How to get better accuracy?

[stringbot]

Hi,
I've been practicing a few performance pieces for a long time but every time I try to play it at once, there will always be a few random mistakes. This happens every time I perform a piece and a piece with no mistakes is considered a miracle by me. Sometimes if I think about the notes too much I will also forget the notes. Is there any way to practice that can better improve my accuracy so that I can instead focus on interpretation?
Thanks

[quantum]

It is more about how one reacts to the mistakes rather than trying to obsessively remove them.  Of course one should aim to deliver a relatively mistake free performance, but pushing that too far may result in a lot of perfect notes but very constrained music making.  Practice creating flow around random mistakes, so they don't draw attention to them selves.  Take it from Bob Ross, place your happy mistakes among your happy little trees. 

Practice performing in front of friends.  Practice performing for a recorder, something you can do at any time.  Listen back to the recording, think critically about how you can improve flow, but don't be too harsh on yourself for silly mistakes.  Put the recording away for a week or two then listen again, do you still think the same way about the recording?  It probably won't seem as bad returning to the recording a after a break. 

[stringbot]

But the thing is, my mistakes are all very evident, and sometimes I even have to restart somewhere close to the mistake.

[brogers70]

The suggestions about practicing performance are very good. It takes getting used to. For me, in order of increasing stress it's playing alone, playing with a metronome (not so often as to lose flexibility), playing for a family member, playing for a friend, playing for a group of other piano students, playing a house concert for a group of friends, playing in a public performance.

Apart from that, I find it helpful to focus on interpretation, listening for inner voices, articulation, even just imagining the sound I'm about to make. If I can make myself continuously imagining the whole piece note by note just a fraction of a second before I play the notes, I am much less likely to have those random errors you talk about.

[quantum]

I agree with brogers70, in finding an aspect of the music to focus on when performing. 

Another thing to do is practice the piece by jumping around sections randomly.  One can also do the jumps at awkward moments in the phrase, or just string together sections in a manner that would not make normal musical sense.  The aim of all of this is to maintain flow despite the random movement around the piece.  One of my teachers made this into an exercise, where the teacher would randomly point to a place in the score and that is where the student would jump to, without breaking the flow of music.  You could get a friend to do the random pointing for you. 

One really does have to practice performing.  When I was in undergrad, the piano class would gather regularly to play for each other, not just finished pieces, but whatever we were working on.  There were lots of fumbles, silly mistakes and so on, but that turned out to be a good thing.  We actually experienced where the weak spots in our music were, and we could subsequently focus attention on them in practice.  When it came time to actual performances, the fear of messing up was mostly overcome, because people had already experienced that while playing for each other. 

I would encourage you to record yourself performing.  Use it as a learning tool to practice performing in your private practice time. 

Practice improvisation.  It can help you develop your sense of flow, as well as your ability to not make mistakes so obvious. 

[lelle]

But the thing is, my mistakes are all very evident, and sometimes I even have to restart somewhere close to the mistake.

As paradoxical as it may sound, learning to play as if your mistakes never happened even when they do is crucial. You need to learn how to accept your mistakes so you don't get thrown off and a) and lose focus on your musical message when mistakes happen, even if evident, and b) so you don't need to restart.  When you attach a lot of weight to your mistakes, they become a much scarier threat and impact your playing much more than when you accept that some of them will happen and learn to play on as if they didn't.

The audience won't even notice half of the mistakes you notice.

[anacrusis]

Is there any way to practice that can better improve my accuracy so that I can instead focus on interpretation?

It might sound stupid, and is easier said than done, but focus on your interpretation and you'll worry less about accuracy, which often makes it easier to play accurately.

[tigerpiano1998]

Accuracy issues are largely due to three reasons.

1. Fingering. If you use bad fingering, you will get inconsistent accuracy issues. Make sure you use a comfortable fingering and stick with it; if you use different fingerings each time, you will get confusion.

2. Lack of good technique. The little joint in each finger must be strong and not collapsing. If they collapse, it takes away your ability to control the keyboard and of course, you mess up.

3. Memorization. If you do not know the piece securely and you start practicing it fast and without the music, your playing will be sloppy and filled with mistakes. Make sure to keep using the score until your memorization is secure, and do not play fast unless you know the piece well.

[dinoimeri]

Hi,
I've been practicing a few performance pieces for a long time but every time I try to play it at once, there will always be a few random mistakes. This happens every time I perform a piece and a piece with no mistakes is considered a miracle by me. Sometimes if I think about the notes too much I will also forget the notes. Is there any way to practice that can better improve my accuracy so that I can instead focus on interpretation?
Thanks

Hello, stringbot.

The short answer is - listening with attention between the notes, rather than the notes themselves.

All the best,
Dino

[jamienc]

All are excellent replies!

I would add that I find it quite beneficial to practice as much as possible in the environment in which you are to perform. There might be practice techniques that you are using that could be causing problems, but when you are performing, it is quite distracting to be in a place where everything seems unfamiliar. I know it might not be feasible to always practice in the performance space, but I have experienced success in performance where I have been able to adapt slowly to the environment and have less distractions from it being so foreign. I set the lights and the positioning on stage as close to performance level as possible so I am “used to it” when people are actually there. The fewer distractions as possible is always a good thing.