Maintaining Repertoire | The Dangers of 'Playing Through'
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- A concept I nicknamed the 'Piano Performance Account' I got from reading William Westney's book The Perfect Wrong Note.
The Perfect Wrong Note is available on Amazon here : amzn.to/43d0lV3
In a nutshell, whenever we actively practice something, we are making deposits into that account. However, each time we simply play through, we're making withdrawals. As with any account, if we withdraw more than we deposit, eventually we end up bankrupt.
I decided to try to apply this idea to my older repertoire that I wish to keep 'in the fingers' and in this video take you through a worked example, that of Chopin's B Minor Waltz. This is one of those pieces I have played through countless times and, prior to creating my original tutorial on the piece, I realized that without my noticing, I did not control it anything like as well as I believed.
In a way, it helped me create the original video ( • Piano Tutorial | Chopi... ), as it forced me to re-learn certain parts of it. However, I'm fairly sure that if I'd have applied the principles in this video to it rather than just 'playing through', it wouldn't have been necessary to re-build it in the way I had to.
I also mentioned my review of Graham Fitch's excellent eBook Series which you can watch here:
• Expert Piano Practice ...
You might also find my review of the Online Academy helpful too:
• How to Revolutionise Y...
My original video on the 4/4 Waltz Technique can be found here:
• Piano Practice: A Walt...
EQUIPMENT:
Full details of all equipment used are available on my blog at the address below:
tommyspianocor...
Filmed on an iPhone 13 Pro - using the Filmic Pro app
Piano Audio captured on a Zoom F6 using a matched pair of Rode NT5 microphones (see my review of the F6 here : • Record Piano | 5 Reas... )
Voiceover captured on a Rode SmartLav microphone plugged into an iPhone 6S
Video editing done using Lumafusion
Audio editing done using Garageband (voiceover) and Cubase LE Elements (piano).
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EMAIL:
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Just this afternoon, I decided to pick up Bach's prelude in C major again and quickly 'play through' it after I hadn't play it for a while (I am in my second year piano playing after a 30 year break)....I think I will follow your advice and put it under my 'maintenance' repertoire ! I also like the spread sheet with your practice goals at the end of the video. Is that something you made yourself or is there some kind of an app. or program you use for this? How do you balance 'maintaining repertoire' with 'practicing new repertoire"....like 20% maintenance -80% new repertoire? Thanks for the video!
Bach’s C Major prelude is a real gem. It was used as the basis for Gounod’s Ave Maria. I created a backing track years ago that can be played along with - you might find it an interesting addition to ‘maintaining’ this piece. th-cam.com/video/5nU4VGXBEbw/w-d-xo.html
Hahahahahahaha!!! Yes, I've noticed similar when I practice Musette. I tend to play the less well-performed parts faster. I only ever play from memory. I don't enjoy reading the music as I play. Nothing against it but there is something spiritual about playing from memory. Thanks for the tips. I've been playing just 3 years. As always, thank you for your instruction.
Gosh, I needed to add this to my comment. The last section where you discuss practicing for performance was needed for me. I'm very critical of myself when I make errors and though I'm not completely nervous. A part of me seeks the perfection yet its the passion that was most important.
Yes, practising for performance can be something we often forget to do. Playing through wrong notes without fixing them is in general a bad idea, however, if we want to perform something, ultimately we need to be able to do it.
Thank you for this great video. The "maintenance" advice is very helpful and something I will definitely start doing as I have often seen my pieces deteriorate when left for a while. Your videos are always so down-to-earth and practical. 😊
Thanks so much for your kind feedback. I’m delighted to hear you find the ideas useful!