Best way to keep motivated to practice

[garrettendi]

Hi all, this is my first post.

Back in sixth form college I picked up the guitar and after 10 years can play adequately enough to perform. When I was ill in my last year of college I dabbled on the music departments pianos and found it simply wonderful. 9 years after that brief dalliance I'm getting serious about the piano but working full time and being tired during most of my free time, I find it difficult to get the motivation to practice.

I love piano, and I love music, I don't doubt that I want to be a pianist and a guitarist and a musician in general, but when there's something good on the TV it's hard to get off my sofa and get to the piano.

So basically, my question is this: How do you guys motivate yourselves to practice when being lazy is simply so appealing?

[worov]

You have to love music in order to be motivated. My love of Bach is what motivates me to learn and practice his pieces. Playing his pieces brings me so much pleasure and refresh my spirit.

Now, what are doing here reading on the Internet ? Leave this message board and go pratice !

[garrettendi]

Sadly I don't have a piano to hand right now

[faa2010]

Motivation is always there, but that depends on each one of us which kind of motivation we choose.

As worov said, love to music is the most important one, the one that makes you keep going even if you are dealing with hard times in that moment of your life. 

Also there are other kind of motivations to continue.

In my case, I have found motivation everywhere in my life, from music of videogames, movies, tv, to books and manga related to music.

[garrettendi]

One thing that I find motivates me most, although I wonder if there are other ways, is to listen to really good piano music when I can. Lately I've been firing up last.fm while I work to get me in the mood to play when I get home!

As far as types of music to play.. I listen to classical piano as that's what I want to play, but all I can do at the moment is chords - I'm still learning to read notation. That doesn't stop me from playing stuff like "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen though!

Does anyone else have any tips?

[bronnestam]

Sit on your sofa and think of music and how you want to play it, concentrate on piano playing even when you are not at the piano. Finally you will long for going there.

Always, always end your practicing session in a good mood, summarize your progress and what you have just learned. Every time you condemn yourself is a failure that will affect your motivation to practice next time. Regain your "childish" joy in Doing and Learning, just ignore your mistakes and "everything you cannot do right".

So, it is simply forbidden to have any negative feelings when you are at the piano. Let it be a place of joy and adventures, and then you will never have any trouble finding your motivation again. Just enough time.   

[dima_76557]

So basically, my question is this: How do you guys motivate yourselves to practice when being lazy is simply so appealing?

For me, knowing 100% how to practise some piece I really want to master step by step with very quick and good quality results makes process of practising fun and interesting. In such a way, laziness = out of question. Hope this helps for you too.

[hozepshad]

Watching a small bit from a documentary about a pianist, always makes me motivated to practice.

[hfmadopter]

This is so simple it's rediculous. Don't turn on the idiot box ! Instead, brew yourself up a nice coffee or tea and go sit at the piano. Most of us work full time and I can't speak for others here but I'm always tired, except first thing in the morning ( still working full time at 63).

You need to set your priorities then act on it. Back in the 70's as a young adult piano student I found no room or very little room in my life for TV compared with piano. The priority was set, the tv went out of the living room and has never returned. We have TVs around the house ( we raised five children understanding this) but they are not in the room with my pianos.

That's all I have to say besides you either are going to get serious or you are not ! Talking about being serious is not being serious. Being serious is taking action.

[outin]

For me starting anything is difficult, since I am kind of lazy by nature. But when I start to do something I work hard. So I have found it very useful to "cheat" myself into practice. Instead of wondering whether to practice piano or just be lazy I tell myself that I will only sit down for a few minutes to play a couple of measures of whatever difficult piece I am working on. Every time I end up practicing for an hour or two 

[keyofc]

One way is to make sure you set up times where you will be playing for someone.
This will motivate you a lot!
.

[ajspiano]

but when there's something good on the TV it's hard to get off my sofa and get to the piano.

Don't turn it on in the first place. Better yet, sell it and use the money to buy a big pile of scores.

