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Gretchen Saathoff

~ Collaborative Pianist/Vocal Coach ~ forging partnerships, making memorable music together

Category Archives: practice after break

Practicing after a break

01 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by GretchensPianos in career, directed practice, dynamics, exercises, fingering, focus, goals, learning, longevity, marking the score, motivation, music, outside the box, practice, practice after break, slow practice, teaching, tempo, tools, variety, warm up

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

goals, motivation, new insights, practice journal, returning after hiatus, slow practice

Source:  Pixabay.  Public domain.

Source: Pixabay. Public domain. Let’s go!

Today I am starting to practice again after a break.  This post explores some aspects of returning after taking time off.

Not perfect?

Although we may vow to practice every day without exception, we all find ourselves taking a break from time to time, whether planned or due to illness, other responsibilities, being on hold with ConEd, travel, etc.

Feeling guilty? 

In the past, I would get angry with myself.  Not helpful!  That leads to yelling at yourself when staying calm would be the way to go.  When you acknowledge that everyone has days off, getting back into the loop is much less of a struggle.

What we can expect

What can we expect when we start again?  (Note that I did not say “start over.”)

Perfection?  Probably not.  However, if you are going back to music you have practiced recently, you can expect improvement!  Somehow, “ignoring” the music for a while lets it “cook.”  You will most likely find new insights when you return to it.

Jell-O fingers?  Yes… so I use the first practice session to concentrate on my warmup.  Skipping the warm-up after time off just doesn’t work well for me.  I need to feel the muscles in my fingers, so I exaggerate the movements.

Playing at performance tempo?  Even if that were possible, wouldn’t we be inviting wrong notes, fingerings, errors in dynamics and phrasing?  Practicing under tempo is useful, but extremely slow practice is not necessary.  I’ve already learned the notes.  But right now, performance tempo invites mistakes that I’d rather not add to the mix.

First day back

I usually dislike my playing that first day.  That is frustrating, but by now I expect it.  By the second day, it starts to sound better.

The first day back also seems to be a good time to assess fingerings.  If something feels uncomfortable (a level or two below “rusty”), this may be the time to experiment.  See whether a different fingering feels better.

Dynamic changes may not sound smooth.  In addition to that, if a notated dynamic contrast is completely missing, mark the spot in your music!  That means you didn’t learn that spot well enough.  This is a great time to eliminate the “oops” and fix the gap.  When you’ve remedied the problem, that phrase will usually fit into the whole more easily when you return to performance tempo in a few days.

I find it extremely motivating to set a goal, such as a performance date.  With a concert in place, I am far less likely to return to vacation mode.  (I have an aversion to making a fool of myself on stage.  Wonderful incentive!)

It is also helpful to keep a practice journal.  You’ll be able to see your progress.  I have found that dropping and then returning to a program speeds my progress toward my performance goal.  If you have a journal from the time you started learning the notes, you will be able to eliminate guess work and have accurate feedback.  (Do you remember what you did a week ago?  A month ago?  Keeping a written record is very helpful.  There is no reason to expect oneself to remember everything.  Remembering the notes is enough!)

Mix it up!

In an online piano forum, participants were exchanging ideas about how to return to practicing after a break. (What’s the secret? How can I make this easy?) Differing viewpoints emerged, as one might expect. Looking through the comment thread was invaluable.

One participant advocated starting out exclusively with etudes. Another suggested practicing only new repertoire. Someone else planned to play familiar music, waiting to add new pieces until s/he was back in shape.

While reading the thread, it seemed that perhaps taking something from everyone might be best.  In that way, etudes are included but not intimidating. Familiar music needs to be there so we feel like we know how to play! And new repertoire keeps us making progress.

What do you think?

This post has been updated from 2010.

What do you do when returning to practice after a break?  How do you help your students get back into it?  How much time do you need to get back to normal?

Comments welcome!

★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★

Please take a look at my e-book!

“Goal-oriented Practice”
Are you practicing well? Is your imagination working for you?

My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.

50% off!!!  Absolutely NO JARGON!  Even my non-musician little sister says so.

Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.

If this post has been helpful and you think your friends and contacts would benefit from reading it, please share.

I would appreciate it very much. Thank you!

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Recent discoveries: links to continue previous conversations

04 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by GretchensPianos in article, career, directed practice, goals, learning, links, music, NY Times, piano, practice after break, preparation, rest, serving music, singing, teaching, tools, video

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Tags

blog-related articles, congregational singing, links, music education, pedagogy

Source:  Wikimediacommons File:  Nuovo_regno,_fine_della_XVIII_dinastia,_conversazione, 1352-1336 ac ca, da el amarna poi hermopolis.JPG

Source:  Wikimediacommons
File:  Nuovo_regno,_fine_della_XVIII_dinastia,_conversazione,
1352-1336 ac ca, da el amarna poi hermopolis.JPG

The links provided in this post will take you to articles related to recent posts on this blog.  Links to my posts are also listed here.  Please take a minute to look around! Comments welcome!

on Congregational Singing:

From TheologyInWorship.com, “Why We Should Still Be Using Hymnals”

Which points do you agree or disagree with?

