How to push yourself beyond your comfort zone for extended time periods

[Bob]

It is possible to work from the beginning of the day to the end without taking a break, just working constantly.

You can also practice this way.  May not be good, but it sounds interesting nonetheless, at least to me.  I think lostinwonder mentioned practicing 9 hours a day to cover all of the Chopin etudes.

So... how do you do this?  How do you deal with the physical and mental fatigue and the stress that sets in?

[lostinidlewonder]

If you where to push yourself every day for the rest of your life you, 1 eventually die of a heart attack and 2 have no life.

When I took up the Chopin 24 etudes in 2 week task it meant for 6:30am-9:30am, 11pm-2pm, 4pm-7pm. It is not incredibly excessive, I am sure you could probably fit in another 3 hour session if you wanted to be a slave driver.

The workload on your shoulders coupled with a tight time schedule is when things get hectic and you can get very desperate and stressed. I reckon that this sets up good grounds for getting through a lot of work though. There is no way out, no excuses, so you have to get through it.

If you work really hard but have no due dates places on you then I guess the stress might vanish. What is the problem with this is that there is no motivation/reasoning there to encourage yourself to work your a$$ off. Humans are naturally lazy and don't like to do things which are uncomfortable without an immediant need/reason, if you can though, that is an excellent attitude to have.

Cramming for a month 9 hours a day might not really result in much more than if you simply doubled your current workload. Your brain might not be able to absorb all that information if you are not use to doing it. I sure found it much harder to almost triple my workload to deal with the etudes in such a short time. The amount of memorised work that you either forget or unintentionally alter is increased. You have to also control your temper when you have to go back and relearn things that have slipped your mind because of this. I have a chipped piano key to remind me when I threw the book at the piano.

So short answer i guess is, that you don't deal with the stress and fatigue. You just dont think about it because you MUST do it, there is no other choice.

[pianonut]

this is interesting for me to read.  it makes me think i am very lazy.  never even contemplated doubling or tripling my work load.  thought that if i pushed myself too hard, it would not be fun.  guess fun isn't part of the equation always.

my dream = be a concert pianist
my reality = don't practice enough

[jhon]

Some practice very long hours but they divide it - as what "lostinidlewonder" mentioned above.  However, such is just not applicable to me.  My daily practice is to sit myself the whole night from 6 to 12 (after work) and I only stand for these 5 reasons:

1) I will go to the rest room.         
2) I will drink (not eat).
3) I will get a score/book from my shelf (just beside my piano).
4) I will answer the phone.  (Can you believe I even unplug the phone sometimes as the ring disturbs me - well, not so much now.)
5) EMERGENCY!  (Just last month, there was a huge FIRE in our town and I haveto stop to see what's going on; good that it didn't reach our house though.)

It bothers me to have LONG breaks as I believe it removes my MOMENTUM - if you know what I mean.  When I play that 6 hour straight, I do not feel tired; but the moment I get away from the piano, that's the moment I feel tired and thus, I would have a hard time getting back to the piano. 

[BoliverAllmon]

just like anything else you need to build stamina.

[lostinidlewonder]

thought that if i pushed myself too hard, it would not be fun.  guess fun isn't part of the equation always.

my dream = be a concert pianist
my reality = don't practice enough

All of my students say that same thing. Well, not to become a concert pianist, but the reality that they don't practice enough. You know I have never met one person who, if they apply themselves and study the piano improve their ability. It always happens, unavoidably if you study correctly and in a structured manner. The problem is that the first 10 or so mins when you sit at the piano, that is the hardest to get into the work, that is when you are getting your momentum going. And it is in those 10 mins that people usually give up and walk away or play things they know. Once you push through that, time vanishes and you are just left with the work.

It is FUN in a different form when you push yourself. Physically and Mentally it is very UNFUN while you do it, but later on you look back and say, hey wow look how much work I got through. The volume of knowledge that you develop is worth it for sure. You do learn a lot about efficiency of practicing and evolve/strengthen your memorisation techniques. Also as BoliverAllmon said you need to build stamina. Doing study marathon builds stamina, but it can also cause extreme exhaustion if you go too far. So little by little, don't throw too much. If you do 45 mins a day, push for an addition of 1 min every week. At the end of the year you will double your load. Continue the same next year, instead add 2 mins every week. Eventually you will neglect time and look at the work load instead, bars per day you have to get through.

Some practice very long hours but they divide it - as what "lostinidlewonder" mentioned above. However, such is just not applicable to me. My daily practice is to sit myself the whole night from 6 to 12 (after work)

It bothers me to have LONG breaks as I believe it removes my MOMENTUM - if you know what I mean. When I play that 6 hour straight, I do not feel tired; but the moment I get away from the piano, that's the moment I feel tired and thus, I would have a hard time getting back to the piano.

That is why i split my times up because of other commitments. People would ring but I would say ring you back soon, and Id ring them during the breaks. If I had to go out it would only happen in the evening. The problem I personally find with doing long hours is that my endurance saps away. Eventually the rate of memory slows down after 3 hours and efficiency is hindered, so I take the break. Yes getting back into momemtum is tough and there is a billion excuses not to go back to the instrument and start again, but it is the excuses which seperate the great from the good.