How to practice what you don't really enjoy?

[tdk2302]

Hey guys, how do you practice a song that is essential for your grow-up experience in music, but you really don't enjoy it? I play any Bach music like an exercise. How can I make myself like his music and play it with joy like other pieces ?

[1piano4joe]

Hi tdk2302,

You ask, "How to practice what you don't really enjoy?"

I find this to be a real downer for me. I only do this when I have a good reason for doing so like somebody requests this from me or if it prepares me for another piece I'm not quite ready for and/or to learn a particular technique.

I honestly don't know how to make myself like a piece of music that I don't so I can't help you there.

I do find my tastes sometimes change while learning a piece. This can go either way. Why does something I thought I liked become something I don't after practicing it? I don't know. And why does something I know I don't like become something I love after I can play it? Is this because I enjoy playing it myself but not listening to it? Is that because I worked so hard to learn it and getting to play it is my reward?

And the changes in my tastes are not always complete opposites. Often, something I really don't like becomes just okay and something I really love becomes just okay too.

And all these changes occur not only while learning/practicing a piece but with the passage of time as well.

This strange, bizarre phenomenon also happens to me with food. It really puzzles me. Every once in a while I will eat something I can't stand just to make sure I still don't like it. How is it possible to hate a food for over 20 years of your life and then your tastes change and you like it?

You ask, "How?"

Well, I remind myself why. I think of other pieces I endured and how much they did for me. Then I try to practice them even more efficiently as to be rid of them as soon as possible. I keep very detailed notes about phrases, measures and my progress. I do not want to play from beginning to end while dialing up the metronome slowly.

Therefore measure 1, right hand only, up to 50% today then the left hand up to 50%. I write it down. Then measure 2 and so on. I don't practice each measure or phrase say 10 times or 20 times or anything like that. Remember, I hate this !@$&^$^% piece! So, if 50% happens on the first try great. Some measures or phrases obviously take more "work" to get to 50% but I always try to get there with the least number of repetitions possible. It becomes a contest with myself.

My general idea is progress, efficiency and record keeping which I streamline and keep focus on. No zoning out or playing too long. No thank you! Not on this piece!

I like your question and look forward to reading others opinions, Joe.
 

[bronnestam]

I see no point in spending time with pieces I don't like. I did that in my teens, and it made me dislike piano practice. I hated Bach. (Today I don't ...    )

But you know: boredom = lack of motivation. You cannot see the point in why you play this, even if some Authority tells you that it is "good" for you.

Instead I say: play what you really love, and during learning and practicing of this music, you may suddenly find that you need to exercise something a bit more, and then you search for material that will help you. And so you will start playing those "boring" pieces as you know exactly why you do it - and then you will find that they are not boring at all, as you now are properly motivated.

For example, there was a time when I dutifully started my practice sessions with a number of scales and other fundamental exercises ... I played a lot of them, it did not sound good, I stopped listen to myself, I started to think of something else, I got tired ... I got other things to do, as I always have had a life outside piano playing as well. So at the end I had spent a lot of time doing useless exercises + three minutes of what I really should be learning. Needless to say that this approach took me nowhere?

Today I concentrate on what I really want to learn, and I deal with that. Sometimes I find that some scales or other exercises would be fine; then I do them. At the moment I practice a piece which contains a rather long chromatic scale, and I need to work separately with that chromatic scale in order to get it fast and even - fine, so I work with that one. But I know what to use it for, and so it is not boring.

[bernadette60614]

I think YouTube is excellent for this.

I can't say that I really enjoyed the piece I worked on for two months during the two months I worked on it for an hour or more a day. But, what I did keep in mind was how it sounded when Barenboim played it, and I worked to put myself in his frame of mind. (If that makes any sense...)

[gyzzzmo]

Sometimes you can find small parts in a piece wich are enjoyable, even if something in general isnt. Also you can find enjoyment in the progress you get by practising it. But always try to be open for trying out new pieces!

[ajspiano]

If you feel the passion of the music it will be fun, if you don't then you will be practicing mechanically and playing without feeling which isn't great for you or anyone listening.

Bach will probably come to you in time when you are ready for it.

However, try listening to a good lot of it without bothering about playing it. See if there is some you do like.

Richter's WTC would good start, and Gould's inventions and sinfonias.

[amelialw]

Personally i always get it done even if I don't enjoy it...my goals motivate me to do it and I've been trained that way since 10 years ago.

[danhuyle]

To practice what you don't enjoy, there must be a reason you're practicing it in the first place, exams being the #1 reason, like playing baroque for piano exams (yuck!)

Now that I don't sit piano exams anymore, I'm not under any pressure to practice the things I don't enjoy playing.

It might have to do with the difficulty of a piece that can cause you to not enjoy practicing the song, however, I find that if you really want to learn the pieces, you'd go for it.

[jjernigan]

Actually, I've found that just learning new pieces, even if I don't particularly care for them, is really rewarding as far as skill advancement goes.  There have been a couple pieces my teacher assigned me that I know I grimaced at-but in the end, became a better player for learning them  Left to my own devices, I'd probably play Beethoven and Tchaikovsky most of the time!  However, learning pieces from other composers, I've learned to do things I might otherwise have not thought about.   While  I'm not going to rush out and buy a CD of Bach's music, I find his music to be technically challenging and am totally enthralled by the third voice principal!  Of course, I'm an engineer and adore math (particularly its relationship to music), so maybe my perspective is skewed a bit... :-)  The summary is the more different types of music I play, the more well-rounded my skill set will become.  So you might approach it from a purely "technical improvement" standpoint.

[tdk2302]

Thanks guys for wonderful comments and advises. I do know that I need to practice Bach's music for my technique, but to be honest, it's the first time I ever play someone's music mechanically. There is absolutely no feeling while playing Bach's music. My teachers never complain about that part when I play other pieces, but only with Bach ).