".

Second, what it seems you missed in bernhard's posts is that slow practice is a problem. There are two purposes for slow practice: to ingrain movements required for fast practice, and *extremely slow* to check memorization. Bernhard talks about both of these. The majority of practice should be at speed or faster to ensure you're using the optimal motions for performance. Slow practice is not for learning passages. My advice for this is to use backtracking (one of my favorites). Step 1: Metronome ON, Step 2: Play the last note of the passage, until it is comfortable (not too hard), Step 3: Add the next note in front of that (a little more challenging, but not too), Step 4 and on: Keep adding notes on the front until you have the whole passage. Notice that this is note by note, not beat by beat. Also notice that this can be done both HS and HT.

Third, HS is a practice *tool*, not a first go-to when practicing. The goal is HT, and so you should do your best to learn HT first. If you find that your technique is not capable yet, that is when you go to HS. Review bernhard's posts more closely, as he gives a list of problems he defines as "technical", i.e. requiring HS practice.

Fourth, you can practice for up to forty-five minutes at a time (obviously not on one piece) before a break is necessary. Breaks should be about fifteen minutes long (we're getting into psychology here). You should be doing something other than thinking about piano during these breaks. Also, understand the goal-oriented nature of bernhard's practice system. I sometimes practice for much longer than twenty minutes on one piece, but during this I am iterating the following: learn a section of music, and connect that music to the previous music learned. I do not spend forty minutes pondering over the same eight-bar phrase. If I can't play it by then, it gets broken in half, sometimes even bar-by-bar, until I can play it at tempo. This takes less than forty minutes for eight bars, normally.

Fifth, I agree mostly with Ramsey. I do believe, though, that while you are learning a passage you must practice it every day. This is because a ton of reinforcement occurs during sleep each night, and you want to ensure that happens daily for optimal progress.

Sixth, as a few have mentioned, music is the main objective. The stuff I have mentioned above helps you get there, but it is still about the music. Don't lose perspective when working on the details.

Finally, you are missing one of the essentials: a teacher. We can tell you all you want, but we can't show you (Webcam's not clear enough), we can't move your arms for you, or, for that matter, your wrists or torso. You need some one in person who can show you the right way to do everything.

For further reading (since you seem to enjoy it): Indispensables of Piano Playing by Abby Whiteside or Mastering the Chopin Etudes by Abby Whiteside. For all the obscurity in her writing, her description of the proper coordination when playing piano is very accurate. I don't agree with everything she has to say, but it's food for thought.

[mike saville]

If we ask ourselves how, *exactly*, something should sound, and there is fogginess (with a big fog horn, too) and unclarity, then that is how our music is going to sound.  If we don't know how something should sound, or have some idea but don't really know how to go about achieveing that (though ultimately they are probably inseparable) then there is need of investigation into some way of figuring that out.


In general though, I think that people too readily gloss over shaping sound and dismiss what we are doing at the instrument as almost something like "white noise" ... just like all the other white noise that goes on in our heads.  We can *always* *always* *always* be better listeners.

Read this and then read it again! If you don't have an idea in your mind of exactly how you want to sound how can you possibly practice to get there?

Spend a lot of time imagining in every minute detail how the perfect performance would sound. Then listen extremely carefully during practice to meet that image.