I keep on repeating the mantra I have been plaguing this site with lately:
YOU MUST NOT GET BORED.
It is better you don't practice at all than you practice and feel bored. I know this might sound a bit provocative, especially for those who are stuck in the "no pain no gain" and "blood, sweat & tears" thinking. But music is art. You can never "whip" art out of yourself. Joy is a total fundamental ingredient in the process of creating art.
So, you might think that you have to push yourself. Well, maybe a litte. Don't confuse boredom with fatigue, because the latter is rather natural when you make efforts. Then you rest, and then you eagerly rush back to your practicing. If you get bored, though, you will find it harder and harder to go back once you have escaped.
Maybe it will look good at first. You make progress, at least mechanical. But what happens to the music? Will you still hear it inside you? Will it still make your heart beat faster, will it still stir up emotions in you, do you still wanna sing it? You see, as long as you enjoys the music, you will not get bored. You will happily practice for hours and do whatever it takes to improve, because you want to PLAY.
Play, that is the word. In English, it has double meanings and both are important here. If it starts to feel like a JOB, you will never get far. You will be yet another piano student/player who looks like (s)he is in a fight with the piano and plays like (s)he is deaf. And who finally quits the whole thing, in order to do something that is fun for real.
My suggestion for you is that you first start extending your practicing time - if you really want to do that - without being at the piano. Think about the music, think about parts where you have difficulties at the moment. Get some ideas. Listen to other musicians, dream a little ... build up your energy until you cannot stop yourself from running to the piano and play something for real!
I never start with scales and other dull exercises nowadays. I start with the things I long for playing the most, and when I'm warmed up, I feel motivated enough to do some technical exercises like scales because I feel I need them. And I would go totally mad if I used a timer to see how many minutes I spent on this or that!
Hi there! In the case of this post, I think I have to rephrase what I was saying, reformulate.
It is most likely not getting bored, but likely fatigue as you said. Getting bored out of this would make me quit piano, but piano has surprised me like no other thing in life has (Well maybe a few things, like God and my bigger dream in life).
At first I got truly bored with piano, I even wanted to learn the Violin aside it, but then I told my teacher and he got my game up and we are finally on to stuff that really surprised me. Good and complex pieces for my level that really boggle my mind, chord exercises, ear exercises. It turns out my hearing isn't that ruined after all.
Fatigue hits me really hard after 40 minutes of playing, in which afterwards I am unable to play.
But scales do annoy me sometimes. Today with a beat it was actually fun. Maybe because my brain works that way? I was having to concentrate on 2 things, the beat and piano.
Please don't get the idea piano is boring me, for no such thing is possible. I am working on several pieces right now.
The thing that does frighten me is that while me brain is way ahead on Chopin's Nocturnes, Beethoven's Sonatas, Mozart's Rondo, Bach's Inventions and Suites, Clemenzi's pieces, Brah's Hungarian dances, my hands and experience are not. I cannot play those pieces yes and will most likely not for some time, but I must persevere and in that perseverance I will endure fatigue.
That hour needs to be spend well, maybe notch it up to 1.5 hours or even 2, but I have to build up to it.
Just wanted to make clear that I love the piano.
Many people laugh at the notion of Fur Elise as a piece of pride, but I love it, the main theme is just subleme, even though a 5 year old can learn it.
I love piano and I will endure.
Boredom is part of every calling in life, but it has to be done. The thing is, piano has many factions, why quit when just one portion of it is destroying your joy? If you absolutely hate pop piano, will you stop playing piano all together? I think not.
But, definitely, thanks, Fatigue was the word I was looking for. I was too quick to use the word 'bored', excuse me for that and my English.