Monday afternoon....and Practice?

I had resigned myself to not worry about practicing for today.    I have what feels like a million things to accomplish, and not yet through half of them, but as always the piano seems to call....or maybe it is more of a nagging text message today.    Sitting at a table, a few others near by, I take a moment to imagine what I could work on.    The sun is out today, and something lighthearted feels appropriate.   It is very quiet here, and while that feels liberating in a practice room here it feels confining.

Taking a brief moment to look through my bag I see the options before me.    Beethoven's sonatas, Chopin polonaises and waltzes, Barber early works, and Bach Toccatas.   I have my duty to all this music, with a solo recitals starting in January, and feel a very heavy responsibility to the pieces the are within these volumes.

Beethoven feels nothing but dangerous today, with his endless introspective wanderings and metaphysical puddles that I must go through before I can attain any sort of "happiness."   Even within the pages of his tender Op. 78 F sharp major sonata do these trappings lie.   I get it Beethoven, you are asking yourself why, and would like me to do the same.    If I play this piece today, it will assuredly sound good to my ear, but this is really only a self-delusion as I get to ignore the real difficulty found in this short two movement work.    I will have to face these difficulties to play the piece true to Beethoven's intent, but F sharp is not feeling to friendly today.

Speaking of F-sharp, I find myself paging through the dark, and sometimes bleak Polonaise Op. 44.   Whose powerful octaves hang over me, pulling me along in it's relentless power.    Power that today I do not feel I have, and would only be dragged through the mud.    Even the slow mazurka section feels like more delusion of the deathly march patterns that came just a page before.

It all boils down that some days I need to hear my mother's voice in my head, reminding me that I need to practice.   My inner child will quickly reply with "just a few more minutes of (insert facebook, videogames, or tv...pick your poison).    Though if I have time to formulate an inner child, maybe I should formulate some inner beer.

Practice, Practice, Practice.... Part 1

Practice, Practice, Practice...A phrase I remember clearly from my first teacher.   Of course every teacher advocates practice, it is not possible for us to improve as musicians without putting in our time.  Of course, this varies greatly from person to person, but the core remains the same, we get better as we play more.

I am jealous of many of my peers, who are very natural piano players, with large hands or longer arms.   Or, in some cases, just learn much quicker, but these things do not mean, that I am any less of a musician.   I also feel, that, the way I practice, will not work for everyone, and people should find their own path.

Practice is the day job of the musician, it is not always fun, and sometimes be very frustrating.   Sometimes, it can be a lot like data entry, as we input the information into our heads.   For myself, I found that discipline, and stability have lead to my greatest improvements.

Before I get into the meat of working on pieces, I like to start with stretching, away from the piano.

You can find information on the internet about stretching, but I find it important to stretch:

• Shoulders
• Back
• Arms
• Fingers

It helps me feel loose and less tension, and since I plan to play much longer while practicing then I would for a performance, I have done well to avoid a lot of injuries this way.

So now, on the piano, I start right into Rachmaninov....Totally kidding, I prefer to start with scales, with the metronome.   I only work play 3-4 scales a day.  Put find it important to play them slow(around 69 on the metronome) and fast (108 on the metronome).    For the obvious reasons of getting my fingers ready, the slow practice, is to help control my sound.  To not let my body be ran by the adrenaline, but to finer control my pace.  Put the music back in the realm of the mind, and not the excitement of the body.  Music is control of one's emotion in expression.

One thing many pianists lack, is sight reading abilities, myself included.   I feel it is important to improve this skill, so I will learn something new everyday.  Play from a score I have not seen before.  With the internet, and websites such as imslp.org it is easy enough to find new music.   Or just find a hymnal and start playing from the beginning. 

Continuing in my next post, I will discuss how I work on a new piece.    I hope to hear your stories of practicing, and what people have found to work, and not work!  Please subscribe or Like me on facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/jdhpiano

Practice time!! Where is my Martini!