After a break, how to start again..

[rka]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to ask for help, how do you start over after a huge pause?
In my case it was almost 6 months..due to personal,medical etc.problems, and LACK of instrument. I only practiced I think about 1-3 hours/week generally.
Before that I was in pretty good shape(Symphonic Studies, Rachmaninov op.33studies, Beethoven,Brahms, Bartók stuff, etc).
Now I'm like a 10 year old baby. I've lost my muscles, velocity, I can hardly play anything, that frustrates the sht out of me. It's awful. I'm depressed. I always postpone the start, because I'm scared, what if I'll never be as good as I was.

Does anyone have similar experience?
How did you crawl out from the deep abyss?
Thank you.
Reka

[cfluke]

Well, some people pause for 20 years and regain their past skills and then some, so don't fret.

If you're REALLY worried, play some easy stuff for a while.

[edmondrhapsody]

6 months isn't a huge pause at all.  It might take you a few weeks to pick it back up, assuming you can practice regularly. 

[louispodesta]

Once again, referencing those people who "supposedly" manage this website, are we really this stupid?

Yes, we are because people are still responding to a "made-up" Performance Forum post on how the Schumann Traumerei should be played.

Specific, per the OP, Claudio Arrau never touched a piano from June until August.  Oh, my?

[bronnestam]

My own "huge pause" lasted over 25 years. It took more than a year to get back to my former level, but the biggest obstacle during that year was the muscle inflammations I got from practicing a bit too much. For example, I was forced to take a full break during summer 2012, due to pain (and hot weather). On the other hand, when I started playing again after summer, the issues were gone and they have not come back since then.

So start lightly, take many breaks and carefully notice the signals from your body. DO NOT PUSH YOURSELF. If you need, you can set a timer. Allow yourself to play for 15 minutes and then take a long break. When the timer goes off, you take your hands from the keys, no matter what. It is quite hard, but if you need to do this, you do. Your final goal is to come back in shape as quickly as possible, right?

You will probably be surprised how quickly you come back, if you just show patience in the beginning and don't demand things from yourself or waste any moments on whining over all you have "lost". If you were an athlete trying to make a comeback after a severe injury, what would you do? Whine over your lost capabilities? Or just work according to your physicians instructions in order to recover?

You can consult a good teacher for advice.