Sometimes I get depression and have low motivation to practice or anything like that. Coupled with a.d.d., I get distracted somewhat easily when I practice. Due to this, I often have extremely non-productive practice sessions. I am prescribed adderall, but I practice in the evening and its about worn off by then. If I take one in the evening it keeps me up until about 4 am. Have any of you gone through this, and if so how did you combat it? And also, what are things you do to stay motivated and maintain focus during practice sessions?
I think posts like this, as brave as you may be for opening up, are not suitable for piano forums. You should have this conversation with a doctor RE depression / ADD and piano teacher for reasonable practice methods for your condition. A good teacher cannot prescribe help for your personal issues, but if they have taught children that are often unmotivated and easily distracted, I am sure they can have ideas that may apply to older students with similar difficulties.I have no doubt there may be some people on here that can relate or maybe even offer what they consider to be "advice" but I imagine your experiences are very personal and just couldn't be resolved in a couple of sentences from some strangers online.That being said, here are some general pieces of advice to piano practice for people that find it difficult to progress or focus.Firstly mark down your goals, whatever you are hoping to achieve in your lessons or period of study, consider taking a notebook and writing down what your aim is from that lesson, date it and even comment in the book how your progression went, any difficulties you found, this can start to bring more goals for you to achieve for your future studies, and ideas for research and work you can do away from the piano to resolve any difficulties you came across. Limit your time to practice, so that you give yourself no choice but to make it more focused, start with small goals on small periods of time, say learning 2 bars in 10 minutes as an example, and as you get more confident with the concept, increase the time and increase the challenges. Ensure you are setting achievable goals and working on pieces suitable for your level. Lack of progress can often be due to tackling pieces we may not be ready for, and as you keep "progressing" and not polishing the pieces within your level, you can find yourself quickly out of your depth without realization of your actual ability compared to what you thought it was because you can do that "1 bit in that really hard song..."Ensure as many distractions are taken away as possible. I have a digital piano, in my livingroom with 2 dogs, a tele, 2 rats, my loud PC and god knows what going on! So I practice with big headphones on, full volume to block out exterior sounds, or later in the evening when the dogs are asleep so I can turn the tele off. Lastly, don't force yourself to practice because you feel you NEED to practice. If you don't play for a couple of days, you're not going to forget everything and take 10 steps back... Practice when it feels right, when you feel motivated and at times that suit you, rather than considering it a chore. It's better to spend 20 minutes every couple of days with 100% progress than 40 minutes everyday with 30% progress.
I think it is OK that OP asks his question here. He is referring to practice and how anybody else is handling it if they have experience with similar problem. He doesn't want you guys to write him a prescription! I don't know about you but I have not met a physician yet who would be actually really knowledgable and eager to help, being able (and eager) to give options, alternatives, and so on. Mostly they just give you something that they normally prescribe in similar cases, tell you the standard stuff what to do/not do and want you out ASAP.I seldom go see physicians, thank God:-) but if I have to because I need a prescription, I inform myself thoroughly first and then ask them for something particular. Of course, I don't say, prescribe me this or that, I just ask their advice what they think, bc I have heard it is effective, and so far it has always been what I needed and got prescribed. Maybe it is bc I also generally do not trust physicians. I trust specialists more, and general practitioners least. Not all of them study further and are updated about everything and their area of competence is also too wide. Moreover, they have seem overloaded with work and not really interested to prolong visits by discussing each individual patient's situation. So I am glad some of you have given the OP some ideas he can discuss with his doctor next time.
Bam. Op you're in good hands here on this forum listen to this. Asking questions of such nature can be dangerous on the Internet w every other person giving advice deemed fit themselves but not knowing your own situation but this here is very safe and wise to follow.
Brian, change your templates. You already used this one above;-)
It isn't a template kawai. I just wrote from my heart and lo and behold .. It was exact same verbiage as above.