How important and truly effective is mental practise?

[dontcheeseme]

I've heard from so many articles, people, and certain books that advocate the use of mental practise over physical practise. But from my experience, I find it extremely hard, and have only gained limited improvement in it with my piano technique. I have a hard time imagining the physical subtleties and changes within my fingers and the movements in between keys, all mentally, it gives me a headache. Is there something wrong with me, or is mental practise simply not for everyone?

[lostinidlewonder]

What is mental practice? There are many definitions of this but perhaps one idea may be that it includes all activities that require conscious observation, this might exlude things like muscular memory (what something feels like physically) or sound memory (the ideal sound in your head you wish to produce). Being aware of a technical movement helps but not everyone learns well this way, most of us require a number of examples of a particular motion before we naturally can play it, just because you can play octaves in isolation for instance does not mean you can command every single permutation of octave playing that is out there in actual pieces, there are just heaps of ways to play octaves that having a single conscious ideology as to how they should be played will limit your technical capability which should work with given situations. Mental practice might also include sight reading skills, music analysis, how you highlight pattern and logical observations in a score to help you solve passages. As a professional teacher I have never liked physics explanation as to how piano should be played, it is absolutely ridiculous. You might find this thread a good read https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=50174.0

[pianoamatuer]

If you are doing mental practice correctly, than you ought to see a difference.
I know people probably don't like to get off websites but this is my #1 recommendation to understanding how to utilize mental practice.
https://www.bulletproofmusician.com/does-mental-practice-work/
As for you receiving a headache whenever you do mental practice, maybe you need to start off a little easier, if you know what I mean. In all honesty I have no idea how, but, it should get you thinking. Practice in segments. Practice easier parts of the music. It's all about building blocks. We learn how to play piano very slowly. We learn how to speak English gradually over time. It's progression. You don't learn algebra right after preschool right? Perhaps you already know this, but I might as well. So clearly, we need to go head on head at this one step at a time?

[j_tour]

This might sound corny, but I believe that most of the battle of playing fast is "hearing fast" -- it's a kind of mental practice.

Related, but a separate discipline, is the ability to recall away from the keyboard whatever musical and technical challenges arise, and make a valiant attempt to either solve them, attempt to solve them, or recognize them.

Sounds a little gnomic, but, hey music is an art, not an exact science, so I'm comfortable tossing out some true aphorisms.

[inkspot]

I wouldn't say anything is wrong with you, I found it very difficult as well, especially in the beginning. I have been interested in mental practice for years and only recently gotten the hang of it enough to get through some repertoire.

Personally, especially this last semester, I have noticed that mental practice can actually be very useful-- especially for calming performance anxiety. If you can play the piece without the piano, you know you know it. This alone is comforting, as once you have the instrument in front of you, the performance seems far more possible.

The tricky thing about mental practice is the visualization. You cannot just visualize yourself playing the piece form a 3rd person perspective, you have to see your hands actually press the correct notes, then hear those notes sound with correct articulation, dynamics, and so on. It should feel as though you are actually practicing. If done correctly, the entire things can become very meditative.

As far as visualizing the sheet music itself, I do not do this. I never found it to be helpful for me. When I am visualizing, I obviously know what the notes would look like on a page, but its just not something I focus on. Not at the moment anyway.

[applelover]

yes it is important.  i havent read piano visualization books but i have read books on mental training and toughness for  sports.  i suspect they are related.  look on amazon for books on mental training for sports for some "cross training" reading.

[louispodesta]

I've heard from so many articles, people, and certain books that advocate the use of mental practise over physical practise. But from my experience, I find it extremely hard, and have only gained limited improvement in it with my piano technique. I have a hard time imagining the physical subtleties and changes within my fingers and the movements in between keys, all mentally, it gives me a headache. Is there something wrong with me, or is mental practise simply not for everyone?

One of the causalities associated with the dynamic of my predicate of original performance practice has to do with the mythology regarding the playing of so-called classical piano music.  That modern piano mythology (as most others) is there to promote a belief.  In this particular case it is the widely accepted "Music Conservatory" methodology of note perfect playing.

Referenced by Earl Wild in his Memoir:  after World War II, the Urtext "Meticulous Attention To The Score" was promulgated universally by all of the world's music schools.  However, as he and many musicologists have noted, it was not the way the piano was originally played by the composer/pianists who wrote and taught their music.

Additionally (per the OP), in addition there was something else designed (in my opinion), to bring classical pianists to the ultimate level of performance.  And, that was the ability to "mentally" study and learn a piece of piano music.

Supposedly, Arthur (Artur) Rubenstein could memorize a particular piece sitting in a chair, away from the piano.  The same was said about Glenn Gould and Jorge Bolet.

What has not been said per this post is that, as I have pointed out many times before, in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, every pianist had two teachers.  One was for their instruction at the keyboard (including organ), and the second instructor was for composition and its associated theory.