[chopin2015]

Hoard pianos. You will have to play them all! Lol
Also, buy new sheet music. Listen to great performances of the music, and think of it as your soul duty to express the spirit of the music and capture the essense of a legitimate performance, and you have to practice ALOT to make all of the music come out. Also, if you practice hard, laying on the couch feels so much better only after hard work.

[outin]

Also, if you practice hard, laying on the couch feels so much better only after hard work.

This must be the biggest hoax of all times...being lazy is just as enjoyable whether you have worked before or not 

[ajspiano]

This must be the biggest hoax of all times...being lazy is just as enjoyable whether you have worked before or not 

I would argue more so..  especially if there is some busy responsible person around that it offended by your laziness.

[hfmadopter]

One way is to make sure you set up times where you will be playing for someone.
This will motivate you a lot!

I agree, without dates to perform on for someone, anyone, it's pretty difficult to keep to a goal of accomplishment. You lose interest or interest is not so much in the forefront at least and maybe even flop on the couch instead of practicing ! Next thing you know you are into a bad habit. Setting a date to perform something ( a piece or a small program even) gives your work a special sense of purpose. It takes a lot of work but it adds that element of determination.

And fellow forum members, yes you can play in front of people or for someone special to you ! If you say you can't then you're already defeated. You should have seen some of the basket cases that got up in front of the other students at our work shops my teacher had. That's what they were for, to help people play in front of people and to work out issues in pieces under pressure. It was a wonderful experience for all of us that gave us monthly goals.

[tdawe]

I don't even own a TV - working pretty well for me!

Otherwise, it's regular lessons that keep me motivated. I need small goals on a regular time scale to keep me in check, otherwise I just tend to get lost in big projects and not achieving much.

[keyofc]

hfmaadaptor,

Last year I was teaching an adult couple who never had played piano before.
After about 4 months - they invited me over to a little party.
I saw a little keyboard set up - and assumed they were going to ask me to play, since it seemed the natural thing to do.

Before we had dinner - the wife went to the keyboard and played a song for everyone.  She was still learning how to play - but she had that one song down enough to play where people could sing along.  I sat there and thought -Wow!  I wish when I was a beginner like that - I had had the courage to invite people over like that.  I was so proud of her - and I'm sure she practiced a lot before the party. 

[hfmadopter]

hfmaadaptor,

  I was so proud of her - and I'm sure she practiced a lot before the party. 

I am 100% sure of that, on both counts !!

[g_s_223]

I sense, that should one wish to, one could intuit an assumption to your question that "practising is boring/tedious/a chore/work/etc".

If one has been given the keys to practising, then it is in fact entirely and totally the opposite: practising is a delightful process of absorbing into oneself the sublime legacies of the great geniuses of musical history.

On the other hand, you might be "playing" Hanon.

Which is it?

[garrettendi]

Thanks for all the tips everyone. I can't read sheet music but I'm definitely motivated to learn the simplified version of Liebestraume No. 3 that came in a magazine recently.

As for what I practice it's mainly exercises hence my lack of motivation. But I'm getting to the point I can start a basic repertoire.

The playing for people is a GREAT idea, but sadly I live alone. I'm thinking I could get round this by putting stuff on soundcloud though. Bit nervous what any trolls may think though!

Thanks to everyone so far!

[unimaster]

This being my first post here (nice to meet you all), I have to wonder whether this is the best way to get off on the right foot with people. But I've gotta jump in somewhere, I suppose, so it might as well be here. . . .

A quick bit of background: I'm returning to the music fold after being away for some 20 years. I took lessons when I was a kid—hated them, as most kids are programmed to do—and then took up piano on my own again in high school, mostly just reading the notes on the page and doing my best to play by ear. I never grasped the fundamentals of theory, though I can't say I gave it much effort back then. My passion for orchestral music (particularly film scores) has led me to give it another go . . . and this time I'm frankly shocked at the focus, devotion, and enjoyment I'm both putting in and taking away from the process.

So based on my own past experiences, I get where you're coming from. You want to learn, you want to grow, but sometimes you want to just sit around more. I understand. I can relate. Unfortunately, the hard truth is that it will ultimately come down to how much current value you're able to glean from a deferred goal.

