After half a century of practicing and playing I've come to peace of the difference between these two conflicting domains.
I take lessons and play in several musical groups. Only one group requires serious practice of specific pieces outside of rehearsals. However, all the groups are populated with active and retired professional musicians who expect that I will show up ready to play. Furthermore, the teacher I work with expects me to show up prepared. So, I practice. I save playing for the stage. In the practice room, I divide my time equally between etudes for technical development and working on repertoire. Sometimes I'm given a dozen pieces to learn in short order. This is how I manage. I divide the pieces into two piles. The first pile consists of the pieces I can sightread. I never practice these pieces because practice time is too precious. The second pile is divided into two further piles: the easy pile which consists of pieces that have passages that need the once over and the difficult pile that causes me to perspire. Over two or three practices I dispatch the moderately difficult pile. In preparation for tackling the difficult pieces I listen and listen and listen some more to professional recordings of the music so that I have a thorough understanding of how my part fits in to the larger ensemble. Now I tackle the difficult stuff in the following ways.
Now the etudes. It is my belief that playing music well is all about instrumental facility. In short, it's mostly about technique. Techniques include etudes, sightreading, ear training/transcription, more etudes, historical awareness, and more etudes. I divide my time 50/50 between learning repertoire and technique. During a week without music to learn, I will only practice technique. Now I can go play music with my friends knowing I've prepared properly. My heart is not conflicted and I'm at peace with whatever happens knowing that I have done all that is humanly possible. Now, a warning. Sometimes, life gets in the way, and I will show up less than prepared. This is when the banked skills of half a century kick in. You may not have half a century of experience to lean into, but as time goes by you will. Here's a plan for students. If you have 2 hours of practice time a week, divide it into eight fifteen-minute sections and alternate between practicing the teacher's assignments and playing. By keeping these activities separate you won’t feel guilty that you are neglecting one activity for the other. If I can help you learn to practice, call me. David
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You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail. AuthorI'm a professional pianist and music educator in West Toronto Ontario. I'm also a devoted percussionist and drum teacher. Categories
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