Concentrating Durring Practice

[nmitchell076]

Over the summer, I've really been trying to self-diagnose my many problems at the keyboard.

Probably my biggest problem (at least the one that has been pointed out the most to me) has been that I am not a very good on-the-spot listener (ie, I'm not great at hearing phrase endings as I play, or that I am not able to gauge my long-term dynamics in order to make the climaxes more climactic, etc.)

I've been trying desperately to figure out what it is that's preventing me from listening, and recently I think I figured it out: i find it difficult to concentrate as I play.  When playing, I either focus on the purely technical aspects of playing, or (if the piece is technically easy enough, or if I've pretty much taken care of the technical difficulties) then I find my mind wandering as my muscle-memory takes over the playing.  Therefore, if the expression is not also ingrained in my muscle memory, then often, it doesn't happen at all.

So after trying to cope with this for a few weeks, I've been able to focus on listening individual phrases at the max, and only then if I use all of my available energy to do so (which means I suffer many missed-notes when doing this).  Anything longer then that, and I begin to wander off.

Does anyone have any tips for building concentration and focus?

[go12_3]

I think the main thing is to focus on a single item that you need to work upon,
like your technique for 10 minutes, and then another 10 minutes, try to focus upon, what you mentioned, expression,  and so forth for each 10 minutes.  You can make a list on what you need to focus upon and decide which piece you would like to work on.  Sometimes it's easier to do things in smaller increments rather than trying to focus upon several things. Then after awhile, your mind will be able to concentrate better.  Just relax and enjoy the music at times and not worry too much about having to concentrate and then the focusing will come along while you practice in shorter periods of time through out the day. 

[keyboardclass]

Lifestyle - I'm cutting out coffee.

[mike saville]

You mention that you're not a good on the spot listener. I wouldn't mind betting that is not entirely true. More likely is that your listening is not detailed or focused enough.

If you were asked to direct your listening towards articulation I'm sure you could.

The key here I think is to focus your listening on one area at a time. When you do focus your listening make sure you do so in the finest detail you can. i.e. Don't just listen to articulation but listen to the way the note starts, the way it ends, the sound through out, how the voices blend, how the pedal interacts - all these could be part of articulation. You could do worse than to direct your listening to each one in turn.