Currently I've just not been that motivated to practice, basicly I've just been kind of going through the motions. When you have a student such as me, what do you do to motivate them?

--DR LO

Can you think of any reasons why you don't want to practice? I think that we all go through times like that, well at least I hope so. I get that too. Maybe you should change your pieces? If you've been working on something too long, it kind of gets stale and no fun. What about different styles of music? How about spending sometime listening to other people's playing, recording or live? In my case, I just take a couple of days completely off from the piano and do something unrelated, I feel fresh after that.
Hope this helps! Good luck!

What kind of music do you play if you don't mind me asking?? Just out of curiosity!

I don't know why I don't really like to practice, it just seems that I never get anywhere when I practice. Maybe i'm trying to play pieces that are too hard for me. Right now i'm working on the Hungarian Rhapsody by lizt. I'm also playing some stuff by scarliati (i think thats how you spell it, not sure where the book is right now.)

I really like playing classical music. I play a bit of contemporary music, but not a lot, just for church and stuff. I've tried playing a bit of Joplin, but never really got into it that much. I just don't know why I don't really like to sit down and try and figure out a run for 30 minutes trying to get it perfect. I don't know why I'm having this problem.

--DR LO

I can assure you that you're not the only one feeling that way. Practicing is a long and hard work, and very very tidious most of the times, I think. We all just want to perform or play the pieces, it's more fun than breaking the pieces to small sections and do them over and over again...you know what I mean. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody is a hard piece, which one are you working one if I may ask?
Why don't you make a short term goals, say I will practice this page or this many measures today and get it up to, let say, to a certain speed, or all the dynamics, or no wrong notes, or memorize, or whatever you need to work on. Make small goals so that you can feel your achievement and progress. Sometimes, it just feels like going nowhere, but if you practice smart and give yourself small goals to achieve, you will see! Recording yourself and listen to it later, you will definitely hear it. If you still feel like making no progress, then maybe you can take a look at your practicing habits and see if you're missing out something...

Of course, it's easy for me to say to you than do it myself. Don't worry too much, you will get it! I think the Liszt and Scarlatti are good contrasting choices. Do you like Beethoven??

Hanging in there and keep pounding. good luck!

Thanks for you ideas, i'll try implementing them and see what happens.

I really like Beethoven, yes. In fact i played so much of him that i figured i'd better play some other composers so I don't focus all my energy on him. He is actually my favorite composer. His music is great, and no two pieces are the same. . .AT ALL!!! His music seems to cover more than just the era he was composing in. It has influence from every era before him.

--DR LO

Practicing takes hard work and discipline.. the key is shifting your mentality so the following are true:

1. you look forward to your practice because you have a clearly defined goal for "what I want to accomplish today"

2. you make it a habit to practice every day, so that when you miss a day, you don't feel "right".

3. you are interested in the music you are making and are looking forward to, and able to visualize yourself, being able to perform it.

Try reading This Thread (on a different forum) for some insight as well.

good luck!
-Paul

Thanks, those are some good ideas too. Thanks for all your help. Now i'm actually looking forward to practicing and hopefully i'll start getting somewhere again.

--DR LO

You might also take a look at This Book "FUNDAMENTALS OF PIANO PRACTICE".. it has a wealth of very interesting practice techniques to speed up the initial learning/memorization process.

My teacher has me play difficult measures 10 times perfectly, one mistake and it's start over time .....speed isn't an issue I can go as slow as I need to get it right. I hate it......... but it works! I think the whole thing is seeing the result of good practice. If I practice my way I can be on a short piece for weeks and still not play it as well as one week of proper practice. I showed up early for my lesson last week and the person before me was playing Maple Leaf Rag, he did a really nice job for the first 30 bars or so and then it fell apart. I thought the guy was probably a 4 or 5 year student and that was where he was with the piece. I was still impressed with the part that he played well so I asked my teacher about how long he had been taking lessons, he just shook his head and said 9 or 10 years. Bottom line was in all of that time he had poor practice habits. My teacher said if he would practice properly he would have had that piece down cold 5 or 6 years ago. So if you don't like to practice maybe just short concentrated sessions would be something to consider. I used to practice for 2 - 3 hours without a break, it wasn't really working .... now a 20 minute very focused session accomplishes much more. I still have plenty of time for free playing and I appreciate it more. Good luck

Hi,
This is an easy one for me-I perform the piece or some other piece and wow the student with what they can look forwarding to sounding like if they practice.

Some really great ideas about practice habits. I'm a piano teacher w/ three teenage children, and a studio, ETC ETC. I find I cannot give even a whole half an hour at a time, but if I make goals I can still learn new pieces. Remember a goal can be as little as "I'll memorize 2 measures each day this week". It's the qualitythat counts NOT the quantity. If you practice efficiently (as I try to drill into my students!!) you can accomplish more in littler time. LOL

you can also set even smaller goals - goals that you can accomplish in 15-20 minutes. Make a whole bunch of mini-goals that you know can be accomplished in that time, mini-goals that add up to a larger goal, and plan them out for the whole week. That way, you've accomplished something you set out to accomplish every 15 or 20 minutes.