scared

[tomclear]

 Has this ever happened to anybody else?
 Yesterday during practice, a passage I've had trouble with just played
itself! It came out of nowhere and it really freaked me out.
 It was louder, faster and more accurate than I have ever played it
and what was frightening was, I didn't plan it!
Any thoughts?

[Bob]

Yeh!  Sounds like your practicing is paying off.

Good accidents happen too.

This is a good example of why should focus on the endgoal and not limit yourself by focusing so much on exactly where you are now. 

I surprised myslef today.  Today I tried playing my scales 40 clicks faster -- I could.  It wasn't the same level as the way I normally play scales, but it was there.

Don't let your mind hold you back I guess.

[tds]

yeah, this kinda thing happens exactly when you dont plan it. its happened to me many times. i named this the "magic mode". suddenly we can play everything without any struggles, more rhythmicly precise ( usually fluent and faster ), and with perfect bodily coordination/dynamicism. thinking back about it, i remembered what events triggered this "mode switching". the events were usually: when i just gotten back from some unusual length of break from piano, or when i just recovered from sickness, or when i was a quarter/half drunk, or when i had great audience, or simply when i am relying on different departments within my sensory systems. the magic mode brings me up to a different plane of perceiving/hearing/feeling music. technique suddenly becomes of no issue whatsoever. piano playing becomes exceedingly easy AND fun!

of course, being able to jot down the changes can bring alot of positive impacts on our future approach to piano. better yet, if we can recreate this phenomena of getting in the magic mode at will. hah! all in all, its a pleasant blessing when it happens, aint it? tds

[pianoguy]

Have you ever noticed that a few days after you first perform a really hard piece (that you've toiled over and practiced to death up until the day of the performance) when you haven't played it for those few days, and you sit down to play it again for whatever reason (you like it, you're going to perform it again, etc.) you always play it better than when you performed it? I think that is somehow related to this phenomenon. Sometimes, I think things can be overpracticed, so it's good to take a break. I've noticed that when I sit back down after a little nap, that's always when the best things happen.

[dinosaurtales]

I've experienced that, too.  And I think it has to do with "completing" something - like performing it - somehow things really start to come together on a piece once I've performed it from memory once. 

[6ft 4]

psychologists say take a RELAXING day with no practice every week at least to let ur subconcious brain get used to the piece.

[musicsdarkangel]

At a national guitar workshop (camp/classes on guitar) I went to, my teacher told me that part of speed is mental.


He had a lesson with a student, where the student could only reach a certain BPM mark while knowing what the metranome said, but when the teacher adjusted it and didn't show the student, he was 15 BPM faster.

[totallyclassics]

that's my problem exactly...i never know when that moment is going to happen..when i try real hard and plan to  not make mistakes, i make them...when i get into the music, and don't really pay attention (within reason), i play much better....the question?  how do you develop more consistency with playing...how much do you have to practice  one piece before you can play it the same way technically speaking every time.....

[gorbee natcase]

possesed

[c18cont]

I have seen this before,

I believe it is in part when you just decide you don't give a ---- for a change,....

It loosens up your attitude and your ability, which may have been there to a reasonable extent all along...you were just pushing it back from over-emphasis and fear and anticipation.....Total concentration may not ALWAYS be best, after all...

John

[popndekl]

psychologists say take a RELAXING day with no practice every week at least to let ur subconcious brain get used to the piece.

that's right, i heard that too;
only 15% of out brain is devoted to our consciencem other works without our control - i often solve problems in a lazy way - go to bed and wait for the aha! to come.

i play ragtime and when i'm outside, taking care of some serious business, like mowing or moving lumber, dirt or stones or whichsoever heavy job and then i find myself in front of piano, the keys feel lighter* and i can play faster as i can follow all the notes** (i actually play without notes).

on the other side, when i play quake for an hour or two and then i start playing the piano, i hit nothing. a healthy mind would expect vice versa, t.i. to be snaily when doing snaily things and to be fast when making a non-followable massacre among 15 other massacrers (lol ).

and sometimes it's just a day that you wouldn't hit the key even if the piano had organ's foot keyboard...

* that's probably very mine problem as i've been on synthesizer for 6 years and got used to very light keys and then switched to piano... but i don't believe that's true as i really got used to it in 4 years.

** i've calculated notes-per-second ratio in one of my favourite ragtimes - 3215 (counted it one by one(been bored )) notes in 3-4  minutes, that is around 12 - 18 notes per second. it is not so fast, but you don't see a note in a stave without 2 - 3 notes upper or lower

[c18cont]

 

John

[exigence]

psychologists say take a RELAXING day with no practice every week at least to let ur subconcious brain get used to the piece.

As a psychology major, I'll definitely agree with that.  Relaxing and taking some time away is improvement in the making in its own right, imo.

[llamaman]

The same thing can happen backwards. I sight-read the first page of a sonatina, and played it pretty much perfectly, I tried to then play those lines, and I couldn't do it. Same thing but backwards.

[BoliverAllmon]

As a psychology major, I'll definitely agree with that.  Relaxing and taking some time away is improvement in the making in its own right, imo.

I can testify to that.