Practice, Practice and more Practice.....ha!...

[Javthedog]

Any tips on bridging the gap - amateurs practice till they get it right vs professionals practice till they can't get it wrong.
How many times do you say...."well, it was alright at home" - when it was alright, but now it's a car crash?
Not just a question of more repeats.......concentration......targeted practice sessions?......theory?.......
Over to you!

 

[John M]

I don't play until I get it perfect. I play for groups. I don't think they notice a wrong note as much as the rhythm or loss of the beat. I can't play anything from memory, so I play only by the "Dots" . What I do, when I practice a tune is, I get it to the point that I don't only know it by the "next note" (that makes me play like a "mechanical robot"), but I play the tune so that I know it well enough so that I can "look ahead" and see "what's coming". When I do this I can put much more feel, expression into the tune. Also, when I do this, it seems like I never play the same tune the same way twice.

I don' t think I could ever play in any type of group where the music is written for specific parts that I need to be ":right on with everything, exact timing, etc. ". I would be a failure. I am more of a "loose cannon".

 

[cestjeffici]

For me it's working through the plateaus. I've been playing for about 9 months. I got better really fast on simple tunes and then hit a plateau. Can't do anything right any more, even the simple tunes. So, I focus, I pick an issue, I work it, and I do it everyday. I'm frustrated but not discouraged.
On this subject: can you really see the keyboard? I can't. I'm learning to jump blind due to arthritic stiffness in my neck. Add Dupuytren's contractions on the fourth finger of both hands and little or no feeling in the finger tips of my left hand.

 

[JerryPH]

Here is my 2 cents, but are we talking general improvement OR how to practice a specific song?:

Assuming you are talking about general improvement...

1 - Everyone is different and needs to find what works best for them!

2 - Regularly practice the basics.
That means scales, arpeggios, chords, HANON exercises. DO THEM IN ALL THE KEYS!
Method books are important and can offer variety. Use a metronome, start SLOW and build speed.

3 - Consistency. If you practice 7hours one time a week, it is never going to be as good as practicing less EVERY DAY. For most people it is about a half hour a day to maintain current skills, 1 hour a day to slowly improve. The more time you put, the faster you advance... UP TO A POINT. Don't burn yourself out, listen to your mind and body to tell you when it is time to stop.

For me it's working through the plateaus.

Plateaus are VERY tricky and and an experienced musician will know how THEY THEMSELVES are and how to deal with them. There are 3 methods:
1 - Give up, it's too hard, move on to something easier
2- The method that works for me: Power through it. If I get stuck on something, Take 2 hours and super focus on it, start uber slow use a metronome and work up in 2-4 BPS per minute increments. Never go faster until the last speed can be repeated 10 times without error. Do the same process over 3-4 days.
3 - Leave it and come back a little later. If you've tried and tried and are feeling frustrated, give it room, let it breathe and come back to it a bit later.

 

[debra]

My general approach is: 1) practice until you can play the piece in one go without too many errors first, then 2) play the piece about 100 times, until you can play it without any errors every time, then 3) play it 100 times again until you can play it by heart without errors every time, and finally, 4) play it another 100 times by heart just to make sure that when you play for an audience it will also go without errors every time...
This is not what professionals do. Professionals practice until they know a piece well enough to "wing it" in front of an audience (and when most people won't notice the mistakes, played while maintaining a "poker face". Professionals have to do this because for them time is money.

 

[Zevy]

1) Practice Hanon for technique and scales as much as possible.
2) Practice whatever piece you are working on ad nauseam.
I like to take a video of myself playing when I think I've reached that "end". I don't mind if there are a few mistakes here or there; I'd rather the performance be human and not sterile. That's my "catharsis" - when I feel that I can put it down for a while. Then it's on its "shelf" in YouTube!

 

[Tom]

My 2 cents:

Only play songs you love and want to play. Not as easy as it sounds.

Figure out how YOU best learn songs. Then learn one at a time to build repertoire.

You know a song when you can consistently play it to your standards, in front of an audience (assuming you play for people) or for yourself. With or with out the music, based on your own desire/need.

Respect that your certain songs are beyond your ability. Forget about it, or work on them slowly over time while learning others.

Play through your repertoire frequently (unless you never forget songs, which would be rare).

