Practising Old Repertoire

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

This has probably been asked before, but how do you practise old repertoire?
I'd be really sad to forget pieces I have learned in the past, but I also have a bunch of new pieces I must learn. I'm finding it tricky to find a balance between practising new and old repertoire... both take a lot of time!
Also, a lot of times I find that I can't play my old stuff well anymore, and I'm always making the the same mistakes... I've tried playing slowly, hands separately... but its not helping much and my practise doesn't seem efficient. Is there any way to efficiently practise my old pieces while making time for newer pieces?
 Today I took out a few old pieces that I was studying a few months ago (I practise them every few days though) and I could not get any of them right... It was pretty frustrating, I guess, especially because I need to relearn them for a performance. I really like the pieces but sometimes I feel more upset than motivated sometimes when I practise, because I remember that I could once play the piece much better... Also sometimes I feel like I'm spending too much time on my old pieces when I have new ones to learn. There's too much music, and not enough time, especially with all my school work and because I'm not allowed to practise for too long...
Any advice?

[omar_roy]

This is a difficult balancing act, especially if you have deadlines to meet for the new repertoire.

If you have an upcoming performance, you have to shift your priority to working on the old pieces while still doing moderate work on the new pieces.

For the old pieces, start relearning them as you would any other piece.  Pretend you're starting from scratch.  You will relearn it very quickly and over a couple of days you'll have the piece back in your fingers, and after a week or so you'll have it polished up to performance standards (assuming efficient practice).  Make sure you're actually practicing it though, not just playing through it.

For the new pieces, pick out the hardest parts and do small bits of very focused work.  This will put a pretty good dent in the work you'll have to do once you can focus on them fully.

[becky8898]

I kinda run into the same problem. I am learning alot of repertoire and its a never ending parade of piece's . I have found two things that have helped me.  First , since I cant go over all the pieces I have learned all the time,  what I do is spend some time every day going over small parts of the piece's. I look for measures that keep the piece flowing. Bridge sections for instance.  I also try and this is a biggy for me, nail the piece the first time around with more speed than I need.  This way  even when im a little rusty on it , i can back off the tempo a bit and still do alright with it.

Guess its different for everyone,  but thats what works for me.  Hope it helps

Cheers, Becky

[mnmleung]

I find reading the score away from the piano helps me pick up things I have forgotten or glossed over.  Or reading an edition I am not used to, for instance with different fingering.

[pianisten1989]

First, you have to make some sort of schedule, to really see what you're playing, and how much time you want to play each day. If you find you only play one hour for each piece, but some pieces until you actually have time for serious practising for each piece.
It's both for new and old repertoire...

That's the only way I know..

[pianoplayjl]

I usually find that once I learn new pieces I forget the old ones really fast. I only practice the old pieces on weekends.