Hey guys, life caught up to me for the past 4 or 5 months and I haven't practiced at all. Now that I have time again, I am wondering your opinions on the best way to get back to my old form.

Anyone here returned to piano from a long lay off? What should I do first, play scales and technical for the first week or more? I tried one session so far and the biggest thing I noticed aside from uneven scales/tone is that the endurance in my hands/wrists is gone, I can barely play for that long without feeling great fatigue in the wrists.

Any suggestions on how to work myself back up and how long you think it will take to get back to where I was? Thanks.

I can only offer you an analogy:

I'm a runner, but I only run half the year (summer and fall). When I am in shape, I can run a mile without breaking a sweat. When I am not in shape, I can't jog 1/2 mile without stopping for water.

As you can imagine, it's quite difficult when I start up running season, especially when I *know* that I can run 14 miles, but for some reason, my body won't even let me run one.

When running season hits, and I need to get back in shape after 6 months off, I run 5 days a week. I start each day with 1/2 mile warm-up, and a 1/2 mile cool-down. No matter how slow I do those, I always do them. And stretches, too.

In the beginning, the workout may consist entirely of the warm-up and cool-down! But quickly I get myself up to 1 mile workouts, plus the W.U. and C.D. Then, 2 miles, and then 4 miles...

I know that I won't be able to run 6 or 7 miles so easily for at least several weeks, so I build up to it.

I guess the analogy sort of works for piano, too, although the last time I was in your position was 4.5 years ago, and I don't remember. But I would suggest practicing for 10-15 minutes each day, knowing that in a week or two, you can start upping the practicing time to 30 minutes each day, maybe in two sessions of 15 minutes. Then a couple weeks later, maybe you can get up to an hour each day.

Play slowly, and play pieces that are not very challenging technically. The idea is to get your body back into shape for playing the piano, and if you ease your way into it, you should have no trouble.

Good luck! (sorry for the long post!)

Actually I'm glad you answered pianojerome because I read a few of your posts and I was interested in asking you a few things since you've only been playing about 6 years and already have learned such things as the appassionata.

I am curious can you tell me how you started, and what you were learning/doing/practicing (and how often/how long each day etc?) for your first year, then 2 years, 3 years etc?

Thanks and by the way thanks for the runner analogy I can relate I used to run cross country in highschool so I know exactly what you're talking about.

Alright, here goes:

I started taking 1/2 hour lessons every Sunday. I don't really remember how long I practiced each day (I was 12 years old), but I do remember that the junior high school orchestra teacher required us cellists to practice 2 hours each week (we had to fill out a time card). I probably did a similar thing with piano.

I worked out of the Bastien books. Just real basic stuff that everybody does, I suppose.

After a year and a half of lessons, I played at my teacher's recital: the James Bond theme song, and a very much simplified version of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody.

Then I broke my wrist, and my teacher got a new job, so I was out for a year. When I finally healed, we moved out-of-state, and it took 6 months to find a new teacher!

But when we found the new teacher, whom I'm currently studying with, I stopped with the books. We immediately began work on easy sheet music, and for my second recital I played "The Great Smoky Mountains." I probably practiced 20-30 minutes each day (maybe I practiced 5 days a week).

The following year I began with Mozart - the Sonata K545 (1st movement). That was my first classical piece. (excluding simple arrangements of that Liszt, Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu, etc.) Then the second movement of Mozart's 21st Concerto, Gershwin "Little Rhapsody in Blue", and Chopin's Funeral March from the Second Sonata. This was my freshman year of high school. I played Chopin's Waltz Op. 34 No. 2 at the next recital.

When I was a sophomore in high school, my life changed. I went to California the day after Thanksgiving 2002 for my grandmother's funeral, and it just so happened that my grandfather's friend, the concert pianist Kirill Gliadkovsky, came to pay his respects, and to give my brother and me a short lesson. At the time, I was beginning to get into classical music. Actually, it was 9th grade, after I learned that Mozart sonata, that I began buying CDs of Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt... (but never Mozart, ironically!). Anyways, Kirill played two Chopin etudes for us - that night, I wrote in my journal's first entry:

"...Afternoon, I played piano. I love playing the piano, so much, that I think I want to play professionally when I get older. I have only been taking about three years of lessons, so I am not very good, although I can play some Bach and Chopin. I wanted to practice hard because I knew Kirill was coming this afternoon.

"Kirill is a concert pianist who is a friend of Grandpa. How did Grandpa know what I would want? He arranged for Kirill to come and work with Danny, Elena, and me. When he came, a little after 5:30, I was very excited. I played for him the Grand Valse in A Minor, Opus 34 No. 2, by Frederic Chopin. When I play that piece, I think of Grandma, partly because it was from one of her books that I learned the waltz. Kirill told me I was not using the pedal correctly, and he showed me how to better use it. Also, he showed me how to bring out the melody through an imbalance of the hands. I also played for him, also by Chopin, the "Raindrop" Prelude, Opus 28 number 15. I could not remember part of it, but it was good. A few comments about the pedal and legato, and a story about Chopin from the maestro. Then Danny played a mazurka by Chopin and a Mozart sonata. Elena also played.

"Wow. Kirill played two Chopin etudes for us. It was wonderful and amazing to see his fingers dance on the keyboard. It was then when I decided on my future career.[/b]"

Good stuff, eh? Well, after that, I became obsessed. I became obsessed with practicing, studying history, looking at photographs and paintings of musicians and composers, discussing music, and buying CDs and DVDs.

In the following two years, I have learned Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, the complete Appassionata, the complete Pathetique, the 1st movement of the Grieg Concerto, two Bach preludes and fugues, among many others. I memorized Hanon (up to ex. 53), which I played through every day, worked on some Schmidt and Czerny, too. I probably averaged 2 hours every day of practicing. (But that's apart from my intellectual studies of music - reading all of the liner notes from CDs, reading biographies and interviews...).

Last summer, I practiced 5-6 hours every day during vacation.

Well, it takes heart, it takes love, and it takes dedication. As Michelangeli said, "It is not a profession to be a pianist and musician. It is a philosophy, a conception of life that cannot be based on good intentions or natural talent. First and foremost there must be a spirit of sacrifice."

Have I answered your question? I guess the point is that I started out like anyone else - with the books, not practicing a lot, not really listening to the music... But that meeting with Kirill really changed my life. Since then, I have devoted myself to music, but I don't regret it at all. I love my work, and I suppose that's all that really matters.