These days most people are mentally tired after work. No point practicing then unless it's some mindess Hanon-type thing.
Agreed, especially with the emphasis on the word mentally. I've been doing a lot of heavy reading for school lately, and I haven't practiced for days as I'm too tired to focus on what to practice.In your Phelps example, I think that he's training for endurance. Not sure though (I'm not a swimmer ).
Mentally tired and physically tired.. Seems like they're their own separate dimensions. For me, I become physically tired and have the urge to fall asleep. The advice I was handed just a while ago was to take a nap, and when you get efficient sleep, then start attacking your practice. I have found this advice to be significantly helpful - at least to a adolescent. Still, I can't keep the consistency to practice everyday. I don't rely on motivation to fuel my productivity -- I just try to get myself on the piano and play. But sometimes I'm not mentally tired or physically tired and still, my brain decides to hit the snooze button. (not for sleep, but I procrastinate.) I try to eliminate all my distractions but somehow I just find myself fiddling with something or whatever. As a teenager, I have no idea how but I can easily occupy myself with something. I know this is not relevant, but I just want to mention it. I might make a subject on this, actually. I have no idea how those professionals go 8 hours+ everyday and I'm here trying my very hardest to focus for a hour. I do take breaks but not too often.
Should one practice when they are tired?In sports, I know people like Michael Phelps do mile lap swimming even though he is exhausted. That's why he's the best. He perseveres. So I've adopted the thinking that practicing even when tired - ignoring your emotions and going through will make you a great whatever. Today, I realized my mindset with this analogy is undermining me and I am being very foolish comparing something related to -sports- to music! Or am I?Just want to hear your thoughts. Feel free to note past experiences about this. Can't wait to learn something new today
- if you have more energy after a nap, consider scheduling right after the nap every day. The key is you want to make it a habit. - don't try to play for an hour, as that may be too long of a commitment. You will see improvement if you just practice for 30 minutes every day, so make a commitment just to sit down and play every day without a minimum time limit. It is better to have shorter, consistent daily practice, then longer practice that does not happen consistently - decide before you sit down what you want to get accomplished in a 15 minute interval of time . After you complete that 15?minutes get up, and come back after a short break or work on another 15 minute commitment. You can get a lot done if you can just focus for a short period.
Everyone is different. I'm not sure why you find practicing when tired undermines you, but if it does, don't do it. For me, I don't find tiredness to be an issue: If I didn't practice when I'm tired, I would hardly ever practice, so I don't let that be a factor. I've made a commitment to myself to practice every day, regardless of how I feel. What matters to me is whether I can focus. If I have mental energy, that Keeps me going regardless of the physical energy.
Also, I have realized that tiredness - is unquenchable. No matter how much I sleep, it will never be enough anyway. E.g, I had like 9 hours a sleep and I woke up very late today, barely being able to get ready for school. No matter how much I sleep, I always feel tired. It might be a diet problem or something, actually. Might have to fret about with that.
If I waited till I was not mentally tired, I would never practice as I am continually mentally tired from work. My workday will often start at 4 or 5 AM, and involves constant mental work. In spite of this,I practice every day and decide before I sit down what segments I will focus on during the practice session. I Limit my practice time to small segments which include breaks in between. It is critical for me to define exactly what I want to do during each segment. we each handle this differently.... but I make myself focus on the music and the goal to be accomplished. If I can ever quit my day job, I could be more flexible. It is what it is, for now.
have you tried exercising or stretching before practicing? If i remember correctly from a book by Klickstein (The Musician's Way), he recommended some exercises to do before/after practicing. You might want to check that.
I usually wake up every morning tired from my bizarre dreams, which sometimes include phrase sections from current pieces. However, every pianist's fatigue varies from person to person.In summary, if you are physically tired, then rest. If you do practice when your muscles are tired, then you will eventually injure yourself.Otherwise (paraphrasing what was stated above), those black circles under my eyes very evident in my video, come with the territory.
@outin - sounds like your diet. Try grain free for a couple of weeks.
Nothing fermented.
You could only eat apples for a week. Make sure you peel them.
Should one practice when they are tired?
You have been offered several suggestions by different members on this forum to deal with the tiredness, and it does not seem like you have really done any of them. - look at ways to deal with the tiredness so that you can make time for practice. Exercise and stretching was offered as a suggestion but your response was that you stretch when you think about it. Are you planning to try exercise and stretching consistently?- Don't try to deal with the tiredness, but practice anyway - don't deal with the tiredness and don't practice because you wouldn't consider it to be productive if you are tired No one can choose the route for you, but you. You need to decide for yourself how important practicing is to you and what you're planning to do about it. ....or rather you decide to continue in the status quo by being too tired and not practicing.
It depends what you mean by tired since this would have various degrees of answers. If you really are tired and exhausted you should go to sleep and rest what is the point in pushing yourself? If you are tired but must practice then you are not delegating your energies throughout the day appropriately to allow for practice you need to reassess your daily timetable. If you are just a little tired and feel lazy to practice then you need to learn how to motivate yourself to practice more and not be so undisciplined you really wont get anywhere if you only practice when you are totally motivated or with full energy (in fact you may even have energy to practice but trick yourself into feeling tired).There really is little point in practicing if you are exhausted because what you get through wont really be efficient practice and you wont really retain much. However in saying this while you are actively practicing you should not just stop if you start to feel tired, you should really push your mental stamina just that little bit every time and not give up. I once studied piano for 9 hours a day for a couple months (not something I'd suggest) but I did find that after the first week or two of doing it it became a lot easier. If you push yourself you do become accustomed to it, it can be beneficial if you have deadlines (exams, competitions, performances etc) to work with or want to increase your practice stamina.
5 hours a day sure sounds like a waste of a life. 45 minutes followed by a 15 minute break is best - and not too many in one day. I mean, you have to ask yourself when do you actually have time to experience music? Music's a bit like enlightenment - you can't hunt it down!
One question - I don't know how people can go so long practicing like 9 hours. I have found out that, often I would think I'm tired, but in reality I was really bored with practicing and was exhausted with the material. Exhausted, in this case, means 'done with these songs after analyzing and deliberately trying to dramatize the mood of the piece/whatever you consider productive'
Practice stamina is a very interesting topic. I'm reading a book currently and it says that willpower is a finite source- HOWEVER, it can become larger. Discipline seems to plays a big role in practicing consistently and for a long period of time.
I think I have to make myself gulp down like 5 hours a day. It'll make me really exhausted the first few weeks, then after a while, I'll have accustomed to it with a larger 'practice stamina'/willpower/self-discipline, what have you. I think that's the right way to approach this problem.