Piece to develope concentration

[pianisten1989]

Well, as the Subject reveals, I need a piece to delevope my concentration. I can stay focused in a good 40 minutes, without any major problems, but I am quite sure that one needs to control the concentration even longer.
Glad if you have any suggestions.

[tea cup]

A Bach fugue. Or Berg's sonata. What have you been playing recently? It would be helpful to know what your "level" is.

EDIT

Excuse my impertinence; I looked at your posts to find the pieces you play. Anyway, Bach is always good for concentration, and for one's health. Try Fugue No. 9 from the WTC Book 2, and play it at a very moderate tempo. In any case, I suggest you play some thing that isn't too fast. I myself have been studying Schoenberg's Op. 19 pieces, which requires a great deal of concentration to play.

I don't recommend playing anything too "romantic"; the sustained notes tend to make one giddy and one loses their concentration quickly.

[pianisten1989]

Yeah, thx
I've been thinking about modern music aswell. So I guess I'll start with something like that in a near future

[jbmorel78]

Well, as the Subject reveals, I need a piece to delevope my concentration.

Any piece can develop concentration.

If you've mastered every element of phrasing, tone colour, timing, voicing, physical motion, inflection... it is time to move on to a new piece.

If not, develop your concentration by taking care of these details!

[john11inc]

At your level, Debussy's Arabesques require a fair bit of concentration, due to their rhythmic difficulties.  They're also rather nice pieces.

[tornado]

If You want to develope Your concentrate You should try the meditation.For example inhale with left nostril,exhale-right.Im serious.How many of You are laughing now?Try this.If it's too dificult,try other methods of meditation.

[pianisten1989]

If You want to develope Your concentrate You should try the meditation.For example inhale with left nostril,exhale-right.Im serious.How many of You are laughing now?Try this.If it's too dificult,try other methods of meditation.

Uhm... How do you practise breathing with one nostril at the time? :O

[thalbergmad]

You snort coke up the other.

[lontano]

Well, as the Subject reveals, I need a piece to delevope my concentration. I can stay focused in a good 40 minutes, without any major problems, but I am quite sure that one needs to control the concentration even longer.
Glad if you have any suggestions.

As others have implied, nearly any piece that doesn't just fit into the category of "easy", concentration is a must. Jumping from a simple prelude to something absurd, I recall the harpsichordist who mastered Ligeti's "Continuum" for a single performance and shredded the score into the audience, never to face it again.

[slow_concert_pianist]

It sounds like nothing or everything will work. Concentration is within. Your honesty will define your dedication to the discovery tour.

I wonder if your problem is your dedication to this art. If that is the case, you are beyond help!

[jbmorel78]

It sounds like nothing or everything will work. Concentration is within. Your honesty will define your dedication to the discovery tour.

I wonder if your problem is your dedication to this art. If that is the case, you are beyond help!

Dear Slow Concert Pianist,

I may be wrong, but I don't think, in a forum such as this, you are in the ideal place to be making judgments about one's honesty, dedication, or hopelessness...

Perhaps you would better contribute to this thread by answering the question either as the original poster offered it, or in terms of concentration in the abstract?

Best wishes,
Jean-Baptiste Morel

[furtwaengler]

Eric Satie's Vexations.

Unless this type of trite, mind bending patience and leads to the opposite of concentration...hmm...

(On topic and out of the conversation - or on topic and off the wall?)

 

[lontano]

Well, as the Subject reveals, I need a piece to delevope my concentration. I can stay focused in a good 40 minutes, without any major problems, but I am quite sure that one needs to control the concentration even longer.
Glad if you have any suggestions.

I don't know if this makes sense, but the thought crossed my mind. I remember when Philip Glass was in the early stages of his carrier and I saw him perform with a small ensemble of players. I was new to, and not yet adapted to that sort of music, but the performance was electrifying. Same goes with some early works of Steve Reich (works like 6 Marimbas) & Terry Riley. The one thought that kept coming up was how do the players manage to focus on highly repetitious (Glass) and phase-shifting (Reich)? It boggled my mind for a long time, and I still don't fully understand how they do it. But as Tornado suggested (I don't recommend the nasal method) meditation both prior to, and even during performance may help. Remaining deeply relaxed regardless the type of music being played is something that takes a lot of practice. I'm no expert in meditation but I've achieved some substantial positive health effects via biofeedback and learning to become deeply relaxed, dropping my blood pressure, curing headaches, all rather quickly, and I've been doing it for over 20 years. I can't say if it increased my concentration while playing piano, as I never faced a problem like that (rarely played long enough at a time to be an issue (as you describe it)). I'd say take a look at the methods and effects of meditation and give it a try.

And you might want to get your hands on some Glass piano scores (he's written tons of it) and practice playing the very long and repetitive pieces and see how long it takes you to scream or fall asleep - the longer the better as long as you don't drive those within earshot into a psychotic rage!

Good Luck!
   

[pianisten1989]

It sounds like nothing or everything will work. Concentration is within. Your honesty will define your dedication to the discovery tour.

I wonder if your problem is your dedication to this art. If that is the case, you are beyond help!

That was probably one of the most strange answers I read on this forum. Did you honestly think that would help me?

I wonder if your problem with attitude is your dedication to this forum. If that is the case, you are beyond help!

[point of grace]

i would recommend a Bach Fugue to start, then try a slow Chopin prelude or sth of the kind