pianoloverus Why not just practice certain pieces or passages with a metronome if steadiness is an issue?

Because you can't play with the metronome all the time šŸ˜€ Joking aside (well, not really joking), I believe I said that I have been playing through this section with the metronome, and that certainly has helped, it's sort of like re-setting my internal expectations about how fast this section should feel. So yes, the metronome has definitely helped.

Even if, for the sake of argument, your newly hectic work schedule has some relation to your speeding up issue, determining if that's the cause (which is close to impossible) isn't going to change anything.

Well, considering that I've been playing piano for 25 years, and I've not previously had this experience of habitually speeding up or habitually playing too fast, trying to figure out what else has changed makes a lot of sense to me.

    Stub I can see how looking at a full page or two of sixteenth notes in both hands would send the speed message. That you were already in a heightened adrenaline state would only add to that.

    Yes indeed! to both points, esp. the "speed message." I think it's a psychological thing, where I was subconsciously thinking "oh this part is supposed to be fast, so..."

    BTW to your comment about you and your spouse and driving... I am definitely the sort of person who would drive slower, but that's because I hate driving! šŸ˜ƒ

    But I think my work stuff has had me in "heightened adrenaline state" for a while now, so I'm glad I sort of identified it and have been able to slow down when I'm not actually doing work stuff!

      Player1 I don't disagree with your comments, but I feel like we're talking past each other here.

          ShiroKuro Even the most well-prepared student can fall victim to rushing in a high pressure (performance) situation. What can help you stay in control is to mentally feel or count the pulse of the smaller subdivision while you're playing, be it the 16th or 8th note or what have you.

              rach3master What can help you stay in control is to mentally feel or count the pulse of the smaller subdivision while you're playing, be it the 16th or 8th note or what have you.

              I think this articulates what happens! Because when I play with the metronome, I can feel myself get ahead in between the clicks, so when I'm not playing with the metronome, I try to ... play each note to its fullest value... Which is maybe a weird thing to say, but somehow it seems to help counter the tendency to speed up.

              I mean, I guess I'm not saying anything new... "play each note to its fullest value" is basically just saying "don't rush" ... but with more details....

              šŸ˜…

                @rach3master

                feel or count the pulse of the smaller subdivision

                I do think though, that with 16th notes, this is harder to do, so maybe that's why this piece is so easy to speed up with.

                ShiroKuro I've also been playing that 16th note section with the metronome on the whole time, and actually playing with the clicks, feeling myself stay in that ā€œjust rightā€ tempo, also seems to help calm my heart. Now after about a week of doing that, when I play that without the metronome, Iā€™m not rushing and I can feel myself sort of ā€œin the pocketā€ of the tempo. And wouldnā€™t you know it, itā€™s cleaner and more accurate as well. šŸ˜…

                For me, I find one of the most useful things about metronome practice is to slow me downā€” whether itā€™s in the initial learning phase when it can be hard without that external input to practice as slowly as I should, or later on, when the work to ā€˜get it to tempoā€™ means that thereā€™s a part of me that keeps trying to push the tempo faster, beyond where it needs to be. The metronome can be very helpful this way.

                You may also want to play around with the visual metronome on your iPad. Iā€™m sure ForScore has this capability. Instead of the clicks, you get a flashing screen outline. Itā€™s a different experience and worth seeing how you feel about it.

                    Sgisela Thanks for this comment! This is how the metronome has been benefiting me with this most recent piece, exactly as you said, to help me slow down or stay at a slower tempo. And as I think I said above, that really helps me to "reset" my internal tempo for this piece.

                    I don't think I've ever used a metronome for this purpose.... I've used it to help me speed up, and I've used it to help me get rid of gaps or pauses in the learning stage. But with this piece, I've already learned it, and playing too slow wasn't the problem.

                    It's interesting how I've played the piano for almost half of my life now (yikes!) but this never came up before!

                    re the visual metronome, do you use it when you're also actively keeping your eyes on the score?

                        ShiroKuro Sgisela Thanks for this comment! This is how the metronome has been benefiting me with this most recent piece, exactly as you said, to help me slow down or stay at a slower tempo. And as I think I said above, that really helps me to "reset" my internal tempo for this piece.

                        I don't think I've ever used a metronome for this purpose.... I've used it to help me speed up, and I've used it to help me get rid of gaps or pauses in the learning stage. But with this piece, I've already learned it, and playing too slow wasn't the problem.

                        It's interesting how I've played the piano for almost half of my life now (yikes!) but this never came up before!

                        What you've described is the most basic and common use for the metronome, i.e. keeping the tempo steady.

                          ShiroKuro re the visual metronome, do you use it when you're also actively keeping your eyes on the score?

                          Iā€™m going to be honest; I donā€™t use it much, but I brought it up because it is available and I think itā€™s worth seeing whether you like it. When I do use it, itā€™s most often after the piece is pretty well learned. I am keeping my eyes on the score, and I tend to use it when I want to have some external input about tempo but I donā€™t want to be hearing the metronome as Iā€™m playing. For me, I feel like I have a little more flexibility with the visual metronome than with the audio metronomeā€”feels like the stimulus to keep exactly to the beat is not as strong with the visual metronome, while still providing some guidelines.

                              Sgisela Interesting. I might try it, but I've always sort of had the expectation that the visual metronome is not going to work for me. Of course, that's based on zero evidence, so... šŸ˜…

                                6 days later

                                Do separate counting exercises from time to time. Turn on the metronome and tap along so your brain would internalize the beat.

                                I'm more conscious playing slow pieces too fast than the other way around. When starting fast /technical pieces we usually play under tempo and need to go faster. Faster doesn't mean speeding up as we play than keeping a steady pulse. Otherwise we'd start messing up the piece.

                                Learning a slow piece in the beginning is going to feel manageable. After a while when we know the notes it's going to feel really slow so need to follow the metronome to make sure we're not speeding up.