Piano, health, and sickness.

[reiyza]

Hi everyone, It's been awhile since I've posted again. (though I wonder if this is the correct place to post it. Sorry)

So the story.

I have been sick(with fever) these past 5 days, and I can barely tolerate playing the piano for more than an hour. But I try to practice anyway even if it's only scales.

Then recently I'm feeling better and slowly regaining my stamina to practice and guess what. All of my learned pieces sounded garbage, even my scales weren't as smooth as it used to. I mean, literally all pieces are so hard to play, and the keys feel heavier than usual, and my fingers are stiffer than stiff!


It is highly demoralizing. I was wondering if this had happened to you guys whenever some of you became sick and returned to the piano.

[Bob]

I think it can happen even when you're not sick. 

That's just how it is.  Figure it out.  It's a skill for later.

[kawai_cs]

He is right. Don't worry, it is just temporary.
It happened to me several weeks ago. I wasn't sick though. I sat down happily at my piano one afternoon and I immediately felt everything was wrong. I could not sit comfortably (no position was good!), I was constantly feeling the weight of my arms and kind of heaviness at the shoulders. I contacted my teacher and he said it can happen for many, many reasons, like fatigue or sickness. He advised to stop practicing for several days. I just did not practice for two days and it was luckily gone then.

[reiyza]

@bob - So it really does happen? After this incident, it seems to me that piano playing really requires daily maintenance in order to keep it at it's top shape.

@kawai - my teacher is the last person I want to inform of this incident, he'll kill me with a thousand needles when he discovers that i lost the technique he taught due to some illness. This is nuts, I'm now really afraid of the piano in a way.




Sucks to be me.

[indianajo]

Any virus with a high fever can discoordinate one for a couple of weeks afterwards. 
It has never been permanent with me, and I've had a hundred or more of virus events over my life.  One reason I decided to not become a professional musician.  My health is too variable to be relied on.
Otherwise I occasionally have a bad day when I make too many mistakes, but not very often.  Lack of sleep can do it. 

[reiyza]

Man, 3 days has passed and my health is slowly recovering, my technique isn't returning, man, I'm going to get killed this thursday, I can barely play my pieces, all i can do for now is slow practice.

@indianajo - makes you wonder how professionals practice when they're feeling under the weather eh? So the FOFPP by chang really makes sense, practicing while i'll can destroy what you've learned.

[timothy42b]

Your technique isn't gone.  It is impossible to unlearn in that time period.

It is possible to have bad and good technique peacefully coexisting, and to be confused.  You may have added some bad habits, or recovered some old ones you haven't been using.

Focus on doing it right, it will come back.

The secret is to be line level competent on your worst day. 

[pjjslp]

@bob - So it really does happen? After this incident, it seems to me that piano playing really requires daily maintenance in order to keep it at it's top shape.

@kawai - my teacher is the last person I want to inform of this incident, he'll kill me with a thousand needles when he discovers that i lost the technique he taught due to some illness. This is nuts, I'm now really afraid of the piano in a way.




Sucks to be me.

Very sorry you have not been well. In my humble opinion, it is more the effects of illness than time away that is making it hard for you right now. I work with young children and do not get sick often, but when I do, it can take me weeks to regain my full stamina even for daily living activities, much less a difficult piece of music.

As far as losing technique, I was mostly away from playing piano for years. The first times I sat down after that break, I was so disheartened by how sluggish my fingers were and how quickly I fatigued. After a couple of months of exercises, scales, arpeggios, and playing some simple pieces, I felt back to my old self from more than a decade prior (except for the occasional arthritis flare up). I have absolute faith that you will back to your old self in no time. In the meantime, get the rest your body is telling you it needs. Feel better soon!

[reiyza]

Thanks for the support and concern guys, it turned out I was messing up my playing due to the side effect of a medication i was taking. I always felt dizzy while playing, maybe that's the cause of my in-ability to play.


Up til now I couldn't tolerate long periods of piano playing. Maybe I shouldn't be here in the forums complaining. hahaha, maybe I should be practicing more.

Thanks guys.