Todays students are put into an artificial (in my opinion) classroom environment in order to teach them theoretical harmony and ear training.  Those aforementioned students of prior centuries were taught to compose because they were expected to play their own music in performance.

Was "Artur" Rubenstein taught in this fashion, along with Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, and Rachmaninoff?  Yes, he was along with thousands of other pianists during this period of time.

So, when you write/compose music on a daily basis, (and you have been made to study the compositional styles of all of the great composers before you) can you sit in a chair and learn a piece of music?  Duh!

However, attempting to do this (in my opinion) without the significant compositional tutorial experience is nothing more than more "Conservatory Method" BS.  "Visualizing" a piece of your own music when you compose it, is no different than learning someone else's who has gone through the same process before you.

I was taught many years ago (Hank Hemsoth) that, in order to properly learn the Schumann Piano Concerto, until I could see and hear what the composer (in his mind) was trying to say, then I would never bring that piece to justice.

[georgey]

I've heard from so many articles, people, and certain books that advocate the use of mental practise over physical practise. But from my experience, I find it extremely hard, and have only gained limited improvement in it with my piano technique. I have a hard time imagining the physical subtleties and changes within my fingers and the movements in between keys, all mentally, it gives me a headache. Is there something wrong with me, or is mental practise simply not for everyone?

Good question.  As you can see by the responses, including mine, there are many ways to look at this.  I recently developed osteoarthritis of the hands.  I am recently retired and was planning on practicing 4 hours a day at piano.  Just when I was ready to dive into practicing I developed the osteoarthritis.  Due to the rapid development of the disease, it looks like I will need a new hobby and I have found it.  

Here was my thought process in finding a new hobby:  I believe piano is 50% mental and 50% physical while practicing at the piano.  I concluded that very limited benefit could be obtained by mental practice away from the piano and so I was in need of a new hobby.  I am now studying chess 4 hours a day starting mostly at the beginner level.  My goal is to reach expert level (Elo rating 2000) in 2 to 4 years.  Studying chess is 99.99% a mental process.  When looking at a board position you analyze in your mind all the following relevant combinations of chess play.  After analyzing the board 100% in your mind you make the move (a physical process) which is 0.01% of the work.

I wish piano could be learned by studying away from the piano.  Unfortunately for me, piano playing is a physical hobby.  Listening to music is not even 100% mental.  It involves having good hearing and a well functioning brain.  Fortunately for me I have both and am able to GREATLY enjoy music by listening!

[keypeg]

I spent the greater part of my life without instruction, so I certainly didn't know about things like "Meticulous Attention..." or other things.  Apparently I did some kinds of "mental practice" without knowing about it as a theory or idea.  I would look at a score and sight sing the melody, and find patterns.  My mind would keep playing with those melody patterns while I went about my business, taking a walk, preparing supper, grocery shopping or whatever.  Much later I discovered another important component - going over physical elements.  This was on violin and I came up with the idea of remembering things like 'bow distribution" (which section of the bow to use for which section of music) and shifting positions.  Still later I learned from my teacher to do things like being consciously aware of chords, chord patterns, chromatic movement and such - though this tended to be more in conjunction with reading skills.
I actually didn't know there was such a thing as playing music without also doing these other things.  That, too, is a good thing to be able to do.  Looking at notes on the page and having your hand scoot to the right piano keys is a handy skill.
Well, if you're studying anything, don't you tend to think about it in between your reading?  I'm not good at sports, but I imagine that serious athletes and sports people would also go through things mentally, and some who are not formally trained wherever might still do so.

[louispodesta]

I spent the greater part of my life without instruction, so I certainly didn't know about things like "Meticulous Attention..." or other things.  Apparently I did some kinds of "mental practice" without knowing about it as a theory or idea.  I would look at a score and sight sing the melody, and find patterns.  My mind would keep playing with those melody patterns while I went about my business, taking a walk, preparing supper, grocery shopping or whatever.  Much later I discovered another important component - going over physical elements.  This was on violin and I came up with the idea of remembering things like 'bow distribution" (which section of the bow to use for which section of music) and shifting positions.  Still later I learned from my teacher to do things like being consciously aware of chords, chord patterns, chromatic movement and such - though this tended to be more in conjunction with reading skills.
I actually didn't know there was such a thing as playing music without also doing these other things.  That, too, is a good thing to be able to do.  Looking at notes on the page and having your hand scoot to the right piano keys is a handy skill.
Well, if you're studying anything, don't you tend to think about it in between your reading?  I'm not good at sports, but I imagine that serious athletes and sports people would also go through things mentally, and some who are not formally trained wherever might still do so.

Congratulations, like most of the musicians of the 18th and early 19th century, you learned your craft "exactly" the same way they did.

My original point was that later in the 19th century (for those of financial means), the same learning process was effectuated through an instrument teacher (three times a week) and also a composition/theory tutor once a week.

We are on the same page, and bless you for having had the experience of a centuries-old method of learning how to play your instrument.