Instrument Players - Come and chat (Part III)

[CoteDAzur]

We continue our musical journey on the 3rd thread for amateur adult instrument players

Here is our 1st thread and
here's the 2nd one.

Hello Splodgetastic! I can't memorise anything ... So no tips from me ...

Cote.

After about 20 hours of practice, I find that I start memorizing whole pieces without meaning to.

Welcome Spodgetastic!

I find it hard to read two staves at once (working on that skill...but it's hard!) so if I want to play a fully notated piece I usually have to memorize it a fair bit!

The way I do it is break it into chunks - first get an idea of the overall form - how many sections, repeated / similar sections etc. Then I work out the harmony and write in the chords and try to learn the chord progression - so the chords act as 'signposts' and I can remember a little story of how the chords go. That's also useful because then if I get stuck on the specific notes I sort of have the 'gist' of it and can (hopefully) make something up rather than have to grind to a halt. Then learn the actual notes - just a couple of bars at a time. Just do it over and over again for hours. I've started trying to learn a piece from the end backwards so that as I play it all the way through I get to more familiar parts and to avoid that thing where you know the first bit really well and the end is always more ropey.

But to be honest I don't play fully notated music that much! I want to get better at it but it's more hard work than fun for me right now unfortunately.

I'm like Cote - I memorise pieces without really meaning to... However, my sight reading is rather weak.

Thanks for the welcome. Good tips on memorising! The hours of practice and muscle memory alone doesn’t seem to work for me with the exception of about two pieces and I am a strong sight reader. Working backwards is something I tried last week but I’m not sure it was that helpful for me personally. I might try shorter pieces to see if I can build the confidence to do it. There’s a one pager in one of my Chopin books...

Getting to grips with prelude number 4 from Scriabin's 7 Preludes, op 17. Deliciously moody. I have to confess I'd never heard of him before.

This is interesting on the memorizing thing:

I like how she explains how she looks for patterns.

Tintini that's really interesting. I rely far too much on muscle memory, and I can confirm that it is indeed a fickle friend!

Had a lovely piano lesson this week... But my teacher suggested completely different articulation for one piece, which sounds great, but I've had to reduce the tempo right back as it feels completely different. Probably a good thing as I tend to play too fast too soon. This is why I love my lessons - my teacher is so experienced he can make suggestions that raise things to a whole new level. And it's great to have discussions about the music.

Please can I join? I'm cheating really because I'm actually a professional violinist and teacher. But it's very heartening and interesting to read your stories and see what it's like from the other side! Where do you all find the time to do so much practise?! I really struggle to fit it around my hectic schedule so I'm squeezing in boring studies where I can to keep my technique up to scratch and haven't played solo repertoire for a long time as a result. New year's resolution is to get my audition rep up and running again and to learn Chopin Nocturne in Dflat (I'm an amateur pianist!) to a reasonably decent level...

Hello Vio112 - you are very welcome but be warned we may have lots of questions for you! In fact I think the first question should be how do you memorize pieces?? (I will save my other questions for now...)

I actually feel quite honoured that a pro has joined the thread!

I play about an hour a day - I manage that because I work from home so can do bits and pieces throughout the day. Also I don't watch any telly and am fairly antisocial.

Welcome to the thread, Vio I'm also happy to see a professional among us.

Re practice time - I work from home and can't help but notice both the piano and the harpsichord calling me as I work Unless I take my laptop and go work in a Starbucks, I can't help playing for an hour or two every couple of hours.

Re practising, I work part time so I can practise when I'm not working and the kids are at school... I practise on average an hour or two a day, usually split across the day. Mainly piano, also the flute. I find it very absorbing, especially the piano and can easily find myself playing all morning...

Cote I am so envious of your harpsichord! I'm desperate to get an organ myself, but funds don't currently allow and hubby isn't keen...

I think not having small children helps a lot with finding time - I didn't play at all when mine was little, but then I wasn't really in the 'music zone' then anyway. It's so great now he's older - loads of time for all sorts of hobbies.

How do you go about getting your own organ anyway - like an electric one presumably rather than churchy pipe one?! (Sorry I'm pretty ignorant about organs!)

Re memorising, I always tell my pupils not to attempt the whole thing in one go and just to try and memorise a line a day the way you would memorise a poem I guess. Line A on day one then the next day revise line A and learn line B etc.
I have been memorising since I was knee high to a grasshopper so it's fairly natural for me. That said, I once had to memorise the Lutoslawski Partita which was a completely different kettle of fish! I ended up managing it by sitting for hours just studying the score without my violin.

I watched a TED talk about array mbiras so now I'd like one of those: www.arraymbira.com/

But, er, funds definitely don't currently allow it!

Oh that's interesting Vio - so when you study the score without the violin are you sort of 'mentally' practicing in order to learn it or literally memorizing what the score itself looks like?

A bit of both! I'm mentally practising as that's really good for you in terms of really knowing exactly what's going on and not relying on muscle memory. But also, I'm studying how the different parts interact and what's going on with the harmony. It also helps to get more of a grip on the structure of the piece.

When I was a youngster I used to "practise" the piano away from the piano. Even now I find that if you can't play it in your head you can't play it with your fingers...

Is it this one you are playing viol?

It's lovely.

I might have to learn this...

Though I'm trying to learn this:

Yes that one! Though I'm not a big fan of Lisitsa's wavy hands 😂

I love Uchida's Schubert recordings 😍