OCT 6, 2012: I think it's important that when you're practicing something on the piano, you can play and hear it all---all the pitches and rhythms and markings. When it all starts to get a little beyond your grasp, not only does it discourage you; you sometimes start to get less skilled at the piece you're learning. I've discussed all this before. But how do you get the desire to not press on when you know you've reached your limit? And also----if you don't stretch yourself, how will you be able to advance (get it faster)?
Usually sheer repetition will get you more proficient in a particular passage and it will become easier and easier with repeated playings---even if you just take it in one tempo. But if you've reached your limit and there has been no progress for several days, your best bet might be to take it one or two metronome clicks past where you are now and just deal with the mistakes---then go back to a comfortable tempo and try again. It may not work the first few times, but usually after a while you can advance one notch or so and still be able to play the passage.
The entire process begins to lose its potency with each hour and day of not practicing it----unless you know it so well and have played it so many times it's really deep down in there. But sometimes after weeks of getting no further, you start to make progress. That's why it's important to hang in there and keep working.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Over-Smooth
OCT 2, 2012: If you practice something for an extended period with great attention to detail and finger motion, you may just get the piece of piano music you are learning too smooth. By that I mean that everything will sound a little uniform as well as ultra-polished. That may make you as a performer feel good about your skill level, but it may be too much smoothness for the particular work you are learning.
How do you regress that smoothness so that you get a little more rough edges? One thing you can definitely do is scale back your practicing on this piece. That will automatically get it rougher.
Another idea would be to take the smoothness you've got and add some deliberate edges to it. Try a different touch or play with the dynamics or the timing a little. Any of those things will give the performance some added variety.
Smoothness is good. But if it's overdone, if it's too uniform or too uninteresting, there are many ways you can spice it up. You don't need to settle for over-smoothness in your performance--no matter how hard you worked to get it.
How do you regress that smoothness so that you get a little more rough edges? One thing you can definitely do is scale back your practicing on this piece. That will automatically get it rougher.
Another idea would be to take the smoothness you've got and add some deliberate edges to it. Try a different touch or play with the dynamics or the timing a little. Any of those things will give the performance some added variety.
Smoothness is good. But if it's overdone, if it's too uniform or too uninteresting, there are many ways you can spice it up. You don't need to settle for over-smoothness in your performance--no matter how hard you worked to get it.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Touching With the Mind
SEP 24, 2012: Learning the score of a piece of piano music away from the instrument is the quickest way to really learn where the notes are, there's no question about it. Otherwise, you're trying to learn by touch. But it's the mind that comes first, then the fingers.
The problem with learning the notes away from the instrument is that it takes a lot of concentrated thought. There aren't too many people who can sit there hour after hour and learn the notes and the patterns. You have to pause a lot, because memory and abstract concepts are involved. And then you have to imagine touching the instument while you read. But often enough the touch you finally do produce on the instrument after this is much more pleasing than the kind of touch you improvise at the instrument while learning the notes straight off the page.
The other way, just learning it from the score directly to the instrument, involves a lot of fumbling that you can do without if you get all that organized away from the instrument. You also find that you remember more of where the notes are and what comes after what if you simply get that stuff done at a desk.
But learning away from the instrument has its drawbacks. It's possible to underestimate a technical difficulty while sitting there reading. However, with time your judgement is likely to improve. I think the best places to learn away from the instrument are the tricky ones. It's nice to really know and conceptualize those places that would be so draining to the mind and fingers if you're reading the music while playing----and get them worked out before you sit down to play.
The problem with learning the notes away from the instrument is that it takes a lot of concentrated thought. There aren't too many people who can sit there hour after hour and learn the notes and the patterns. You have to pause a lot, because memory and abstract concepts are involved. And then you have to imagine touching the instument while you read. But often enough the touch you finally do produce on the instrument after this is much more pleasing than the kind of touch you improvise at the instrument while learning the notes straight off the page.
The other way, just learning it from the score directly to the instrument, involves a lot of fumbling that you can do without if you get all that organized away from the instrument. You also find that you remember more of where the notes are and what comes after what if you simply get that stuff done at a desk.
But learning away from the instrument has its drawbacks. It's possible to underestimate a technical difficulty while sitting there reading. However, with time your judgement is likely to improve. I think the best places to learn away from the instrument are the tricky ones. It's nice to really know and conceptualize those places that would be so draining to the mind and fingers if you're reading the music while playing----and get them worked out before you sit down to play.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Notation and Performance
SEP 20, 2012: There is a relationship between the printed score of a piano piece and the performance of it, but it seems unclear at times. The main thing from a practical standpoint for the performer is: do you know the relationship between the printed score and your own performance?
If you haven't looked at the score before you play it, you can close your eyes momentarily and memorize some of it on the spot. But if you try and learn it away from the instrument first and then play it on the keyboard, you may be up against technical problems which you didn't forsee. Any way you look at it, the relationship between what's on that page and what's happening at the keyboard is a complex one.
Playing the piece like a computer would play it may be a good start, but eventually you will have to put some of your own sense into it. Ultimately, knowing the notes beforehand is a very handy way to learn the piece quickly, but you still need to check the score to see if you got into the habit of hitting some wrong notes or leaving out some important markings.
Even more, you may have invented a beat or two---or even a whole bar, in the left hand, in the right hand, in one voice, in a bass line. You've suddenly turned composer and you don't realize it. So going back and checking the score is a great way to find out how imaginative your composing/revising skills actually are. Hopefully, in most instances, you'll agree with what the composer wrote as long as it's playable for you.