Pay heed to everyone's suggestions here.

 

[Javthedog]

Then of course there's the point that you shouldn't waste time practising something you can play.........hmmmm

 

[saundersbp]

Any tips on bridging the gap - amateurs practice till they get it right vs professionals practice till they can't get it wrong.

A few lessons from a master are worth their weight in gold and certainly the best investment in time you could ever make.

 

[cestjeffici]

I would a few lessons from a master. Anybody know one in the Baltimore, MD area?

 

[Ventura]

i like to always memorize the lyrics when i work on a song

it helps phrasing, helps to set it in memory, too, by familiarity

once you memorize a song, you just play it

of course i've said that before, and there are lots of people who
need notes in front of them and that's just reality for many..

another thread has the "Just because" Polka in focus.. i have
sung that song (and played it) so many times and love it still
because the lyrics are a gas, and i have played around with
them a bit too (you Laughed and called me old Teddy Bear..
hey well i'm tellin' you Babe i'm still a fool for YOU just because, just because)

even if i don't sing it on a gig for whatever reason, i still smile
and have the lyrics as my guide

well it works for me

 

[Zevy]

i like to always memorize the lyrics when i work on a song

it helps phrasing, helps to set it in memory, too, by familiarity

once you memorize a song, you just play it

of course i've said that before, and there are lots of people who
need notes in front of them and that's just reality for many..

another thread has the "Just because" Polka in focus.. i have
sung that song (and played it) so many times and love it still
because the lyrics are a gas, and i have played around with
them a bit too (you Laughed and called me old Teddy Bear..
hey well i'm tellin' you Babe i'm still a fool for YOU just because, just because)

even if i don't sing it on a gig for whatever reason, i still smile
and have the lyrics as my guide

well it works for me

I can’t remember lyrics to save my life.

 

[Siegmund]

Any tips on bridging the gap - amateurs practice till they get it right vs professionals practice till they can't get it wrong.

At a minimum, you had better amend that to "till they consistently get it right", not just until they get it right once by chance. I want to see something right on the first two tries, or three times in a row after previous stumbles, before I move on to the next segment / move the metronome to the next notch.

Getting a piece ready to take out in public involves two very different phases, at least for me.

Learning a new song, it pays to be very strict with yourself. Start very slow, get everything right. I let myself miss one note and keep going; if I miss two in the same phrase, stop, back off, try again. If you barge through a passage only hitting 90% of the notes over and over, you will get really good at playing those 10%-wrong notes. Fix it before you burn an error into your brain with repetition. It is really hard to fix a note you learned wrong and played wrong a hundred times already.
Along those same lines -- it's also easier to be expressive if you plan from the beginning to be expressive and practice that way from the start, than if you add in the dynamics etc later.

Once you have all the notes, then it is time to work on speed, and use that evil metronome as much as you can stand it. If you feel the metronome is "stifling your expression" have it beat half-notes instead of quarter-notes, so you can borrow a bit of time from one beat to the next, but really, it can count better than you can, and you'll be shocked at just how bad you are at keeping time on your own if you record yourself and then watch the playback.

Phase two is quite different. For a piece you've already learned, you need to work on recovering gracefully from errors without stumbling. (I had a lifetime of practice with this, playing 2nd violin in a big orchestra... it was all about not getting lost and not making a mistake anyone could hear, not about playing every note.) Now you don't let yourself stop, and see how well you can get back on track when something goes amiss.
You can help yourself if you make sure to start in different places when you're in phase one, so that you have some experience jumping back into the piece anywhere you need to.

Nothing ever goes amiss? Bring in some distractions.
Play in a different room of the house than your usual practice room. Everything will sound a bit "off" and you won't be so sure of yourself. Have your dog in the room with you and see if you can keep playing when he barks and whines at you. Take it out on the porch instead of indoors, and try to keep playing when a noisy truck goes past. Go outside when it's a little bit too cold or a little bit too hot, and make sure you can play under those conditions. ("Too hot" is a tough one for me -- I just don't want to do ANYthing if it's over about 75F, and that is real bad news if you have aspirations to busk on a street corner, or play at a summer music festival outdoors.)

 

[Vladimir M.]

