Motivation

[sroka]

What motivates you to play?

What do you do to motivate yourself? Or even a student?

Do you use a token economy where you reward yourself with things after you accomplished "x" amount of playing or "x" amount of learning?

I am curious to hear your responses.


-Sylvester Sroka

[j_menz]

I buy myself a present every time I do something impossible.

[clavile]

My motivation is a love for the piano. I also create goals for myself, so I will always have something to work towards.

Also, something that is VERY motivating is sitting down with friends who also love the piano. You can share ideas, listen to each other's pieces, and show tricks. I did that with a great friend just yesterday, and it was one of the best times of the weekend, and very motivating!

I've never treated myself, the reward is always finishing a piece, or reaching a goal.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I think the piano sounds cool.  

Other people go out and play basketball, video games, or smoke weed for fun, but not me.  I practice.  And learning something new/improving is my reward.

[austinarg]

And learning something new/improving is my reward.

Of course. I shall note that Valentina Lisitsa has nothing to do with this. Not at all.












 

[j_menz]

hahaha. Quite. 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Of course. I shall note that Valentina Lisitsa has nothing to do with this. Not at all.












 

Well it just so happens that I enjoy doing this for Valentina Lisitsa.

[outin]

I don't always have the motivation to go and sit down in front of my piano. Those times I kind of fool myself into it by "accident", usually telling myself that I'll only do a few scales or play my pieces once. But when I do start I just can't stop... That's me, lazy to start anything but very persistent when I finally do.

[hfmadopter]

The emotion of the music is almost enough to keep me at it in and of itself. However, I've always had this drive to perform my music for other people and that automatically sets a goal when I take up a new piece. I'm not saying it has to be on stage someplace ( though I have done that in the past) but even in my living room, the goal of the new piece is to play it for myself and for someone else as well. I put together little performances, I may play a couple of pieces from it or the entire plan when someone visits, for instance. I keep people in mind when I select a piece to learn, one that will be nice for an individual or group of people to hear and that I will enjoy working on. That whole way of working will always keep a few pieces up and running even if they are a work in progress.

The piano is pretty big in my life, I maintain my own grand piano, I study and learn new music to me and I have a couple of students. So the piano keeps me pretty busy. I'm either rehashing theory and presentation for a lesson for one of the students ( I am not a professional teacher, I only teach people who ask for lessons from me, be that family, friends or aquaintances), physically working on the piano or working on my own pieces at the piano.

[p2u_]

What motivates you to play?

I do it because I have no choice. Considering what you have to put into it to become a pro, I guess at some point in time, I just concluded a pact with the devil himself.

What do you do to motivate yourself? Or even a student?

The moment I start asking myself such questions will be the day I quit playing and teaching. In other words: what I do is the reward itself; no external motivation needed.

Paul

[brogers70]

What motivates me to play? The fact that I'd go nuts if I didn't. I'm retired; the three hours a day that I practice are the highlight of the day; when I drive someplace or lie in bed about to go to sleep or take a walk, I'm thinking about what I'll work on the next time I get to practice. There is so much great music to play; getting to spend hours a day in intimate contact with Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms is absolutely wonderful. No token economy required.

I think that not needing motivation has something to do with the fact that it's "just" an avocation for me. There's no pressure at all. My teacher tells me she always wants to slack off after a concert and has trouble practicing every day when there's no deadline to meet. There are definitely pluses to being an amateur.

[danhuyle]

Pieces sound good.

However, there's pianists who will shoot you down and exile you away from the piano. At least in the classical piano community anyway.

How do I know this? When I was learning piano.

[pianoplayjl]

What do I use to motivate myself? I force myself to practice so there really is no thing I can use to motivate myself. Occasionally when Dad buys  a pack of soft drinks I would drink one as a reward for practicing.

JL

[hfmadopter]

Pieces sound good.

However, there's pianists who will shoot you down and exile you away from the piano. At least in the classical piano community anyway.

How do I know this? When I was learning piano.

I look at better pianists than myself as inspiration and I get ideas from their playing ( maybe a tact on a phrase, fingering or just hand position or mood/expression. I will never play like Horowitz but I can gain ideas from his playing and I watch his old videos a lot). I don't look at it as a shoot down at all. Even in our old work shops my teacher had years ago there would be better players than myself, more so early on and that was inspirational to me. As time went by I was the one on top at those work shops and I hope that some newer players found inspiration in what I was doing in front of them, rather than feeling shot down. That's what work shops are for, to hear, see, compare notes. They were a great feature of my teachers system of teaching.

[teran]

It is fun.

[pianoplayjl]

It is fun.

When I started it was fun but now when in the holidays I find that practice eats away my social life. It is sort of fun practicing but it has worn off.

JL