If you're having to read that last sentence again to make sense of it, let me translate by drawing a parallel from the craft I'm much more used to dealing in: writing. Music doesn’t come as naturally to me as writing—which, I suspect, is one reason I’m enjoying the discovery process so much (it’s a great challenge!). For some people, writing doesn’t come naturally either . . . and a lot of those folks would love to be writers for a living. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some variation or other on what you said in your original post:

“I love reading, and I love to create stories, and I don’t doubt that I want to be a writer, but when there’s something good on the TV it’s hard to force myself to sit down at the computer/typewriter/stone and chisel.”

The problem here is a simple one. The vast majority of people like this want to be authors, not writers. They don’t want to write. They want to have written. They want to go to book signings and sell the movie rights and inspire fan clubs and have leatherbound copies of their masterpieces lining their shelves. They want the result, the rewards that come with it. What they don’t want to do is the work it takes to make all these things happen.

Being a writer means writing. And being a musician means musicing. Often. Whenever you get the chance, really. Musicians aren’t the people who have to force themselves to play. They’re the ones whose fingers are bleeding because they can’t put down their guitar, who can’t resist sitting down for a few minutes at every piano they pass. Put them between a TV and their favorite instrument and ask them to choose, and they won’t hesitate. Nothing keeps them from their passion.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t mean to discourage you with this. I just think it’s worth asking yourself how much your desired future means to you. No one says, “I love sitting, and I love television, and I don’t doubt that I want to be a couch potato.” But it’s amazing how many people wind up in that particular vocation compared to how many good writers and musicians there are, isn’t it. . . ?

[outin]

Being a writer means writing. And being a musician means musicing. Often. Whenever you get the chance, really. Musicians aren’t the people who have to force themselves to play. They’re the ones whose fingers are bleeding because they can’t put down their guitar, who can’t resist sitting down for a few minutes at every piano they pass. Put them between a TV and their favorite instrument and ask them to choose, and they won’t hesitate. Nothing keeps them from their passion.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t mean to discourage you with this. I just think it’s worth asking yourself how much your desired future means to you. No one says, “I love sitting, and I love television, and I don’t doubt that I want to be a couch potato.” But it’s amazing how many people wind up in that particular vocation compared to how many good writers and musicians there are, isn’t it. . . ?

I think you explained it perfectly! People often want to be something instead of doing something and that obviously does not work.

But I still think sometimes you can have them both in you, a couch potato and a devoted music maker (especially in the beginning when the music you can make is not too great) and it's worth to have some ways to make you lean more towards the latter... or maybe it's just those of us who have multiple personatilites

There have been times when I have had to restrict my practice because of physical matters and it was just as painful as it sometimes is to get up and work.

[hfmadopter]

There have been times when I have had to restrict my practice because of physical matters and it was just as painful as it sometimes is to get up and work.

When you hurt you hurt, nobody here is going to put a megaphone to your ear and tell you to get up and practice when you really hurt. My work can tend to cramp my hands up pretty well. When I was younger a hot shower would loosen my body up as I think the cramped hands is a sign also of entire body tension. Now that I'm getting older that may or may not work any given day. I have days where my hands don't respond so well to my brain on the keys, they are just plain old stiffer than other days. It happens but I also have great days ! Also a product call Joint Juice helps me a lot, as there is a bit of arthritic problems in my body.

In the next three years I hope to retire or at least semi retire and work something I have never done in my life but part time. I'll see how it goes then. I'm doing a full young mans schedule right now by myself, no assistant where in the past I had two. When I leave the company they will phase out the department in house and farm it out, so I have been told and they have already done in it's other locations. I'm a one man show in the company sort to speak ! If anyone told me back when I was 32 yo I would be doing this at 63 with no assistants, I'd have thought them insane. Now I question my own sanity for hanging on . In three years I get full pension and social security benefits if I can make it that long. I either make it or I fail, if I fail I leave with 80%, so far I've gone 4 years like this but 4 years ago I would have left with 50% unless they offered something better to get rid of me ( they tried 60% and health benefits but I didn't bite as we weren't in a position to with my wifes father living here at going on 90 yo with dementia, her named his guardian and unable to work herself . Expenses were high.)...

