Learning to play vs learning to concentrate

ShiroKuro

I am wanting to record some pieces this summer but I've been having kind of a hard time getting them "performance ready." The last few days I've really realized that it's not an issue of whether I know the pieces, know how to play them, or have the technical chops for them. The real issue, I think, is my concentration level. One of the pieces is 7 pages long, one is 6, one if 5 pages long and one is 4. (That wasn't intentional btw!) I haven't actually tried recording the 4 pg one yet, that's the one I just started practicing.

But with the 7 pager, I think it's not an issue of knowing how to play it, it just feels like my ability to maintain consistent attention is not up to the task. And maybe it makes sense, I have a lot going on. We're getting ready to move, there's some drama at work (because isn't there always), and I have a family member who has some health challenges. To say nothing of all the distressing things happening in the world right now.

So does that explain my lack of concentration? I don't know. But I guess concentration is something I need to work on, or add to my tool kit...

But how? It seems like there must be some better approach than saying to myself "ok, time to focus now" ...

Maybe I need to read about the Buddhist teachings on monkey mind...

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, please share! 🙂

keff

ShiroKuro I think it's not an issue of knowing how to play it, it just feels like my ability to maintain consistent attention is not up to the task.

My view is that it is quite common amongst amateur pianists especially when they turn on a recorder. When I am learning a new piece I am looking at every note on the page trying to play it correctly. When I think I can play something my attention wanders and errors creep in. It is frustrating.

When recording we can generally make as many 'takes' as we like so knowing that is not conducive to concentration. Perhaps when we sit down to record we should allow ourselves only three attempts at a recording, saving the best one, before moving on to do something else. If the best isn't quite good enough try again sometime later, perhaps even the next day.

Animisha

ShiroKuro

This is SO interesting, because I am struggling with a similar issue, but on a much, much lower level.
I have this piece with only 35 measures, with basically an 8-measure theme that is repeated four times. However, in every single measure there are variations on this theme. When I chunk the piece, after some pratising I can play all four chunks without mistakes, but when I play the whole piece in one go, by the time I reach the last variation, my mind is very tired and I seem to have lost the stamina for playing correctly.

I think that this stamina - or, prolonged concentration - needs to be trained.
I think that our way of living has reduced our ability to maintain our concentration for longer periods of time, and that we simply(!) need to train our concentration.
How? By practising our concentration. Tell yourself that your goal right now is to practise your concentration, then play through the whole piece and try to stay as focused as you can. Afterwards, give yourself a break, do something else, and when you feel fresh again and up to the challenge, once again, practise your concentration.

Maybe a seven-page piece is too much to start with. Maybe you can split the piece into two or three parts that you record separately and then glue together?

Pallas

ShiroKuro Maybe I need to read about the Buddhist teachings on monkey mind...

First this. Then all the excellent practical piano advice!

ShiroKuro

keff and I'm not even recording yet. -_- I do like the idea of just doing a few takes and then moving on. Maybe I'll start that next week when I'm ready to start recording. (I have to figure out where my tripod is first... )

@Josephine "I also noticed that when I'm really focused I don't make a lot of mistakes but when I really try to feel the music and play it as musical as I can I'm too enthusiastic and starting to play lots of wrong notes."
Yep, I do this all the time! It's quite frustrating.

"Have you tried to sing along with the piece in your mind? When I'm singing the melody in my mind while I'm playing there is less room for my brain to think about other things."
I actually find that I tend to make fewer mistakes when I force myself to actively read the LH part. I think maybe it's because I am hearing (possibly singing) the melody part in my mind, but not necessarily paying attention to the left hand. That doesn't mean all my mistakes are LH-related mistakes -- they aren't. But somehow focusing on the LH helps me concentrate a little better. Probably doesn't help with expressive playing though....
@SouthPark "But should be able to get better results with enough time and conditioning." I've been playing piano for 25 years now, this is taking an awfully long time... 😛

Back to your comments about performance prep though... Hmm, maybe I need to think more about performance rather than thinking about concentration.... I've always (up until covid) played for other people, in recitals, at casual music parties etc. Many years ago, I performed 5 pieces in a formal recital, and I did a ton of performance-specific preparation at that time, both in terms of piece-specific stuff and also in terms of just general performance stuff. And it really paid off, the recital was great and after that I was much more comfortable playing for others....