Also from TheologyInWorship, “Solutions for a Church that Just Won’t Sing”

What do you think?

Thanks to Nancy Andersen for posting both links on Facebook!

For your convenience, here are links to each blog post in my series on Congregational Singing:

Part I
Why choosing music that is singable by untrained congregants is crucial.

Part II
What to look for when choosing music for congregations.

Part III
This rock song could be adapted for congregation, choir, or both (video).

Part IV
An astute reader’s comment.

Part V
How to introduce new hymns/worship songs.

Part VI
Readers’ responses to Part V.

Part VII
Resources for alternatives to standard hymns.

*****

on Perfect Pitch:

From the University of Chicago:  “Acquiring Perfect Pitch May Be Possible for Some Adults”

Thanks to Beth Parker for this!

My post about perfect pitch (64 comments!)
“Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch:  How do they Differ?”

*****

on Practicing:

From Interlude.HK:  “Ten Tips for Productive Practice”

Practice tips from my blog:

“Optimize Your Practice Time!”
How do you manage your precious practice time?

How Much does Practice Factor into Elite Performance?
with a link to an article in the New York Times.

“A Wonderful Practice Day”
E
very practice day is different.  This is one scenario.

“What is a “Bad” Practice Day?”
We all have them…

“How Do You Return to Practicing after a Hiatus?”
We all end up taking breaks from time to time.  How do you handle it?

and my e-book!

“Goal-oriented Practice”
Please take a look!
My book will save you time.  In addition, you will soon be learning more music.  You will gain insight into teaching students as individuals.  Both you and they will perform with confidence.

50% off!!!

What did you find here?  What would you like to see? Comments welcome!

Happy practicing!

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Emily’s Movie: Take 2

12 Sunday Jun 2011

Posted by GretchensPianos in audio, career, collaboration, directed practice, expression, focus, listening, new approach, new insights, perception, practice after break, preparation, process, progress, serving music, singing, sleep

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

chorus, Emily Dickinson, Felix Mendelssohn, film, fortepiano, Ludwig van Beethoven, Music, piano, scratch track

Flowers 1

Image via Wikipedia

This is the first update about my work for an upcoming film about Emily Dickinson, the 3rd in a series of documentaries.

I have been practicing seven of the Mendelssohn “Songs Without Words” and Beethoven’s “Pathétique” Sonata.

Background

We will be videotaping in order to make a scratch audio track so the producer can organize his approach for the actual film.  This will probably take place within the next two weeks.

A practice interruption

Things were going along according to plan, when I caught the bug that’s going around.  For the first three days or so, what I thought might be a sinus infection may have been allergies instead.  But with swollen eyelids, a headache, and a sore, scratchy throat, exactly what it was didn’t seem to matter.

And then a virus hit.  That intensified things, making for many sore muscles and major intestinal upset.  At that point, I stopped eating, stopped practicing, and slept most of the time.

Not to lay the details on you, but taking two days off from practicing was not part of the plan, especially with an approaching deadline.

Heading for the piano

Finally on Friday, I felt better, mostly.  There were still achy muscles, and I was dehydrated.  But I wanted to try practicing.

Practicing after 2 days off

A full-out practice session would not have been helpful.  Instead, I made sure to stay relaxed, play under tempo much of the time, and focus on listening.

I was not expecting to hear progress after taking two days off.  But it does happen.  Some pieces had better flow.  So the music had been cooking in my head while I was asleep.  🙂

My big discovery!

In Mendelssohn’s Op. 67, No. 3 (called “Song of the Pilgrim” in the Schirmer edition), I had been feeling bogged down by the repetitiveness of the phrases.  How could this piece be played expressively?  Did I need to find a different tempo?  Change dynamics?  Use more rubato?

Relaxing, listening, and looking more closely at the music yielded results.  There are several articulation markings that I had missed completely.  That’s probably because the Schirmer edition looks so dense on the page.  (So much for buying the least expensive edition to save a few bucks…)

New focus

Now I’m practicing both hands being detached at the same time, and later with only the right hand detached.  (Try it.)  Beyond that, the phrasing is clearly indicated, so I just need to internalize it.

In retrospect, I had been getting in the way of the composer’s intentions.

Big difference!

The project in general

The details have been changing day by day.  A fortepiano was mentioned, but that has not been finalized.  And yesterday, someone suggested that there be a chorus singing part of the soundtrack.

Onward… I’ll post another update as we continue working.

Related post

  • Emily’s movie

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!


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