Molly Gebrian - seven months later
I also have Molly Gebrian book. It is helping me a lot. Learning to play a musical instrument have many similarities with learning sports. Therefore science, and neuroscience particularly, can be very beneficial in the learning process. Also, it is a false dilemma to have to choose between tradition and neuroscience. I find it a fascinating topic that it is just starting, but as in sports, it will be developed over the years.
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One thing that Molly's videos really helped me with was learning how important breaks are for the brain's learning process (she takes 2 weeks at the end of her ~4 week schedule!), thus eliminating any minor guilt that I had from having a very erratic practice schedule. My natural weeks or months-long breaks are actually beneficial!! I just need to incorporate consistent 10-second microbreaks into my practice to help lock things in better.
I think a great strategy for me is giving myself TONS of lead time for learning a new piece (like 6-12 months). I can start and get familiarized by reading through it a few times and then come back to it way later. When an actual deadline approaches (playing chamber music with others or performing at a casual playing night) and I need to get serious about practicing, suddenly everything feels more natural and easy, and I haven't even spent all that much time on practice yet.
I'm experiencing this right now. I had promised to play a Beethoven cello sonata with a friend about a year ago and it was not good enough invite her over until recently. I was just reading through it from time to time because I was focusing on other stuff. But now we set a date and I'm seriously working on the Beethoven and I'm just astounded at how easy it is now!
I've split this discussion into two threads. The original purpose of Animisha's post was to gather the opinions of people who have used Molly Gerbain's methods for the last 7 months. I tried my best to keep those posts in this thread. Everything else has been moved here:
Discussing Molly Gebrian (Splinter Discussion of "Molly Gebrian 7 Months Later")
It was a difficult discussion to split! Let me know if I made any glaring mistakes. Also, let's try to keep this thread on topic, and use the linked one for all other discussion.
Today I made a first recording of Tchaikovsky's In Church. It is an RCM grade 5 piece, and my level is grade 4, not grade 5. However, it went very well, because this piece is very suitable for a Molly schedule. I started ages ago, my first section was learning four RH chords. In all, I think I made 13 HS sections, patiently practising just those sections that were scheduled for the day and nothing else. Then it was time for HT and I made new sections and once again practised these with a Molly schedule. Finally, I started playing through.
I have been surprised by how smooth everything has been. Without the Molly schedules, I would have struggled so much more - because I would have tried to practise more than I could manage. Or, to be exact, I would have practised what I just could manage - and just managing means to me, making lots of mistakes.
The big take-away for me is, start a long, long time before you think a piece should be ready.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
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Nightowl Have you any plans to upload this piece?
Thank you Nightowl! I have only made a first recording, and will sent it to my feedback teacher. For this recording, I have not yet added the pedals. So the final recording will still take some time.
PS Please use my full name and not an abbreviation.
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... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Sgisela Well, since you ask - a bit of both, to be honest. However, despite my reservations I was pleased to hear that Animisha found that the MG method had helped her to learn a challenging piece - that was the main point I was intending to put across. It was intended to be positive, while acknowledging that my overall belief remains the same (see previous posts on other threads for reasons).
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
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Animisha The big take-away for me is, start a long, long time before you think a piece should be ready.
Today I went back to some of the piano quartet movements that I had shelved for several months and they were feeling so much better! The first time I read through them I was like "am I in over my head?". Then in the following weeks they didn't feel quite so overwhelming. Now they're in the "I can totally do this, I just need to put in the hours" bucket.
I feel like the progress is "free" if you put in a couple of weeks of practice and then come back to it later. In the meantime you can work on other stuff and you won't get bored practicing the same thing every day
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This thread popping back up is reminding me that I need to get back to this book to finish it... I've been reading the Piano Girl book but I'm almost done, so then I'll return to MG.
I have these as e-books on my phone (along with the Inner Game of Music) and I generally read them at night after piano practice and before bed... I last maybe 5 minutes before I start falling asleep so my reading progress is pretty slow!
I'm glad this thread has come alive again. I was super busy at the time "stuff was happening". This thread is meant for those who are working with what MG teaches, with the idea broached that this who are not working with the material should not be posting here. But that was due to what was happening. I am interested in what is happening, and if sticking with the intent of the thread, maybe it's ok to post reactions here.
I was happy to read @Animisha 's experience. Fantastic. The important thing for me is that you tried ways of working on music that were different than how you have been working, and this led to different and better results. I can relate to that, because quite a while back now I questioned how I was working on music, made major changes from the resources i had at that time, and it made a huge difference.