If you haven't looked at the score before you play it, you can close your eyes momentarily and memorize some of it on the spot. But if you try and learn it away from the instrument first and then play it on the keyboard, you may be up against technical problems which you didn't forsee. Any way you look at it, the relationship between what's on that page and what's happening at the keyboard is a complex one.
Playing the piece like a computer would play it may be a good start, but eventually you will have to put some of your own sense into it. Ultimately, knowing the notes beforehand is a very handy way to learn the piece quickly, but you still need to check the score to see if you got into the habit of hitting some wrong notes or leaving out some important markings.
Even more, you may have invented a beat or two---or even a whole bar, in the left hand, in the right hand, in one voice, in a bass line. You've suddenly turned composer and you don't realize it. So going back and checking the score is a great way to find out how imaginative your composing/revising skills actually are. Hopefully, in most instances, you'll agree with what the composer wrote as long as it's playable for you.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Tempo Adjustments
SEP 18, 2012: A lot of the small tempo adjustments you do in performance are intuitive. You may never quite do them the same way twice. But sometimes you get a tricky run or sequence of notes that you can't play at the same tempo. Maybe you could get it up to tempo after months and hours of work. But supposing you want to perform it next week.
Here's a suggestion: why not slow down--just slightly---the whole section that comes before it. If not the entire section, then a few bars before. I'm not big on completely changing a composer's score. But there are some ways to slow down the place right before the problem area so that you can deal with the tricky passage and still make it sound integrated with the rest of the section and the entire work.
You may have to work an hour or two on the run or sequence or whatever it is (trill, embellishment, pattern), but once you get past those two hours or less and have adjusted it all properly, not only will it still be in keeping with the composer's intentions; you may have figured out a new approach to the piece that is still faithful to it in that you got the notes and rhythms (and markings) correct while at the same time fitting it into your current technique.
Here's a suggestion: why not slow down--just slightly---the whole section that comes before it. If not the entire section, then a few bars before. I'm not big on completely changing a composer's score. But there are some ways to slow down the place right before the problem area so that you can deal with the tricky passage and still make it sound integrated with the rest of the section and the entire work.
You may have to work an hour or two on the run or sequence or whatever it is (trill, embellishment, pattern), but once you get past those two hours or less and have adjusted it all properly, not only will it still be in keeping with the composer's intentions; you may have figured out a new approach to the piece that is still faithful to it in that you got the notes and rhythms (and markings) correct while at the same time fitting it into your current technique.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Going Back
SEP 13, 2012: As you're taking the tempo slightly faster when practicing---particularly with a metronome---it's important to know when you have lost mastery over the passage or bar you are practicing. Living in denial seems to be the rule, sometimes even for professionals. So....when you suddenly realize you're not playing the notes anymore (leaving some out, missing some, playing some wrong ones), now's probably the time to take the metronome back several notches.
You may be thinking, "I've already done this. I'm spending too much time on this." That may be a good reason to allow more time than necessary. But when you go back to where you do have mastery--and start the slowly-getting-faster process again, it will feel good. Because now you know you're getting it. And "getting it" at any tempo is what it's all about!
You may be thinking, "I've already done this. I'm spending too much time on this." That may be a good reason to allow more time than necessary. But when you go back to where you do have mastery--and start the slowly-getting-faster process again, it will feel good. Because now you know you're getting it. And "getting it" at any tempo is what it's all about!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Woodshedding
SEP 6, 2012: If you've ever had the urge to just take some time off of your regular practicing and concentrate on one or two key bars of difficult music, you're certainly not alone. If you could only get those two difficult bars----then everything would be better, or so you believe.
But suppose the progress you make on those two bars are so small compared to the hours put in that it seems it may take years to master them. Then, maybe it's time to look for alternate solutions. Trying different fingers may work. Also, trying different speeds, subtle shifts in tempo, may help. But a lot of times you may need to get in there and leave out a few notes--or recompose the bars altogether.
The difficult part is getting it to blend in with the rest of it so that only those really familiar with the work will notice that anything's different. As you know, it's possible to play the same piano piece with the same notes and dynamic marking and yet make it sound altogether different. How about reversing the process---so that you change or leave out a note here and there, and yet it sounds similar to other performances.
I don't want to go into detail about how to do this. Obviously, someone with more composing skills will have less effort in doing this essential process. But however you do it, it would help if it sounded natural, and even those extremely familiar with the music may not notice it unless they're listening closely.
You might use that alternate passage until you master it as written. But if it takes hours and hours and you're making minimum progress on it, that may mean it's time to revise the passage to fit your technique.
But suppose the progress you make on those two bars are so small compared to the hours put in that it seems it may take years to master them. Then, maybe it's time to look for alternate solutions. Trying different fingers may work. Also, trying different speeds, subtle shifts in tempo, may help. But a lot of times you may need to get in there and leave out a few notes--or recompose the bars altogether.
The difficult part is getting it to blend in with the rest of it so that only those really familiar with the work will notice that anything's different. As you know, it's possible to play the same piano piece with the same notes and dynamic marking and yet make it sound altogether different. How about reversing the process---so that you change or leave out a note here and there, and yet it sounds similar to other performances.
I don't want to go into detail about how to do this. Obviously, someone with more composing skills will have less effort in doing this essential process. But however you do it, it would help if it sounded natural, and even those extremely familiar with the music may not notice it unless they're listening closely.
You might use that alternate passage until you master it as written. But if it takes hours and hours and you're making minimum progress on it, that may mean it's time to revise the passage to fit your technique.
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