Hi,

Any tips on bridging the gap

I have been playing the accordion since I was six years old. As a child and teenager, I really practiced a lot. And it's probably a good thing for a person to get the basics of playing skills in this way. However, at a certain point there will be a breakthrough:

• in order to master the work perfectly, not only raw physical practise is necessary, but above all it is necessary to imagine the work in your mind (virtual materialization of the sound form in our mind): it will save you a lot of valuable time! I will ask you helpful and seemingly "provocative" question: If you don't have a clear idea of the piece, how do you want to practice it?
• in addition, during practice, I reserve moments when I do not perceive the music of the work, but the movements of my body. If you try to practice something by force, the body often suffers due to excessive involvement of muscles and tendons (unnecessary movements, stiffness when concentrating on the game...). If you do not solve this (psychomotorical) problem, you may never be able to master the work.

So my recipe for You has the composition of a "multilayer hamburger":

---practice ---------------------------------------
---musical imagination -------------------------
---practice ---------------------------------------
---perception of the playing with your body
---practice --------------------------------------

A hamburger is held together by a bun. In music, it's an practising: it's the skeleton of everything. But in a hamburger, it's the tastiest inside. I know nothing more beautiful than a realized musical performance perceived by adequate physical activity.

I wish you a lot of health and success!

Best regards,
Vladimir

 

[JeffJetton]

Basically reiterating what's been said already, but...

It's not "practice makes perfect", it's "practice makes permanent". If you practice mistakes, you'll learn mistakes.

How do you make sure you're practicing "perfect" and not the mistakes? Play slowly. I am not kidding about this. It's the single-best piece of practice advice out there. Learn it, know it, live it.

I forget where I first heard this, but it's a good one: Remember that learning a section of a piece of music is not like playing a video game. In something like Mario Bros., all you have to do is play the level perfectly once. That's a "win". You can mess up and die 99 times, but if you make it to the end and/or beat the boss, you get to move on to the next level.

In music, that doesn't work at all. You can't play a section with mistakes 99 times, then play it once perfectly and chalk it up as a success. You have to develop the skill to "beat the level" pretty much every single time, on the first try, without dying. That requires intentional focus on the trouble spots and the patience to slowly iron them out.

I know I'm always recommending Tom Heany's First Learn to Practice, but I'll do it again here. What can I say? I like the book.

 

[JerryPH]

Caught this video this morning... has some nice points!

 

[cestjeffici]

Basically reiterating what's been said already, but...

It's not "practice makes perfect", it's "practice makes permanent". If you practice mistakes, you'll learn mistakes.

How do you make sure you're practicing "perfect" and not the mistakes? Play slowly. I am not kidding about this. It's the single-best piece of practice advice out there. Learn it, know it, live it.

I forget where I first heard this, but it's a good one: Remember that learning a section of a piece of music is not like playing a video game. In something like Mario Bros., all you have to do is play the level perfectly once. That's a "win". You can mess up and die 99 times, but if you make it to the end and/or beat the boss, you get to move on to the next level.

In music, that doesn't work at all. You can't play a section with mistakes 99 times, then play it once perfectly and chalk it up as a success. You have to develop the skill to "beat the level" pretty much every single time, on the first try, without dying. That requires intentional focus on the trouble spots and the patience to slowly iron them out.

I know I'm always recommending Tom Heany's First Learn to Practice, but I'll do it again here. What can I say? I like the book.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I just bought it on Kindle for $4.99. Not much to lose and a lot to gain!

 

[Tom]

Caught this video this morning... has some nice points!

Good ideas!

 

[jozz]

practice with an audience?

make sure somebody is watching to have at least some form of distraction and pressure mimicking the actual performance

 

[Ventura]

we are clearly talking about different kinds of Music here

Hooks, Bridges, Lead in's, key changing modulations, Signature melody lines..
these things are all sacred to me, but the rest of the notes in the song ?

who cares !

as long as there is no dissonance or bad sounding chord

so what ?

i play for the successful end result.. no audience is hanging on my every note
nor would most of them know (outside of the earlier defined paramters)
if a note is "missed" or "messed" anyway, nor would they care as long as
they heard their "hook" and were reminded of their warm and fuzzy memory
of where they were and what they were doing and whom they were doing it with
when they first fell in love with that song

it works for me !