Double post, practice and loosing exactness

[highcrappile]

I've been playing since 07 and I am 38 years of age so I'm not expecting a career, but I very much enjoy to play a piece well.  Thing is I have a very big problem right now when playing Mozart's k545 with all the scales; I find the scales easy, but the metronome doesn't agree with me at all. I have tried a metronome hitting me hard on the head on every fourth, but we still don't agree.

and playing chopin's waltz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfKqzN5MZYU  is also quite easy, but my hands get tired very quickly, It gets sloppy and imprecise after the first play. I think these are related in some way. Please advice.

[lostinidlewonder]

Slow down. If you are playing scales and they are uneven when played with a metronome then you are doing something unbalanced or uneven. If you slow down you may identify what causes this. Slowing down may however allow you to do inefficient things without feeling tired, so it is important to know what to look for when you slow things down. Other than that, I doubt people can offer any other advice unless you posted a video of your playing so we can get some idea of your application of technique.

[slobone]

and playing chopin's waltz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfKqzN5MZYU  is also quite easy

One of my favorite Victor Borge bits.

If you're having trouble with scale passages, you should practice scales as an exercise. In this case C major since that's what's in the piece.

With scales you need to work to ensure evenness. Beginners usually accent whatever note the thumb falls on, which is rarely what the music calls for. To counteract that, you need to decide yourself which notes to accent. It's actually easier to do that than to try to play all the notes exactly the same.

So you can accent every fourth note, doing 4 octaves up and down so it comes out even. Then try accenting every third note.

Or you can do acciacaturas, which I've described here before. That's where you play the scale with a dotted rhythm, first in groups of 2, then 3, then 4. Lengthen the first note of each group, then play the other notes very quickly.

So like C.... DE..... FG.....
or C....DEF.... GAB.... CDE....
building up to C... DEFG... ABCD....

Make sure you hold the first note for long enough so that it's easy to play the following notes quickly. And of course always use the correct fingering for the scale. That means you'll be turning the thumb under during the fast groups, but that's kind of the whole point...

[brahmslover]

First and foremost, don't feel bad! Adults get frustrated easily (because they know very well how their music should sound like); and the more frustration you feel, the harder it'll be for you to change your motor learning performance.

Remove yourself from the situation and pay close attention to your finger movements, work on it little by little. Putting accents on notes and playing in forte will help.

[Bob]

Yes, don't put yourself down.  Your username... man.  haha.

[mila5405]

Hi! I have a couple of questions!

-Exactly how do you practise?
Repeatedly without relaxation.
Do the following.
Set the metronom to a comfortable beat.

Choose a couple of bars for instace the to first bars of the  Chopin Waltz.

Everytime you played through them please wait for two bars and play again.

In these two silent bars, play it in your mind and try to remember your arms movement.

When youre satisfied playing it one or two time correctly continue with next two bars in the same way.

Please dont repeat playing the same phrase again and again for safety or you will lose focus.

Ist important to practise with the same metromome beat.

Little by little you will feel more satified assured an confident with your playing.

Your will strengthen your sence for tempo and develop your inner hearing.

-Are you to ambitious?

Its easy to get frustrated when things go wrong. dont put to much pressure on yourself.

Why not listen to many Recordings of this Chopin Waltz with different pianists choosing the version you like the best. Ist not always the most famous one who makes the best performance.

- regain confidence!
give a little concert for your friends. Thats a good start. Choose something easy listening which I think they will appreciate

Sorry for my English.  Glad to help...

by Mike

[highcrappile]

Slobone: That really worked! I owe you a million keystrokes.