How can I enjoy it more?

[penny_18]

How can I enjoy practice more?

I mean, don't get me wrong I adore everything about the piano, I have many many pieces I'd love to learn, I'm studing music theory and having a lot of fun with it. It's my favorite thing in the world and still...

Basically, I go through most of the day waiting for my free time so that I can just go and sit at the piano to practice, pretty excited about it and everything, but when I finally am free - around 11 pm or maybe 12 am - I just, I can't enjoy it as much. I just keep making stupid mistakes that I can't get over no matter how easy the piece is and I get really annoyed at myself and that just makes it worse. I know most of them happen because I'm over-thinking it all but I can't seem to stop. It all starts sounding dull and it's not fun at all. I get that it is hard work but after almost 4 years I thought I'd be over this particular issue. I really hate how I have to go through everything a thousand times before I can play anything without making too many mistakes, no matter how simple it is. I just feel like I'm sabotaging myself and I can't seem to stop. Help! 

I'm sorry I'm ranting but I just wanted to know if anyone here has gone through a similar problem or anything.

[outin]

Actually I can relate to that all. Some people are more prone to frustration and too much perfectionism than others. Those are not good things when learning piano. I get really annoyed with myself, can't help it. Lately though I have tried to keep it under control more and it seems to be a little better. I have focused on finishing playing a piece even though I messed something up and completely forget where I was. It's my mental exercise to get over the mistakes. Most of the mistakes are caused by sloppyness and failing concentration anyway, not technical issues, so always stopping to practice that part wasn't working very well for me.

Lately I also start my practice sessions with a piece I actually can play pretty well from memory and concentrate on how nice I can make it sound (on a good day). The pathetic thing is that this 2 page piece is the only piece I can play like that after 2 years...everything else is only partly memorized. But I hope I'll get another one some day, otherwise it's getting a bit boring 

[bronnestam]

I wrote a long comment about this in another thread:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=51593.msg561160#new

Please pay special attention to the link I wrote there. No, I write it here as well:
https://practisingthepiano.com/?p=2610

This is the best piece of advice I've seen so far, when it comes to the Art of Eliminating Annoying Mistakes.

After every practice session, I make a summary in my head of what I have IMPROVED, and this is my major motivation engine. You MUST put yourself in a good mood, practicing is supposed to be FUN, a date with yourself and your beloved piano - don't ruin it by blaming yourself or getting disappointed with yourself.

I also get a bit worried when you write about your practicing time - is it really impossible for you to practice earlier in the day? What if you go to bed earlier and rise earlier? My best practice time is early in the morning, when I can be undisturbed. (I play on a digital and I use headphones.)

I also agree with outin that stopping at every mistake, to repeat that part once or a few times, is a terribly bad habit. Try playing like nothing happened. If you play to an audience, they will most likely never hear that mistake if you just pretend it was all right ...
These accidential stops are very much different from the planned stops that are described in the link above. Of course you should work a lot with sections and difficult parts, rather than playing the whole piece through a lot of times (because that is a waste of time in the learning phase). I mean, it is a big difference between learning something and just playing it.

[jjernigan]

The articles cited are really quite good ideas.  Frustration is rampant! :-)  I've been working on a stupid trill in Beethoven's Ecossaise for a few weeks now.  The rest I can play just fine-the trill drives me nuts!  However, I've learned quite a bit in search of the "perfect" trill, including a lot about how I'm using my fourth and fifth fingers on the right hand. That in its own right has made me understand the prize for the struggle.  You might consider this as you're struggling. It's really improved my attitude-I WILL get it right, LOL! :-)

[bernadette60614]

I don't have the answer for you, but what has helped me:

Realizing that everyone has to practice..I recall reading that before going on concert tours, Chopin would practice Bach incessantly to sharpen his skills. Everyone practices, cause no one knows everything.

It helps me to go back and play those pieces which I feel I have 'down"..and recalling how at one time those pieces seemed impossible.  Frustration, error, mistakes is all part of the process...otherwise we'd be automatons.

Another thing I try to focus on:  What is this piece teaching me..other than the "music"..are those places in which I'm constantly stumbling clueing me in that that is a weakness in my technique...in that case, that tells me that I need to use the piece not only to learn for its own sake, but to help me with a particular challenge.

Finally, I try to embrace mistakes..as an opportunity to learn something new.  I think most of us are educated to respond to mistakes with anger, shame or frustration....when in reality any learning process ...from learning how to walk to learning academic material...is just a process of learning from mistakes. 

I figure if I'm not making mistakes then I'm not challenging myself.

[penny_18]

Thank you all for the advice. It really did help a lot.

I've always been a perfectionist and it usually gets me frustrated with many things. I also have a tendency to stop at every mistake and I know it's a terrible habit but I just don't know how to keep going because I get a little lost in the music, if that makes any sense?

What I could improve was the not minding the mistakes so much which allowed me to have a better approach towards correcting them. (I particularly enjoyed the stopping before the note to focus on playing it right, it really got rid of a lot of mistakes for me)

bronnestam - about my practicing time, I am trying to do it earlier but I do find it very hard because I live in a crowded (yet small) apartment. Among the people here there's my nephew, who's two and a half and doesn't really care for knocking on the door. So my daily time is spent in a pretty hectic environment and every time I have to myself gets interrupted. I can only practice properly once everyone's gone to bed. They are already awake early in the morning so...

One more thing, reading you guys wrote about memorizing pieces I realised I'm actually having more trouble playing and reading at the same time (I'm terrible at sight reading too) so most of what I play is memorized and I only use the sheet music every now and then, could it be a problem when I'm playing more advanced material? Thanks in advance.