UPDATE: Forgetting pieces right before lessons

[immortalbeloved]

Hey everyone,

Firstly, I hate to make an update for two reasons: the original thread is still going and also maybe one week is not enough to really be the new norm. But I thought I would nonetheless make this post.

 As I mentioned in my last piece, right before lessons I would forget pieces that I had learned so well--I was quite sad, angry, and stressed about this. And I must confess all of YOUR posts on here really helped me. Here is what I did and I have seen a dramatic upgrade in my lesson playing.

1) mental preparation: before I went to the lesson I asked myself if I knew my pieces well enough that I could play them by heart at home one hundred percent. If I did, I told myself that whatever happened at one play through the next day was just an oddity not indicative of anything.
2) I practiced each piece twice (or, other short one, three times). NO OVER PRACTICE DAY OF LESSON.
3) I told myself that this was supposed to be great. I had really spent much time at home practicing and if anything I had something positive to offer--be excited and happy.

All these things were slight MENTAL adjustments but they worked. I do not know how but they did. And I have only you all to thank. DC Studio, CC, and my goodness so many more. I really owe you all so much.

[immortalbeloved]

A small addition is that really all of it begins at home. What you do at your house adds up--and therefore, the only thing you can be sure of is not what MIGHT happen on lesson day but what WILL HAPPEN during your practice sessions and how many you have of them.

[hardy_practice]

1) mental preparation: before I went to the lesson I asked myself if I knew my pieces well enough that I could play them by heart at home one hundred percent.

No, that is not 'mental preparation'.  Anyone can play at home 100%.  The technique is to play it 100% in your mind's eye.  It's 10X more effort but guaranteed.

[immortalbeloved]

Well, I am not so sure.

My idea is this: if I know it at home, then whatever happens on lesson day is not a result of my lack of preparation but outside factors--meaning, believe in your training at home, and attribute whatever else happens to outside factors not your own failure to learn the piece. So, it is physical but it is also going into the lesson with self-belief (and hopefully a performance with it as well).

[hardy_practice]

My bad.  I thought you wanted to remember well in lessons.

[dcstudio]

both mental preparation and mental practice are valuable tools to combat " braincrash"

thanks so much IB!  and thank you for posting this and letting everyone know that you tried it and it worked...  others will read this now and because you were successful they will try these things too...  you may have just saved 100s of caked performances and failed recitals


yea!