TL;DR version:
Question 1: how can I maintain 30-60 minutes worth of music, while continuing to work on new music?
Question 2: how can I maintain focus while playing (performing) 30-60 minutes of music?
Question 3: what should I be doing to maintain more challenging pieces?
I currently have about 7 pieces in my playable repertoire, which is not quite 35 minutes of music. The last time I went to the art shop, I played the 35 minute āset,ā it was really nice to be able to do that. And Iāve been playing for friends when we have guests over. So this summer I want to expand my set to be closer to an hour. I think I can do this by adding a few new pieces and bringing back a few pieces that I had let fall out of my fingers. Right now Iām working on one new piece and two old pieces, and I have two more pieces in the queue for next month. So that would put me probably at the 60-minute mark.
The core challenge, and the point of this thread, is how to maintain these pieces, while continuing to work on new music. Well, and the specific thing for me is how to maintain a larger repertoire. Heretofore Iāve generally kept about 2 pieces playable (sometimes 3). So keeping 30-60 minutes worth of music, of playable repertoire, is more of a challenge. Itās a musical challenge of course, but it feels much more like a logistical challenge. Especially because I want to continue working on new music as well, so thatās where the logistics come in.
The first thing I did was print out a list of all the pieces in the set, with a line next to each title. Whenever I play one of those pieces, I write the date next to it, to make sure I play each of the pieces on the list every few days.
Another thing Iām doing is, when I play one of those pieces, if I get tripped up somewhere, I write it down (either measure numbers or rehearsal marks) so the next time I play it, I play that section first before playing the whole piece. Then if I know Iām going to play all the pieces somewhere , or even a subset of the set (har), I will go through and practice the whole set every day for a few days in preparation for the performance.
This seems to work for most of the pieces in the set, although one piece in the set (my jury piece) and one piece Iām working on now are hard enough that Iām worried that this approach may not be sufficient.
So a sub-question is what should I be doing to maintain more challenging pieces.
Another question is about focus, how to maintain focus while playing (performing) 30 to 60 minutes of music. It seems like one thing to do is just continue to work on improving my focus with each piece I practice. And then also to periodically play through the whole set and work on maintaining focus for that entire time. (In some ways, this is probably easier for me because Iām playing contemporary pieces that are maybe around 3-5 minutes per piece, as opposed to longer pieces or an individual work with several movements. And switching from one piece to another is a chance to re-focus). Are there other things I should be doing for this specific goal?
I should add, Iām playing from the score for these pieces, not playing from memory, so this isnāt really a memory question.
Lastly, Iām hoping that I can maintain this larger repertoire across a long time span, like for a whole year. Ideally, I want to always have a large repertoire of playable pieces. Certainly, I might take a piece out of rotation sometimes to replace it with something new, but Iād like to always have this big set of playable pieces. So to my mind, this might be a little different from preparing for a specific concert/performance. Maybe not though.
I am tagging @twocats and @TheBoringPianist here because you both obviously have experience with this. Iām not sure who else I might tag, but I welcome any comments or advice that anyone might have.
Also, thank you if you read this far! This could easily be three threads, but each question is connected so Iāll leave it as-is for nowā¦