But I wonder if I've subconsciously being thinking, well, I already did that (performance prep) so I don't need to do it anymore... If that's what I'm thinking, that's most certainly wrong.

In the same way that our piano technique can get rusty if we're not playing, performance skills can get rusty if we're not performing. And covid pretty much decimated all my social piano activities, and then we moved to a new town and I don't yet have a music community here the way I did before.

So maybe it's not (or not only) concentration. Maybe I need to rethink recording as being about performance as much as it's about playing a piece without stupid mistakes. (And for the record, I'm not aiming for a mistake-free recording. I stopped doing that years ago. I'm aiming for a recording that doesn't have stupid mistakes that are distracting or derailing).

Anyway, this is all really helpful and lots of food for thought here!

Josephine

Oh, it's so frustrating. I also noticed that when I'm really focused I don't make a lot of mistakes but when I really try to feel the music and play it as musical as I can I'm too enthusiastic and starting to play lots of wrong notes. Very loud wrong notes. You know, that one very important top note of the melody for instance.

And when I'm recording I'm thinking too much about the fact that I'm recording, so that's also a recipe for extra wrong notes. Especially when I'm almost at the end with no mistakes so far, then I can't control my thoughts anymore and my brain starts talking to me, don't make a mistake, don't make a mistake, just a few more measures, you are almost at the finish line, it went so well, it would be such a shame to mess up this recording in the last measures. I'm playing a piece 4 times very nice, I'm pressing the recording button, and instantly I'm playing completely different. And not in a good way. I can't focus on the music when I'm recording.

Josephine

Have you tried to sing along with the piece in your mind? When I'm singing the melody in my mind while I'm playing there is less room for my brain to think about other things.

SouthPark

Nice topic! They definitely have vids about performance preparation. Each person is different though. But should be able to get better results with enough time and conditioning.

Usually ... whichever ways we do it ... the music at least needs to be very well assimilated to a stage of not only no hesitation or memory lapse from start to end .... as in visually knowing exactly which keys to press in the mind, but also being able to start at pretty much any part of the piece.

And that conditioning just takes time. How long it takes ... depends on the person.

Students at music schools usually get conditioned or 'pressured' to do the annual etc recital, and constant work on piano exam preparation. Can be stressful for a lot ... but is part of the conditioning. So a lot of the students eventually experience performance and preparation as the new norm, especially when they just have to perform at various times ... for end of year music school gatherings, for family friends, eisteddfods, grading etc. It becomes that new norm. Conditioned for it. Although ... feeling the pressure can be part of it, which will turn off many students, and that's expected too.

But I think that deadlines and pressure ... and being forced etc generally does produce 'results'.

On the other hand. Playing piano for the absolute love of piano and music is something important. So if there's no deadline ... then it's ok to just take as much time as we want. The more we properly absorb the music, and practise the memory side of it, and combine it with 'muscle memory', which is actually brain memory ... we really will get to know the music so well that we can play it any time and anywhere ... assuming the anywhere piano is working fine.

Josephine

ShiroKuro Hmm, maybe I need to think more about performance rather than thinking about concentration....

Did you do grade exams in the past? If not, maybe you can do an online (recorded) abrsm performance exam, just for fun.

Josephine

Maybe a bit off topic, but yesterday I improvised after a mistake for the first time ever without hesitation. I changed the melody immediately after the wrong note so it sounded like it was supposed to be played like that. I was just shocked that it sounded normal, and I still don't know if I just played random notes and it was a coincidence that it sounded good, or that my brain was faster than it normally is haha.

ShiroKuro

Josephine re improvising through a mistake, great work! I doubt it was a coincidence! 🙂

ShiroKuro

Josephine I did do some grade exams when I first started playing (I started as an adult, when I was living in Japan, so it was a Japanese program).

These days, I'm not playing anything in the traditional repertoire -- all the music I play is by contemporary composers who are still alive. These compositions don't tend to show up on exam syllabi. Although they should!

twocats

I find that turning on a recorder is like having an audience! I'm automatically nervous. Sometimes when I play in front of an audience, my mind starts to wander (the worst is when I was a kid and had to memorize) and then I snap back to attention and don't know where I am in the piece or on the page!

