This was encouraging in some ways for me, AND it called me out in other ways. I've always had a hard time with the muscle memory part. I've always felt like at a certain speed, my brain just can't think fast enough to keep up with each individual finger, and I have to think of scale or arpeggio passage work in "blocks" or hand positions, much like you described in your video on the ossia Rach 3 cadenza where you switched up some of the distributions. My undergrad was in piano performance, but I am now 31 and until this year hadn't touched a piano since then (nearly 10 years). I just got a piano a couple weeks ago and have been getting back into practicing, but it is WAY more intimidating than I had expected... I think because I "know" a lot more than when I was a little kid at the same physical technical level I find myself at now. I've already had too many moments to count when I felt discouraged, thinking maybe my older body can't/won't ever get back to even the technical level I was at in college. But then I remind myself that it took YEARS of steady practice to get there in the first place, so I shouldn't expect too different now. Sorry for the novel... but I'm just wishing someone could elaborate on the whole muscle memory thing and where/how it fits in at a certain point if at all. I would be sad to confine myself to never playing any notes faster than 16ths at 140, but I've just literally always seemed to have a cap at about that speed where my brain can't focus on every individual note anymore. Am I doomed?
Haha, you're definitely not "doomed" especially since you have the foundation of a being a previous piano performance major. You might have to adjust some expectations for yourself, especially if you are still thinking in terms of the demands of a music performance degree. There is nothing wrong with changing up the pace of your learning. It's probably best to think of this as a lifelong pursuit of learning and gaining skill. Also it's very possible that you'll have to undo some bad habits that re-emerged from the past in addition to gaining back the good technical skills. And you might have to think of technique differently. What happens to a lot of musicians is they just get faster and more accurate from sheer repetition but don't necessarily analyze to know "how" they do something, so when they stop practicing for extended periods of time they feel like they don't know how to get it back. For me, many of the technical breakthroughs were when I could finally explain HOW to play a passage. Anyways hope this helps. Don't give up it's definitely worth it! And if you have any specific questions or are interested in lessons you can always shoot me an email at joshvigranpiano@gmail.com !
@@joshvigranmusic thanks for the thoughtful reply! I have indeed already noticed a couple old bad habits popping up, but I have an easier time reminding myself to focus on those things than when I was younger. I am beginning to think that subconsciously, I was relying on my teacher to remind me when I got to my lesson. Now I'm fully aware that there's no one there to "guide" me in that way, so I'm inherently a bit more vigilant while practicing. I especially appreciate your advice about speed not merely coming from repetition (even slow, focused repetition). I have often found myself doing the "start slow and slowly bump the metronome up each time" method with a certain passage where I feel myself using my hand differently or shifting my weight differently once I get to a certain speed. I've never put together that I wasn't accomplishing anything whatsoever with that particular slow practice in the "wrong" way
Wow! This was helpful on a different level! I have to watch it ten times more. I just realised, that I make every mistake possible. 😶 I have to start practising in a complete new way. Thank you so much, Josh. I am very curious to find out if there will be any change in the exercise result
Well recognizing it is the first step towards increasing efficiency! It's all about the small steps little by little. I'm still refining my practice methods too 🙂
@@joshvigranmusic even after all these years? How do you change a habit? In my mind, every time I try to study "correctly", I always return to my known methods.
@@Nikolaos-Koemtzis Well, you do it one small step at a time. You should start with some small thing you realized when watching this viedo and be very careful about fixing it. Divide your problems up into bits you can manage!
Nice, I make all 5 mistakes every time !
🤣
Same here 😬
So true...I définitivement agréé
This was encouraging in some ways for me, AND it called me out in other ways.
I've always had a hard time with the muscle memory part. I've always felt like at a certain speed, my brain just can't think fast enough to keep up with each individual finger, and I have to think of scale or arpeggio passage work in "blocks" or hand positions, much like you described in your video on the ossia Rach 3 cadenza where you switched up some of the distributions.
My undergrad was in piano performance, but I am now 31 and until this year hadn't touched a piano since then (nearly 10 years). I just got a piano a couple weeks ago and have been getting back into practicing, but it is WAY more intimidating than I had expected... I think because I "know" a lot more than when I was a little kid at the same physical technical level I find myself at now.
I've already had too many moments to count when I felt discouraged, thinking maybe my older body can't/won't ever get back to even the technical level I was at in college. But then I remind myself that it took YEARS of steady practice to get there in the first place, so I shouldn't expect too different now.
Sorry for the novel... but I'm just wishing someone could elaborate on the whole muscle memory thing and where/how it fits in at a certain point if at all. I would be sad to confine myself to never playing any notes faster than 16ths at 140, but I've just literally always seemed to have a cap at about that speed where my brain can't focus on every individual note anymore.
Am I doomed?
Haha, you're definitely not "doomed" especially since you have the foundation of a being a previous piano performance major. You might have to adjust some expectations for yourself, especially if you are still thinking in terms of the demands of a music performance degree. There is nothing wrong with changing up the pace of your learning. It's probably best to think of this as a lifelong pursuit of learning and gaining skill.
Also it's very possible that you'll have to undo some bad habits that re-emerged from the past in addition to gaining back the good technical skills. And you might have to think of technique differently. What happens to a lot of musicians is they just get faster and more accurate from sheer repetition but don't necessarily analyze to know "how" they do something, so when they stop practicing for extended periods of time they feel like they don't know how to get it back. For me, many of the technical breakthroughs were when I could finally explain HOW to play a passage.
Anyways hope this helps. Don't give up it's definitely worth it! And if you have any specific questions or are interested in lessons you can always shoot me an email at joshvigranpiano@gmail.com !
@@joshvigranmusic thanks for the thoughtful reply! I have indeed already noticed a couple old bad habits popping up, but I have an easier time reminding myself to focus on those things than when I was younger. I am beginning to think that subconsciously, I was relying on my teacher to remind me when I got to my lesson. Now I'm fully aware that there's no one there to "guide" me in that way, so I'm inherently a bit more vigilant while practicing.
I especially appreciate your advice about speed not merely coming from repetition (even slow, focused repetition). I have often found myself doing the "start slow and slowly bump the metronome up each time" method with a certain passage where I feel myself using my hand differently or shifting my weight differently once I get to a certain speed. I've never put together that I wasn't accomplishing anything whatsoever with that particular slow practice in the "wrong" way
Wow! This was helpful on a different level! I have to watch it ten times more. I just realised, that I make every mistake possible. 😶
I have to start practising in a complete new way.
Thank you so much, Josh.
I am very curious to find out if there will be any change in the exercise result
Learning how to practice is a practice in itself! Hopefully some of this helps!
Guilty on all counts.
Shit I didn't think I would be making every possible mistake. Thanks for the enlightenment, good sir!
Lol! I know the mistakes because I've made all of them myself too. But now hopefully this helps!
I do ALL of these mistakes, all these years. But my negative and fearful mind refuses to change this wrong tactic.
Well recognizing it is the first step towards increasing efficiency! It's all about the small steps little by little. I'm still refining my practice methods too 🙂
@@joshvigranmusic even after all these years?
How do you change a habit? In my mind, every time I try to study "correctly", I always return to my known methods.
@@Nikolaos-Koemtzis Well, you do it one small step at a time. You should start with some small thing you realized when watching this viedo and be very careful about fixing it. Divide your problems up into bits you can manage!