Printer-friendly version

Issues with practicing

From Hunter Miller
Posted August 4, 2012 at 04:10 AM

Have you not started anything new recently? Piece or etude, a new set of notes, interpretive choices, and challenges can spark things. OR, go back to something you haven't played in a while (months, a year) and see how differently you may play it now.

Point is to keep things fresh so that the skills you are perfecting come to you in differing situations every now and then.

One method I had to employ was making a strict time limit. This isn't for everybody but for me it meant that I had to use the correct method for learning right from the start, no time wasting allowed. It also meant that I would return to the section more eager to continue consolidating, rather than being bored and annoyed with it from trying to overdo things. It paid off in the end, and now it's largely a subconscious thing that I can apply to other parts of my life. Taking due care with yourself means focusing hard on the necessary and the how, and leaving out the what-ifs and the confusion. Sure, leave room for fun, otherwise it's all for nix. But training your mind not to wander into unnecessary avenues will save you a lot of anxiety and time. As for the actual practise time-limit? If you are completely honest with yourself you will know what that is.
Dig deep, good luck.

What happens next is lik magic because when I come back to the section I don't expect to do it well - and am generally very pleased with far more improvement than I thought I had reached the previous time.

That's usually not the most productive approach for physical training either.

With violin or physical training, train smart, not obsessively.

Somethig I did was get a goal. My goal was to major in the violin. Knowing that I am not where I need to be, immiediately made me want to practice.

Another thing is I started listening to more orchestral music. this also helped me with my goal of wanting to sound like those professionals on day. Sometimes just listening to pieces of music I really enjoy movitvates me to practice.

The last thing is, I found some inspiration. My inspiration was and is private teacher. She used to be my orchestral director at my high school, so we have known eachother for a while. She always pushed me and made me feel good about my progress. I sometimes also suffer from being a perfectionist. When you have someone else commenting (mainly the positive comments help with this type of situation) on your playing, then I can't explain what it is, but it makes you work harder without beating yourself up as well as making you feel good about yourself and your playing. Anotherthig about the comments is to try and accept them instead of not believing them at all.

I hope this helps and I'll comment if I find anything that helps. I have been through this before so I know how disappointing and frustrating it is so I hope to be able to help!

Practice, as John Cadd suggests, with quality in mind. If it doesn't sound good, play it slower, or quieter, or play something easier.

That sets most of us up for disappointment; we KNOW what to do, how to do it, we have done it...but we are always going to fall short.

Learning to accept that and find it stimulating rather than depressing is a major element of being a successful (in the sense of fulfilled) musician. One the one hand lies over-critical perfectionism; on the other, frustration and despair. We walk between them, every time we practice or play.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/86350-foods-increase-dopamine-serotonin/

When I was younger I had a real hard time praticing at a slow pace. I only had the ability to really focus and control my speed when I fix the diet issues.

Other goals in the same time frame, for tougher music, were aimed at imaginary concerts that never happened, such as when I was working on the Mendelssohn and Beethoven concertos.

Eventually, I grew up and practiced things just to improve my ability to do certain things on the instrument and worked on Paganini and lots of Bach. Actually this lead to a couple of performances in front of an orchestra. I worked long and hard for years to improve when I was in my 40s, and improvement came much more slowly.

All along there were short term goals of playing this or that orchestra music and this or that string quartet or piano trio (variously as a violinist, violist , or cellist)

Now in my late 70s improvement doesn't happen any more - except perhaps on a daily basis. That is, I can play better at the end of practice than at the beginning. But even that is a goal and a reward.

I have several goals this week: I'll probably be playing the 2nd viola part in Mozart K407 (Horn Quintet) on Tuesday morning. And maybe 1st violin in Beethoven Op. 18 #4 (or maybe 2nd violin) who knows. And then on Thursday I'll be playing cello in some Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clara Schumann, and maybe Schubert piano trios.

Plenty of goals to practice for over the enxt 2 days, don't you think?

Andy