So believe me when I say, I know about stress, I know about pain, I know about aging and takng several prescription drugs for various things and I know about that couch you sometimes flop on !! However, I also know about how music affects me, it's very deep and emotional with me and on my best days that hits the keys full strength.

[outin]

When you hurt you hurt, nobody here is going to put a megaphone to your ear and tell you to get up and practice when you really hurt. My work can tend to cramp my hands up pretty well. When I was younger a hot shower would loosen my body up as I think the cramped hands is a sign also of entire body tension. Now that I'm getting older that may or may not work any given day. I have days where my hands don't respond so well to my brain on the keys, they are just plain old stiffer than other days. It happens but I also have great days ! Also a product call Joint Juice helps me a lot, as there is a bit of arthritic problems in my body.

In the next three years I hope to retire or at least semi retire and work something I have never done in my life but part time. I'll see how it goes then. I'm doing a full young mans schedule right now by myself, no assistant where in the past I had two. When I leave the company they will phase out the department in house and farm it out, so I have been told and they have already done in it's other locations. I'm a one man show in the company sort to speak ! If anyone told me back when I was 32 yo I would be doing this at 63 with no assistants, I'd have thought them insane. Now I question my own sanity for hanging on . In three years I get full pension and social security benefits if I can make it that long. I either make it or I fail, if I fail I leave with 80%, so far I've gone 4 years like this but 4 years ago I would have left with 50% unless they offered something better to get rid of me ( they tried 60% and health benefits but I didn't bite as we weren't in a position to with my wifes father living here at going on 90 yo with dementia, her named his guardian and unable to work herself . Expenses were high.)...

So believe me when I say, I know about stress, I know about pain, I know about aging and takng several prescription drugs for various things and I know about that couch you sometimes flop on !! However, I also know about how music affects me, it's very deep and emotional with me and on my best days that hits the keys full strength.

I'm sure it's worth it to stick on it a bit longer, if it gives you more financial security. A few years and there will be a lot more time to practice 

I'll have to wait longer, hopefully I won't be a complete wreck when I retire...at least 20 years to go...on the other hand I can't think of anything better to do to make enough money to buy pianos and scores and paying for lessons.

But I can't complain now, I will be on vacation next week and not much planned so I can practice as much as I want...I'll probably overdo it 

[hfmadopter]

But I can't complain now, I will be on vacation next week and not much planned so I can practice as much as I want...I'll probably overdo it 

Enjoy your vacation, excellent !

[bronnestam]

Hi unimaster, how nice to seen another writer here.    Yes, I agree with you about everything.

I used to think practicing was boring, I often got impatient. I wanted to be able to play this and that piece, and it did not sound as I wanted and so I got angry and frustrated and I often asked myself why I bothered at all - it is so much more easy to listen to a good recording than torturing your ears with your own slaughter of good music, isn't it? (My music ear is, unfortunately, much more developed than my playing technique ... which I believe is not very unusual!)

Now I enjoy practicing. I started to play more challenging pieces and the pure joy of LEARNING is now much better than KNOWING.  When I meet difficulties, I almost get delighted because I know I have to work a lot in order to learn them. Like spending more time learning to know an interesting person!

As a writer, I find nothing more pleasing than polishing a first draft and see it becoming better and better.

But why do I think this is nice, now all of a sudden? Because I have much better self confidence now. I KNOW I will learn that piano piece, eventually. I KNOW I can write well, even though I hardly "nail" it in the first draft, or in the fifth for that matter. So, self-doubt is a great enemy to motivation.

Well ... but I also know that other story. I have difficulties with my hands now, I have practiced too much. So now I must restrict myself in order to get rid of the pain, I can only allow myself to play softly for 10-15 minutes, then I must stop. It is very frustrating, but meanwhile I suppose I can do some "off piano exercises" like memorizing, reading sheet music  and listening to other pianists.