I don't know if you're having some amount of that with the recorder "watching" you. I think the only way to get around it is performing/recording often and not caring so much about the result!

Seeker

twocats

twocats I find that turning on a recorder is like having an audience! I'm automatically nervous.

It's great that recording puts you under performance stress. IMO the only way to get better at performing is to "practice performing". I believe that any of us can improve our performance by practicing performance if that is our intention. Will you make mistakes at the beginning, psyche yourself out? Probably, but I suggest you do multiple "takes". In my personal recording work of my #respite series I can tell you that getting a 3 minute piece down perfectly can take 10 takes. Maybe 7 of those 10 - if I'm really prepared - are okay, but don't exactly meet my criteria for what I am trying to convey. At some point in that repetition - practicing performing - I lose my performance nerves while keeping my performance adrenaline to get a good performance.

Hope this is helpful.

ShiroKuro

I agree, just making a habit of recording often is probably really important.

But just to be clear, I have been feeling like my concentration is bad and I’m not even recording yet. Like, I’ll play through with the intention of seeing whether I’m ready to record, and I just make stupid mistakes.

I’m working on it though, and today’s practice went really well 🙂

twocats

ShiroKuro it sounds like your life is very hectic right now and I wouldn't be surprised that it's affecting your concentration!

danno858

ShiroKuro I’ve had this issue too when recording. What works for me is just to leave to recorder on during my session. If I end up playing a piece to satisfaction then I stop the recorder and cut out everything that came before. What this does for me is that I forget it’s even on and then I relax.

ShiroKuro

Two cats, thank you for saying that!

Danno, good idea, I can try that as well!

ShiroKuro

Animisha Maybe a seven-page piece is too much to start with. Maybe you can split the piece into two or three parts that you record separately and then glue together?

I don’t want to record separate parts and then stitch them together. Beside the fact what I want an authentic recording of myself, I also want to be able to play for people, so I still need to be able to play the whole piece through without losing my concentration.

Also, I used to be able to play, perform, and record pieces of this length with much less difficulty. But this past year has been a year of moving, new job, new city, lots of stress. And from Sept. to Dec 2023, I had the least amount of practice time I’ve ever had since starting piano (almost 25 years now!). So I do think it’s appropriate for me to “push” myself with this piece.

To the degree that this piece could be considered a push. Which to say, I agree with Bart’s approach, where you think about difficulty in (at least) two dimensions. Yes, this piece is 7 pages long, but in terms of technical difficulty, even the “most difficult” section is well beneath my overall playing level.

So I truly think it’s a concentration problem, and my ability to concentrate has gotten rusty, so that’s what I’m going to focus on.

danno858

Whenever I tackle a difficult, lengthy piece, I start by practicing the hardest places first. Once I get those down, I go back and try to play all the way through. That way, when I get to the difficult sections, they seem easy and I get a sense that I'm making progress which then motivates me further.

BartK

I usually look at the difficulty of playing a piece in two dimensions rather than one. There is the technical difficulty on one axis and then the length of the piece on the other axis. Maxing out both is not usually possible so you have to find a balance between length and difficulty. If you go on the more lenghty side then you have to reduce the difficulty level. So your choices are either difficult but short, long but easy, or something in the middle.

rogerch

I struggle with staying in the moment while playing as well. It's frustrating to be part way into a piece and realize I'm thinking about my last hike rather than focusing on my playing.

Lately I've been trying to be better at being in the moment no matter what I'm doing, and especially when playing the piano. What seems to help me is being conscious of the sounds I'm making. Part of that is singing in my mind as Josephine suggests, but I also think about dynamics, phrases, and other technical aspects of what I'm doing.

My mind still wanders when I play but I'm getting at least a little bit better. I'm looking forward to more suggestions on this thread!

Also similar to Josephine, when I'm recording and I get a few measures from the end I think "hey, I'm almost done and no really bad errors yet!". When that happens I try to shift my focus back to my playing to avoid the "don't make a mistake" thoughts that tend to provoke mistakes. I haven't got this mastered yet either but I'm trying...

BartK

I'm usually 100% focused on the music but noticed just now that being upset about the whole situation on PW made me think about that instead of the piece I was practicing. In that situation I think it's time to call it a day and do something else.

twocats

BartK today is supposed to be a practice day for me and I don't think I'll even make it to the piano 🙁