Messing around with the Rach 3 - Dangerous to my practice?

[bonesquirrel]

Hello.

I have for the past 3 days been messing around with a tricky part of the 1st Movement of the Rach 3. I cant read so I can refer to the score, but the best way I can explain it is 'the part where the bass A is hit repeatedly, its where it is building up to that really fast part that goes all the way down the piano'. If you are familiar with the Rach 3, you should have an idea about what position I'm practicing.

Now after only 3 days of practicing this section (I set my goal to learn about 30 seconds of it) I have got a fair chunk of it done at a decent speed. My problem is that my fingers (especially on my left hand that has to play those crazy bass notes) are really starting to hurt, an funny as it sounds, my right scapula is cramping up all the time when I try and play chords that require lots of power.

I can although, still push threw it and play. All I want you to tell me is "When is enough enough?" and "Is this going to decrease my performance in learning other more simple pieces?".

[pianoplayer002]

Enough is already enough, because of the simple fact that you should never push through any tension, pain or cramping in any part of the body while playing. Piano playing should never hurt, or cause cramps, fatigue or even tightness, regardless if you are playing Rach 3 or Twinkle twinkle little star. If you keep practising this way, you will just continue ingraining these tense habits, and they will be harder to get rid of (and if you plan on playing Rach 3 eventually, you'll want to get rid of them!)

Regardless if you continue practising Rach or something else, I encourage you to always focus on always allowing fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders to be completely supple and free during playing (not floppy dead, but free).

[faulty_damper]

Based only on your descriptions of the kinds of pain you are feeling, you are most probably a muscle tension player.  You'll injure yourself soon enough to the point where you may not play any longer.  If you don't change your movements to more efficient and effective ones, you'll never be able to play well.  Very few do simply because they've never figured out how to.  Most eventually quit.

[j_menz]

Since I have already told you to drop the Rach 3 (and work on more manageable stuff), and you have completely ignored me, the pain you feel is your punishment.

Seriously - stop fooling around with these things (Rach 3, HR 2)and spend your time more productively. Work on your Bach C Prelude and get it right. You're wasting valuable time, and are quite likely to do yourself lasting damage.

[bonesquirrel]

Since I have already told you to drop the Rach 3 (and work on more manageable stuff), and you have completely ignored me, the pain you feel is your punishment.

Seriously - stop fooling around with these things (Rach 3, HR 2)and spend your time more productively. Work on your Bach C Prelude and get it right. You're wasting valuable time, and are quite likely to do yourself lasting damage.

Wait what? I havent completely ignored you.

The Hungarian Rhapsody and the Rach 3 only take up like half my time Im at the piano, an Im at the moment playing the piano like 7-8 hours a day (because I'm sick and cant do anything else). So I still have 4 hours of practicing other things, I will continue to work on that Bach Prelude and Im learning Schuman - Carnaval Op 9 aswell as one of Chopin Nocturnes. I'm even doing some music theory + I been messing around with Hugh Laurie's version of St James Infirmary (the intro) an have gotten good results with that.

Whats the problem here? Besides the fact the Rach 3 hurts lol

P.S I do have suspected ADHD, is that the issue? I have medication I can take that helps me concentrate but it makes me pee all the time and I cant sleep.

[pianoplayer002]

Whats the problem here? Besides the fact the Rach 3 hurts lol

Regardless of what ailments you have, the problem is that you are spending over half your practise time ingraining bad habits that will take a lot of work to get rid of, and sooner or later will cause injury unless you change course. You also simply play much better without a lot of tense habits getting in the way.

[thalbergmad]

If you want to end up having to pick your nose with your elbow, carry on as you are and ignore all of us.

Thal

[j_menz]

Whats the problem here? Besides the fact the Rach 3 hurts lol

The problem is that that hurt may result in serious and long term injury, preventing you from playing at all, or at least anything you might actually want.

More time on learning to read music, more time on scales and arpeggios, more time on stuff that is appropriate for where you are. 

Do a search on the music available from this site and work your way through grades 2, 3 and 4. It will serve you much, much better than hacking away at stuff you really aren't technically ready for.

[bonesquirrel]

Thankyou everyone for you answers.

I will do as you people say, but I will have a little bit of free time (like 30 minutes max) working on the Hungarian Rhapsody, its just so fun to play.

[rpworldcup]

I am familiar with the piece but I still don't know which part you're referring to. The first movement is long and is structured in large sections (at least the way I see it) and each has their own difficulties. Since you're talking about repeating bass notes like A, I want to immediately assume you could be talking about the ossia cadenza.

And if you are, and you're experiencing pain while practicing, STOP! Not because you shouldn't play it, but because you can actually sustain a significant injury by utilizing bad posture and playing technique. It's just a suggestion.