Avoid Power Saver Mode - How to Practice: Quick Tips Ep. 1

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Avoid Power Saver Mode - How to Practice: Quick Tips Ep. 1

Рет қаралды 3,429

Күн бұрын

Are you guilty of "chaining," "looping," "zoning out" in practice? Do you realize that it's your style of practicing that's actually causing you need need more time on the bench and more repetitions in the learning process before your brain and hands remember? Here's why. And here's how to VERY SIMPLY fix it.
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Charles Szczepanek is an international prize-winning pianist, has collaborated with GRAMMY Award winners, and has taught music for over 20 years to everyone from his next-door neighbor to finalists on NBC's America's Got Talent. Through Pianist Academy, he now brings that wealth of knowledge to you: the beginner, the intermediate, the professional, or the fellow music teacher.
Chapters:
00:00 - A Quick Analogy
00:50 - Liszt Passage and "Chaining"
01:45 - Why "Chaining" doesn't work
03:06 - The EASY fix
04:30 - Application to "Moonlight Sonata" movement 1
07:06 - Conclusion and a little more Liszt
#pianopractice
#pianotutorial
#pianolessons

Пікірлер: 46

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Want to continue honing how you use your practice time? Get a FREE "Practice Guide" eBook and sheet music download by signing up for the email list ➡ ➡ bit.ly/FreePianistDownloads

@qazsedcft2162 Жыл бұрын

Another way to force your brain to focus even more is to switch between TWO different passages every few repetitions (preferably non-consecutive passages so that you really have to think about it).

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Spot on!

@vanessas.4625 5 ай бұрын

Practice smarter, not harder! 😂 What a great slogan! What a great channel! Thank you so much!

@charlesloving4820 4 ай бұрын

The Windows shutdown chime at 2:24 was perfect!😂

@PianistAcademy1 4 ай бұрын

Reminds me of the good old days ;-)

@aBachwardsfellow Жыл бұрын

Excellent point! That's why I like using combinations of different rhythms. articulation, dynamics, etc. -- play the same thing as many different ways as possible to keep the mind engaged - 🙂

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Yes! That's also a great way of keeping the mind engaged and focused, not spacing out.

@aBachwardsfellow Жыл бұрын

@@PianistAcademy1 it's also somewhat of a "game" for me -- I like to try to think of ways to make it actually harder to play than it normally is -- that way, when I stop playing games and play it normally -- it's actually easier - (psychological tricks ... :-)

@hyperjoemusic Жыл бұрын

Very useful. Thank you!

@brendamengeling4653 Жыл бұрын

This was very informative! I realized that I had unknowingly stumbled onto a version of this principle. I was doing the rapid repeating (but less than 10x), and I would start to make new mistakes, which was frustrating to say the least. My brain can be pretty beastly when it gets bored. I started playing each repetition at a different tempo, and that helped, but I think your method of pausing allows better musicality. Thanks!

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Yes! There are a few ways we can trick the brain into paying better attention. Pausing is one. Changing something, intentionally, about our run through is another… like changing tempo, as long as it’s a pretty drastic change. You’ll even notice, when I demonstrate “chaining” my own Liszt passage that I can usually play decently well, it actually started to get worse and worse!

@iiTzWarLordZ Жыл бұрын

@@PianistAcademy1 This helped me a TON thank you!

@dirkvanduijn4057 Жыл бұрын

I am so happy to read that I am not the only one who has this same experience. Indeed super frustrating. Thanks for your comment.

@Daisy.369 11 ай бұрын

You are a wonderful teacher.💐 A few years ago I started playing the piano as a hobby. I still can't move my fingers.😂 I hope my poor English is conveyed. Thank you.🍀

@PianistAcademy1 11 ай бұрын

Thank you, Daisy! What sort of music are you currently working on??

@Daisy.369 11 ай бұрын

I choose calm songs.🥺 Now it's pop music. This is my favorite song about summer.🎆 ▶️　少年時代　井上陽水

@PianistAcademy1 11 ай бұрын

@@Daisy.369 Thanks for sharing Daisy!

@CameronWattMusic Жыл бұрын

Hard agree. I had a period of being out of practice due to significant mental health problems, and am currently returning to my instrument. Something my brain is doing is going "whoa whoa whoa, we're practicing now?! What?!" because I was so used to not playing due to having a hard time with mental health. I recently wrote a twelve-tone permutation canon, and it's telling because I practiced for two and a half hours yesterday and three hours today, and part of what I do is get into these physical loops of going round part of the canon over and over again, but having the discipline to pause and to play specifically what's written is how you practice more efficiently. Another thing that helps me is: if you have the mindset that a piece is learned one bar at a time, rather than something that you just suddenly know without putting the work in, anything is possible.

