How to practice?

[alfaa]

Hi,

I know one should keep practicing to get it right. But my question is: do I practice it? The reason I am asking is because I can only practice it very, very slowly. If I try a little faster, I make mistakes. So must I continue to practice slowly - will the speed pick up by itself without my doing anything?

I am a little confused on this point. Practice, I can do. But since I am only able to practice extremely slowly, would it have any value?

Alfa

[gerryjay]

Dear Alfaa,
welcome! Did you try to study smaller parts instead of whole sections or pieces? The problem you describe normally is attached to getting used to play only complete parts. Try to divide your next new piece into smaller chunks (not larger than 3 or 4 measures), and see what happens.

Best regards,
Jay.

[quantum]

Practicing at different speeds requires different sets of thinking.  When we do slow practice, we are often working out technical details, notes, coordinating hand movements, etc.  As the music becomes more familiar and we are able to speed up the tempo we do not need to pay as much attention to the microcosmic details such as individual finger movements.  We can now group those individual movements in to larger gestures.  As the tempo speeds up we start to think in the bigger picture.  Most importantly, we think ahead of what we are currently playing. 

[cranston53]

Hi Alfa,

One thing I get my students to do, and it's something that invariably yield results, is ask them to break down a piece into a small chunk - say a bar - and then practice from the first beat of one, to the first of the the next (it's important to make sure you do stop on the first beat of the next, as that way you practice the hand position you will need to keep the piece moving along). Then, study the intervals between each note - chords in every stave, differences in arpeggio etc. You name it, work out what's going on. This will help you to understand the piece and allow you to 'understand' the music a little better.

It's slower going and can seem a little over the top at first, but it certainly helps. The more methodical you are, the better and quicker you will learn a piece.

Have fun!

[alfaa]

Thanks, everyone. It helps a lot.

Also out of curiosity: for a beginner, which is better to learn at the start - Chopin, Beethoven, who would be better? I find Chopin to be slow and melodious, so it may be easy to practice and enjoy it. That way, I can progress further. What do you think?

[scottmcc]

Uhhhh....both Chopin and Beethoven wrote some exceptionally challenging works, as well as some easier ones. Neither is probably entirely appropriate for a true beginner. I suggest you search this forum for a post by Bernhard entitled "beautiful music that is not hard to play" or something like that.

[alfaa]

Uhhhh....both Chopin and Beethoven wrote some exceptionally challenging works, as well as some easier ones. Neither is probably entirely appropriate for a true beginner. I suggest you search this forum for a post by Bernhard entitled "beautiful music that is not hard to play" or something like that.

I meant Fur Elise and the like ... slow and melodious.

[scottmcc]

Fur Elise is Beethoven.  I echo my suggestion that you look for bernhard's thread.

[jaggens]

Hi,

What is practicing? Practicing is creating an efficient system of habits.
Piano playing is a compound of many different elements or parts that work together.
some suggestions:

1) Devide the piece into as small sections that you manage to play and practice them without too much mental and physical tensions. It will raise the practice quality a lot. Practice these parts until you can play them almost without thinking. A piece is not mastered if you have to think actively to play it correctly. Freedom starts when your body has aqcuired it and then you can concentrate on much higher values. https://playingpianoblog.com/how-to-improve-piano-learning-skills

2) After mastering these small sections you can start linking them together. If you link two hands, you have to take them as one movement or one thought. It brings down the tension and creates a natural seamless motion. https://playingpianoblog.com/how-to-play-the-piano-with-both-hands-together

3)Before practicing the piece visualize a beautiful and musical version of the piece in your head. Start to compare it with the sound that comes out of the piano. If you have a clear vision you know that you have to so called "paint" on the piano. https://playingpianoblog.com/how-to-play-every-piano-piece-as-a-musical-whole

4) Listen to every note and listen to its sound field that comes after hitting the key. This is the beautiful part of notes. https://playingpianoblog.com/how-to-make-the-piano-sound-beautiful-and-natural

GL
Jaak

[tonalharmony]

Hi,

I know one should keep practicing to get it right. But my question is: do I practice it? The reason I am asking is because I can only practice it very, very slowly. If I try a little faster, I make mistakes. So must I continue to practice slowly - will the speed pick up by itself without my doing anything?

I am a little confused on this point. Practice, I can do. But since I am only able to practice extremely slowly, would it have any value?

Alfa

Yes! Practicing slowly ALWAYS helps. Don't expect immediate perfection. If you can't get it as slowly as you are doing it, practice even more slowly. Going faster is never going to help. It will only cause you to make more mistakes, and potentially memorize them. If you can't get it hands together slowly, then do hands separate SLOWLY until you are very familiar with both parts. If you can't get it this way, maybe it is time to take a break for a couple of days. Sometimes I find when I can't get something that if I stop for a couple days and then come back I'll have it. You will eventually get faster, just keep the slow practice up.

Keep up the good work,

tonalharmony

[jjs238]

Well, I think it all depends on what you are practicing. If you are working on scales and arpeggios then I say, do it all the same day until perfect. Do that for 3 hours straight or a bit less, whatever it takes so you know your fingers and where they belong in certain keys.

If you are working on practice Haydn or Bach excercises, learn the entire song the same day at a very, very slow tempo with perfect fingering as they are entirely sixteenth and eighth notes mostly. Learn the whole song that same day if just one or two pages but make sure you play every note correctly with an even, slow tempo. Wait a day, then play again and you would be surprised how you can play much faster after sleeping it through and it just stays in your brain. Don't speed up the parts you can until you learn the whole song at the same rate, then work on speeding up parts.

I hope this helps as I find when I practice, I'll play the parts I can up to speed and with so much emotion, then the parts I can't play yet sound horrible.

Distract yourself from the opening themes and jump to the next change of motion and theme in that song, practice that instead of the beginning since what you'll end up doing is learning the beginning so well that you will naturally get less practice on the middle or end of the song. I'm guilty of that so much here, now I jump around and since I know how most songs start, I go right to part 2, 3 and so on and begin learning the song from there, then learn the beginning. Try it, works for me to keep the whole structure and emphasis the same when played for a recital.