How do you practice

[leftca]

Ive been playing for 5 years ish and have never really figured out how to practice. I have pretty bad adhd and can never concentrate While i sit down for max half an hour a day i only play the piece im assigned through once or twice and goof off the rest of the time playing showy stuff. I can never sit and concentrate. I can just imagine how good i would be if i spent the whole time practicing. As it took me around a month and a half to learn the first half of the hungarian rhapsody no 2 with like 5 minutes a day of practicing. How do you sit and focus while practicing?

[tdawe]

I am very similar to you. Extreme willpower and consistency. Try to isolate yourself from other distractions - I'm not sure where you practice, but for me, even though I have my own piano, I go to my University's practice rooms for this purpose. At first it was almost impossible for me to focus on practicing, exactly like you I would simply get distracted by doing the fun stuff that didn't require focusing my brain. However my desire to improve eventually motivated me force myself to practice and eventually (painstakingly slowly) it stops becoming hard and becomes fun. I'm afraid there's no short cut.

That said, try to think about what exactly it is that is stopping you from enjoying practicing and losing focus. Think about different ways to practice rather than simply bashing your head against the wall and becoming frustration. Try to understand the problems in a different way. It also entirely depends on what your reason is for practicing - why are you playing, what is your end goal?

[hasekamp]

Maybe it helps to study more pieces at a time. It is mostly better to play two times a quarter of an hour than one time half an hour (and so on).
I do not really have a concenration problem. but I undestand the feeling, I think. I study an hour a day, but always in portions.
I study four completely different pieces (Bach, a classical piece, a romantic piece and a more modern piece) and I mostly study two or even one piece a day and different pieces the next day. This works very well for me.

[unholeee]

whatever the hell i want whenever the hell i want. probably not very insightful.

[japzz]

another little trick what may help.
I bought a roland electronic piano in februari this year and I noticed I'm much more concentrated when I play it through the headphone,question of isolating yourself from your environment I suppose.Off course this won't work with  an acoustical instrument unfortunately...