What is happening here?

[immortalbeloved]

Hey everyone,

I am sure a lot of you know exactly what I am talking about but this still amazes me. I am working on a very frustrating passage in a Diabeli's sontina in F m. So, I play it over and over again, all day and all day, etc, etc.

It does not come. Then I go to bed, wake up, and it is almost there. It is as if my brain needs that sleep to organize my intentions and manifest it into my physical ability. This happens all the time, where a frustrating day of not progressing is nufflied the next day at first praxtice session or shortly thereafter.

There has to be a science to this--it is amazing and I just wanted to write about it here like a blog post.

SLDJA

[thejeev]

Hey everyone,

I am sure a lot of you know exactly what I am talking about but this still amazes me. I am working on a very frustrating passage in a Diabeli's sontina in F m. So, I play it over and over again, all day and all day, etc, etc.

It does not come. Then I go to bed, wake up, and it is almost there. It is as if my brain needs that sleep to organize my intentions and manifest it into my physical ability. This happens all the time, where a frustrating day of not progressing is nufflied the next day at first praxtice session or shortly thereafter.

There has to be a science to this--it is amazing and I just wanted to write about it here like a blog post.

SLDJA

Yeah it's probably a combination of two things:

When you first wake up, you're body has stored a bunch of energy. When you sit down to play, this energy takes the form of "ease of motion" that eventually subsides when you get tired. I guarantee you, if you record your playing on video right when you get up, then record your last attempt at the end of the night, your earlier performance will show you much more "physically engaged", being more "connected" to the real shape of the passage. Of course this goes away over time as you fatigue.

Second is, when this energy is in abundance, you are able to engage your "speech" faculties much more when you play, as your body needs to make less technical effort, so your passage comes out cleaner and more, shall we say voice-like. Again, as your body fatigues, your brain starts to lose focus on this speech and starts concentrating on your technical shortfalls. It's a like a downward spiral trap - once you're fatigued, don't expect to make the same sound as you did when you were full of energy, it just doesn't happen. Unless, you know, pain killers, but that's a world you want to stay away from at all costs.

There are certain passages of pieces I don't even attempt to play at night for this reason.

[immortalbeloved]

Brilliant--and very true. I wonder how long I can extend this ''ease of motion'' however. As you can tell by what I am playing, Diabeli's F major sonatina, I still quite new.

Is this something you can, or will, develop over time? Or is ease of moition something different from stamina.

Very fascinating

[quantum]

The brain does have a saturation point for a given practice session, as if a sponge has soaked up as much water as it can hold and can't take in any more.  One needs to give the brain time to clear its buffer.  Just because you are not sitting at the piano, does not mean your brain is not learning the music.  If a particular passage is simply not working for you at the moment it is usually best to leave it be.  Return to the passage at a different time. 

[mjames]

^---yup

And you can take advantage of this by having different practice sessions each day instead of one big session per day.

[briansaddleback]

Hey everyone,

I am sure a lot of you know exactly what I am talking about but this still amazes me. I am working on a very frustrating passage in a Diabeli's sontina in F m. So, I play it over and over again, all day and all day, etc, etc.

It does not come. Then I go to bed, wake up, and it is almost there. It is as if my brain needs that sleep to organize my intentions and manifest it into my physical ability. This happens all the time, where a frustrating day of not progressing is nufflied the next day at first praxtice session or shortly thereafter.

There has to be a science to this--it is amazing and I just wanted to write about it here like a blog post.

SLDJA

also here's another phenomenon. Try working on a dastardly hard passage that technically cannot be overcome with your current technique. No matter how methodically you approach it , how hard you work on it, and how many didfferent trial and errors you have gone through , you hit a wall and cannot surpass it. So you call it quits and tuck it away for a few weeks. Don't ever touch it.
Come back to it after 3 weeks and you will find that it easier for you and it has been engrained into your fingers.

(you have to be really working on it for a week or two for this phenomenon to occur and reward you).

[outin]

This is simply how it works. Sleep is the key here as modern brain research tells us. We need the sleep to process what we learn and the more we sleep the better we learn...at least I like to think so

So stop practicing a piece/passage when you start noticing diminishing returns for your work and get back to it the next day. This is the fastest and best way to solve problems.

[perfect_pitch]

This is simply how it works. Sleep is the key here as modern brain research tells us. We need the sleep to process what we learn and the more we sleep the better we learn...at least I like to think so

Mmmm... I'm screwed then. I barely get enough sleep as it is.

[bronnestam]

There is some excellent advice about this particular issue in "Fundamentals of piano practice" by Chang: the LAST thing you should do, when you work with a certain problem or a certain piece, is to play it sloooowly. Yes, even if you DO think you can play it up to speed etcetera. You play it slowly, and of course otherwise as flawlessly as you ever can. (Play it so slowly that you simply cannot fail, OK?)

Then you leave it. Sleep on it. Or even forget it for a longer time, while you work with other things. When you eventually come back to it, you will find that you have improved significantly. Yes, it works! I have tried this many times.

Have respect for your brain and your learning capabilities.    They are amazing. If you push yourself to the limits, so that you feel exhausted, unfocused, or even physical pain, then it is a clear signal from your brain that it is time to call it a day. Don't give a sh*t about what your friend or your pianist idol do or did. This is YOUR brain, this is YOU.
Also respect if you feel bored. A bored brain cannot learn, boredom is its defense against present situation. You probably need to rest, or maybe re-consider your goals. Maybe your goals are not what you think they are. (For example: you love to listen to this music, but you hate to learn it. OK, then don't learn it. Enjoy it from the audience's seats and put your learning efforts on something else. Or you think you want to become a famous and celebrated pianist, but actually you just want to become famous and celebrated, to get approval, or make Mom happy. Be honest to yourself, and you will feel happier and less bored.)

Think of small children. They are the most amazing learners, we all know that. And we love to explain it with brain plasticity and "mental learning windows" and all that, we all believe this stuff about the growing, developing brain vs the mental ice age you reach at the age of 15, after that you're a hopeless case, SORRY.
But what if children's terrific learning capabilities also have to do with their playfulness and their lack of judgement? They want to have fun, so they have fun.
So be like a child. Have fun. If you don't have fun, you are probably doing something wrong, something less effective. Or you have become an adult, ha ha.
 

[outin]

Mmmm... I'm screwed then. I barely get enough sleep as it is.

When you get older you will make sure you will

[dcstudio]

When you get older you will make sure you will

I sleep less now.   Don't seem to need it as much...   you live in the frozen wasteland of the great white North where it's dark for months...   I live on the beach..  a cold day here means maybe we had a freeze the night before. 

it's gorgeous here today 50F this morning and not a cloud in the sky.   Spring is here!