Playing the same piece of music over and over

[Bob]

Boredom with that.

same music, same place, same everything.

I'd say alter it a bit, except I'm not going to.  not a strength and I'm short on time.

except it's the same thing.  again and again.  same arrangement I'm supposed to play, same as previous years.

some of it's holiday music.  surprise, surprise.  some isn't and the "isn't" music I've played over and over.

so disregarding rearranging...

I'm thinking...
don't practice it.  that will keep me on my toes.
or focus on technical things.  at least it would sound better that way.

any other ideas?


I'm getting paid, so of course i'll do it.  it's just starting to drive me a bit nuts since it's the exact same thing every, single time.


(and yes, I'm not hitting shift.  too much work from where I'm at now.)

[Bob]

found a couple...

practice performing.  no audible mistakes.
instead of practicing the music.

pick out something technical to bring out and make that the challenge.  I suck at voicing, so that focuses my mind on that.

a few I guess...
fake it, act it, overemphasize the spirit of the music.  my fingers are doing that, but my insides are screaming, "aaaaaahhhhhh!"   but it works, sort of

[Bob]

or just hit the keys harder.

[Bob]

take breaks.  like typing on here.

play like someone waaaay better than me.  that's a good one. 


vary it a little anyway.  try to play it in a different style, esp. if it's possible to do that but keep the fingerings the same.

speed up the tempo.   get through it faster.   possibly slow it down for something technical, like voicing, but fast and hard fingers can get things solid too.

[Bob]

I suppose on the positive side, sometimes that's where real progress is.  I'm getting bored with the way I'm playing it, but it could be better.  I'm just not quite aware of that, and that would be the next level.

[j_menz]

What on earth are you talking about?

[Bob]

I have to play the same music for something that I've played over and over and over.  So I pull out the music, but my brain's resisting it. 

It's money though.  Hard to argue with that.

[pianoman53]

If you'd phrase your post into an actual question, rather than brainstorming, I'm sure you'd get more help.

[indianajo]

Getting paid, you have to put up with average people.
Average people get enthused about forty songs, when they are in their late teens and begin thinking about the opposite sex.
Their brains then set like concrete, and they never want to hear anything else.  
I'm extremely weird, I must be related to a Mockingbird, or KooKooburra,  I like hearing and sometimes learning new music (not the atonal or 12 tone  **** they teach at universities and play at New York Phil on sure audience weekends, but there are still people writing tonal music).  It drives my church friends nuts.
I've been skipping my church for the Christmas holiday. We're led by a great minister that preaches on all 800 different pages of the Bible, but the music committee has insisted on singing the same 40 songs, for the last 22 years.    instead of the 500 song moldy (or classic, to use the other phrase) winter holiday oldies that are probably driving you nuts, my church has gotten stuck on three songs for Christmas - every service.  Two are not by Handel or Mendelsson, In fact "Go Tell it On the Mountain" and "Emmanuelle" are the two of the three of  "our favorite" Christmas songs.  They dragged them out starting this year November 30th, I thought I was safe from them in November.  I quit singing in the choir afterr "Go Tell It on the Mountain", was repeated three years in a row 15 years ago, twice in Tom Fettke cantatas.  The choir members still ask me to come sing with them and wonder why I am so uncooperative.      
I went to church  down the street yesterday, to hear  4 old favorites and three totally new songs.  Three were country, played on acoustic guitar, and one had really appropriate lyrics and some suitable chords. I had never heard it before, not even on the semi country semi classic rock high school FM station I listen to because their playlist is 1000 songs, not 40.   So there piano fans, I can enjoy other things but piano. I just can't play them.   I can't build calluses. learning guitar was a very personal experience involving nylon strings that can't be heard across the room.

[Bob]

Brainstorming while practicing there.  Probably another idea -- get the mind off that to some extent.  Just let the fingers do the walking.


So the question is -- How you engrain music into the mind/fingers so the performance is solid when it's music you've played many, many, many times before ?

I suppose on the plus side, it takes less effort each time.

[louispodesta]

Boredom with that.

same music, same place, same everything.

I'd say alter it a bit, except I'm not going to.  not a strength and I'm short on time.

except it's the same thing.  again and again.  same arrangement I'm supposed to play, same as previous years.

some of it's holiday music.  surprise, surprise.  some isn't and the "isn't" music I've played over and over.

so disregarding rearranging...

I'm thinking...
don't practice it.  that will keep me on my toes.
or focus on technical things.  at least it would sound better that way.

any other ideas?


I'm getting paid, so of course i'll do it.  it's just starting to drive me a bit nuts since it's the exact same thing every, single time.


(and yes, I'm not hitting shift.  too much work from where I'm at now.)

The OP will have no problem with being bored ever again.

Please contact me by private message for further discussion, if you so desire.

[j_menz]

The OP will have no problem with being bored ever again.

Because the literally "bored to death" a repeated viewing of that will engender will make it impossible?

[Bob]

Having a performance deadline come up gets rid of some of the boredom.


Yeah, I'm not quite following the video's relevance.


I think the ears get heightened when you know someone will listen to you soon and then there are things to fix.

Plus I prepped up way too much music, but that's fine. 


I suppose in the future....
Even less prep.  Why bother really?  It maximizes the time in vs. money made.
Maybe more difficult music, but again, why bother?  The performance piano is crappy too.
Different music would be good.  I have one piece in mind that's a bit more of a challenge. 
And cleaning up the spots that I gloss over, just to finally clean them up.

[pianist1976]

The OP will have no problem with being bored ever again.

Please contact me by private message for further discussion, if you so desire.

Sorry, I just don't get it 

[cwjalex]

louis should just add that link to his signature so it's attached to all his posts.  at least that way he could at least pretend to be talking about something relevant while still plugging his usual things.

[Bob]

I was thinking on this more last night.  Part is just the work/job.  But part is me.  I'm just not hearing, looking for, or actually attempting to fix the things I'm aware could be fixed.  This could be the time to pop out an audio recorder and critique things.

And then there's the paid angle.  I get paid the same either way.  And it's not the greatest music so why bother, etc., etc., etc.

Which leaves it as a principle thing and investing a lot of energy into a small, but significant payoff.

[starlady]

I've been skipping my church for the Christmas holiday. We're led by a great minister that preaches on all 800 different pages of the Bible, but the music committee has insisted on singing the same 40 songs, for the last 22 years.  

Yes!! This is the best statement I ever saw of what is wrong with church music today and I am going to pass it on to my friends who are choir directors and organists.   --s.

[cbreemer]

The OP will have no problem with being bored ever again.

Am I the only one finding this pretentious to the point of being preposterous ? Naming a video
or article "Your piano teacher taught you wrong" seems tantamount to stating "I am the only
one in the world who knows it all and everybody else is an idiot". Or maybe I'm missing some
point here... being put off by the title I did not actually watch the video.

[Bob]

I was wondering if it copied a book out a while ago...

https://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Music-Teacher-Told/dp/1886209111
Lies My Music Teacher Told Me Paperback  – November 1, 1994
by Gerald Eskelin

Just a way to catch your attention.


There's a lot of stuff out there with 'lies your teacher taught' etc. 


Haha... It's a chance for a college prof to spew out their knowledge for hours and hours too.  "Have you read the book ______?  Well, you should have.  Why haven't you already?  You better not teach anyone that a quarter note is one beat. Don't you know, blah, blah, blah..."  And then in the real world you've literally got seconds or a minute to explain things like that.