Feeling "burnt out"

[flashyfingers]

What I am not OK with is this feeling of exhaustion and lack of enthusiasm in learning new music.
I am looking at new composers, such as Prokofiev and Kapustin.

I am having such a hard time enjoying the learning process of these pieces. It feels like too much counting and not enough music. Compared to Beethoven and Liszt, it's so much more work to make the music come out from the piano, and I just sound worse than I do when I work on pieces I am familiar with.

But I have to learn new music, broaden my horizons.

What should I do?

I feel burnt out.

[thalbergmad]

Indeed it is wise to broaden your horizons, but not with composers that you do not connect with.

If you do not enjoy the learning process, they are obviously not for you.

Thal

[pover]

Indeed it is wise to broaden your horizons, but not with composers that you do not connect with.

If you do not enjoy the learning process, they are obviously not for you.

+1. I agree wholeheartedly.

I recently decided to branch out and look for different composers as well. Judging from your post I assume you're much much more advanced than I am and have probably learned repertoire I was thinking of looking into.

If you haven't already, I suggest you learn some Mendelssohn, his Songs without words are amazing compositions, and probably won't take much time from your to bring to a good standard, so I suggest looking into them. Also, some Schubert never hurts. I would advise learning an impromptu or two, really wonderful compositions.

And if you're up for it, Rach preludes are also great, listen to them and decide which one to learn next. If you think these are a bit of a stretch, you can always go back and learn some Bach or Mozart, or Beethoven. I know it's important to look into different directions and learn new music, but it's always important to go back to what you really enjoy, whatever that may be (chopin!).

[flashyfingers]

@thal

I really like the music though. And think that if I just figure out how to approach it, I will enjoy working on the pieces as much as I like the music.

I really enjoyed the Berg sonata immensely. I have never had as much fun learning a piece, as this was.

[thalbergmad]

I'M GOING TO TRY THIS "DAY OFF" EVERYONE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT...

Sounds like you could do with a week. Try it and you will come back better.

I find it very hard to leave my banjos alone, but sometimes you must force yourself.

Thal

[flashyfingers]

Sounds like you could do with a week. Try it and you will come back better.

I find it very hard to leave my banjos alone, but sometimes you must force yourself.

Thal

I agree. I have never forced myself to take more than a day off. This could be the problem...

[pover]

I feel like I just went through a good period where I learnt so much music and so fast and so well. And all the sudden I feel like I can't do it at all and I can't figure out why...like I forgot or something.

This is something you'll have to get used to  Progress with learning piano is never linear, it might seem so, but in reality it's got times where you learn a lot and progress quickly, and other times when you plateau and feel stagnant, like you're not achieving much. If you keep at it through those plateaus, then you will be reward with another learning curve

You seem to like bach more than I do, I find him extremely difficult. I find it really hard to control all the voices etc. But I was thinking of playing things by Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms (maybe later), Tchaikovsky, and more. Just get in touch with different music, you know? I'm not that accomplished myself; I've only been playing for around 2 years and I'm self-taught since I can't afford a teacher.

But by all means, do try taking a break. That doesn't seem to work for me though, I'm kind of addicted

[cabbynum]

Why can't you just have a few fun pieces? You don't have to seriously study all the time. That's what I do when I take a break. I also do all technique. I have the fun pieces for an hour then technique for 2-3 then repeat. Do that daily for a week and then a 4 day break is like heaven!

[ted]

Perhaps the issue is not musical, but rather that you might need a solid helping of other things in life. I remember the photograph in the paper of Rubinstein when he performed in Auckland in 1965. He was standing on the balcony of his hotel room, a glass of brandy in one hand and a cigar in the other. "i want to live," he told the deadly serious musical reporter. Music is a wonderful thing, but it is a long way from being everything.

[flashyfingers]

Hey all! I decided that I do not want to work on any Kapustin right now. I happen to enjoy working on difficult pieces only as difficult as Liszt.

My friend even said, why do everything at once?

Another friend said, focus on a few composers at a time. Liszt it is! I am very excited about it.

I took yesterday off. Glad I got my mojo back!!!


Thank you all so much!

@ ted

You are absolutely right. I work teaching piano, too. Practice, compose, work, school. Non-stop music. No time to do much else, but I do have 2 huskies! And one is a 3 month old puppy. HEH
 

[ignaceii]

I was planning a new post, but I guess it can fit in here.
For 5 years I suffer from a chronicle illness (cfr burn-out but far harder). I can only spend about half an hour maximum at the piano.
It's a real hell. But that's life, it struck me and it does not get any better.
For a long time, as autodidact with private lessons, I learnt to play, mostly the classical genre.

But now I was tempted by Chopins 1st Ballad. I bought both the ballads and the scherzi.
I know I can handle the Ballad given enough time, but I'm not sure as it is not easy at all. But it's a marvellous piece, of course the agitato intermezzi are the toughest.

Now, given my weak condition, should I continue to study it, even if it is only half an hour at maximum a day, or should I play my alternative pieces, the CPE Bachs sonatas.
I also, having bought the book, tried the first scherzo, but the tempo is so ferocious I can not sustain it long enough. 120 at 3/4. But I tried, crazy for amateurs.

And then I even haven't played a study...

Thanks for your advise.

[flashyfingers]

@ignaceli

the trick is to practice when you feel good. If you do not feel good, then do not sit at the piano. You have to feel attentive, interested, full of anticipation...
Perhaps instead of a half an hour at a time, maybe you could do a minimum of a half an hour, and a maximum of an hour.
I would start each practice with a few simple exercises. I always start by deciding what scale I am going to play, think about the key signature, and start slowly playing each note in the right hand, ascending. I never touch the keys until I know what I am going to play. Then, you do the same with the left hand. Today, after I practiced exercises, I went to working out the last sections of the Liszt etudes (I am finishing the first 2 of the 3 concert etudes soon.) This took a lot of time, because I had to work up to playing through the sections.

When you are learning notes, try to have a piece completed for practice, don't spend all your practice time learning new notes.

That being said, after I worked on the sections of the etudes, I went to playing through one of my new pieces, worked on performance and polishing.

With the Chopin, it is difficult, but if your sight reading is pretty good, you could work on reading through sections of it, while memorizing the parts that are way too difficult to sight-read every time. The sections that you end up reading, you will commit to memory eventually, anyways.

If you have any questions or need any help, just message me!

[awesom_o]

I also, having bought the book, tried the first scherzo, but the tempo is so ferocious I can not sustain it long enough.

Why don't you try playing the entire Scherzo in a tempo that you CAN sustain for the entire piece?

You will probably find the performance tempo to be quite achievable once you've managed to play through the entire work fifteen or twenty times at a slower, but still extremely rhythmic and regular tempo!