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Totally, one bar or one phrase at a time. Given time and practice, one phrase leads to the next which leads to the next! Best wishes to you and your renewed journey in music!

@constancestellas1409 Жыл бұрын

clear and helpful

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching, Constance! I'm glad you found this one helpful!

@bunnyhollowcrafts Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Terrific information!!!

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

You are welcome! Thanks for watching!

@hofmanno1 Жыл бұрын

Great explanation !

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much, Olaf!

@xukhuc Жыл бұрын

Insightful 👍🏼

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Xu!

@cutiejumps4088 Ай бұрын

It is a wonderful tip! Thank you for posting. Your tips are so valuable! I am now preparing for my grade 9 RCM exam in Aug, keep practicing scales and 6 repertoires tired me out and not enjoy as much. Not sure what to do now. Do you or your students have the same problem?

@PianistAcademy1 Ай бұрын

Congrats and I hope the practice is going well! Keep looking for new things in the repertoire especially. Work on super fine details of phrase, dynamics, articulation etc. Listen to more and more performances of your rep by some great artists and look for all of the ways their interpretations differ and how/why they are successful. And also, you don't have to practice every piece every single day. In fact, if you have 2 hours to practice and you are truly diving into the details, you probably won't have enough time to get through more than half of your repertoire in a given day ;-). A day between can be really nice to let the subconscious do it's job and refresh the conscious mind to tackle the piece again when ready.

@cutiejumps4088 22 күн бұрын

@@PianistAcademy1 thank you for your great advice! I was on vacation and away from piano for 2 weeks. But did mental practice during the holiday. See how it goes.

@bonjovi1612 Жыл бұрын

As usual, thank you very much, this information is very helpful. I definitely fall into ‘power saver’ mode 🤦‍♂️

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Glad you found it helpful! Hopefully remembering this will keep you more efficient in your practice :-)

@serwoolsley Жыл бұрын

ahhh what a nice way of ending a video, well done charles! and that's for once something i'm doing right, *noice*

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Haha yay! I'm glad to hear your practice time is thoughtful! And glad you enjoyed a few bars of Liszt at the end there :-). At some point this year, I'm hoping to film a Masterclass on at least Sonetto 104... possible all 3 of the Sonettos that Liszt set for solo piano. The other 2 aren't played nearly as often as 104, but all 3 are beautiful works.

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Ser Woolsley, you didn't leave a comment on the latest livestream but I wanted to let you know... congratulations, your performance of Op. 28 No. 20 set off the algorithm and triggered a copyright claim! Haha. I'd take it as a compliment. I couldn't see what pianist's recording they were claiming your performance was, but hey... close enough for the algorithm means you're definitely on the right track!

@serwoolsley Жыл бұрын

@Pianist Academy noo i don't believe it lmaooo

@rbcm1 Жыл бұрын

This is an interesting tip, Charles. I was wondering if this is based on some sort of investigation into neurological science or so

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Rodrigo! It's kind of a truncated version of "spaced learning." I was first introduced to this practice idea by Dr. Daniel Horn, my teacher when I was a pre-college student. He studied at Juilliard in the 80s, but I don't know his particular source. I've also heard Kaplinsky, current chair of keyboard at Juilliard, teach similar concepts, but again I don't know her source. When my teacher introduced me to it, it was to solve my problem of needing to play competitive auditions, but only having 2 hours a day to practice... but needing to be on the level of my peers who were home schooled and practiced for 6-8 hours per day. It's all about learning more in less time. It worked for me, and even more than 20 years later, it still works wonders for me.

@lawrencetaylor4101 Жыл бұрын

A brilliant idea, and it is exactly the same advice I give to my patients that want to strengthen their gluteal muscles, especially if they have low back instability. I have my exercises for piano players on "Oh My Aching Bach" on You Tube. I give a simple treatment/exercise consisting of two movements to stabilize that takes 10 seconds per leg, so 20 seconds for the low back. But it's best to do every day. It can be done at the beginning of a practice session or at the end. Once the back is stabilized, it's time to strengthen the gluteals with the familiar bridge exercise. Everyone asks how many to do. Most of the time, one is enough since an unstable low back irratates the nerve, which weakens the muscle. So you have to learn how to rehabilitate the muscle AND the nerve. In acute cases I would recommend one per day, or one in the morning and one at night. No more. And people would get better, instead of trying two or ten. As people improve, maybe they can do more gradually, but if the instability is too important, I say to continue with one. Maybe they can do more repetitions, but they do better to do one, pause several seconds, and then do another single gluteal. I might do 10, but always with a pause.

@PianistAcademy1 Жыл бұрын

I love how similar principles can be applied across multiple disciplines. Thanks for sharing!