Muscle memory

[seymourtom]

I have a problem replicating the standard of play at home when with my teacher - i.e it's a lot worse.  I am an enthusiastic but plodding 68 year old amateur male at around grade 6 so no worries about building a career!

Not sure what this implies and how to overcome it.  Any ideas?

[radmilaj]

Not playing as well for your teacher is a common problem. The teacher can tell if you have practiced and after time [ provided the teacher/student are relaxed] you'll play better. I have a 50+ students who played a Beethoven minuet with no mistakes the other day [with repeats]. Everyone makes mistakes. It's more about how you get through them. Have fun!

rada

[david334]

Everyone has this problem of dealing with the drop in performance level which occurs when you move from practising for yourself to playing for your teacher. When you move to performing for an audience, it's even worse

I think the solution is to demand an even higher standard of ourselves. Once we know the piece well, we have to work even harder and get to know it even better. Then we can play it with more certainty and less tension, allowing us to cope with the extra nerves which inevitably catch up with us in the teacher's studio or on the stage.

[keyboardclass]

Make sure in your mind's eye you can see every single finger movement.  Then you know it's memorized.

[lostinidlewonder]

I have a problem replicating the standard of play at home when with my teacher - i.e it's a lot worse....

Not sure what this implies and how to overcome it.  Any ideas?

What do you think about your teacher? Do you think like they are a greater human because they play piano so well? Don't feel this way, all music teacher still go to the toilet like the rest of us.

Playing piano is really not only about technique and musicality, it is also about having the courage to expose your musical sensitivity which can be understandably, very difficult for some.

Try not to feel nervous when you play for someone (certainly not your teacher, it is ok for the first few lessons but if you don't get over it you need to talk with your teacher about it), this is a difficult thing to overcome if you naturally feel nervous when people observe you play.

The number 1 technique I used was listening to myself. Listen to the sound you produce out of the piano and learn to devote your attention to sound, just as if you where lying back relaxing and listening to your favorite recording. Learn to listen to yourself so closely that your surroundings become irrelevant. I found this by being emotionally obsessed with the sound of music, there are climactic phrases or parts which lead to them, I can get so emotionally involved that I forget about all other elements that surround us that have nothing to do with the creation of sound.

Meditating or relaxing yourself before you have to play for someone can help you a great deal as well. Some of my young students (who usually play computer games or something else non piano related before a lesson) I had to encourage to start playing the piano, organize material for the lesson, get into the music frame of mind etc before they saw me for a lesson. So for you if you are so nervous and conscious about your playing when playing for your teacher you need to start changing the way in which you are thinking before a lesson and prepare yourself for focus, relaxation and getting yourself into that "listening zone" when you start playing.

Start recording yourself when you are at home playing as well and treat it like someone listening to you, try to make your best performance. You will find you will make more mistakes when a recorder is running because in the back of your head while you are playing you will think, "Oh no don't make a mistake now or I'll have to start again". This is a healthy mental tug of war workout and can start desensitizing you to playing in an environment when you can't make a mistake.

A recorder is also a wonderful reality checker, some people might think they actually play better than they really do, it is only when they can fully pay attention to their playing by listening to their recordings that they realize that they are not as good as they thought. I got this response from a few students in the past who really where satisfied with their playing but it was only because they where so caught up over getting the notes out that they couldn't pay attention to their sound, they could not listen intently to themselves. Listening to yourself while you play really is an enormous topic.