The Inner Game of Playing "Misty"

I recently read Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis, a good that gave me many good insights into how I can be a better volleyball coach. (Not that I coach anything more than rec ball, but still ...)

I knew there was a book called The Inner Game of Music, based on Gallwey's book, so I listened to part of it on my commute. It's not as engaging at The Inner Game of Tennis, but I'm still gleaning some good things from it.

One was this: Friday night when I was trying to record a "perfect" version of "Misty," I decide to stop worrying so much about the notes and just focus on playing it beautifully. After all, I'd learned the notes. I'd drilled the notes. I knew the notes. I was just getting nervous when recording, and that was causing me to forget the notes. I was also sounding a little wooden and not playing as beautifully as I knew I could.

So I focused on beauty as I made video after video of my getting to some point or another before missing. I even went overboard in some ways, slowing more than I should, contrasting the dynamics more than I'm supposed to. And even though I eventually toned it down, I found a few little touches that I kept, like the louder staccato in the transition to the B section.

I finally got an almost-perfect video ... and in the one spot where I paused, I make a face saying, "Yeah, I know I paused there."

I had a lot of fun making the video. Something about knowing I can make faces at the camera makes me less nervous. Makes me feel more like I'm playing for a friend instead of an invisible crowd.

Comments

Rethinking Bare Necessities

Today's breakthrough moment (there are actually two of them) focuses on "Bare Necessities." As you'll remember, I discovered Jonny May's arrangement back in early March and immediately decided to learn it. I printed out the music, started the course, and proceeded to learn the stride section, posting a few videos of my progress. Ha. I bet those videos make it look like I was making progress. I guess I was ... but not really. And I realized something this weekend that I hadn't before: Because I was thinking of "Bare Necessities" as a "fun" piece, I wasn't practicing it seriously or diligently. I wasn't treating it as something I wanted to master. This mindset might work with an easier piece, but this arrangement isn't easy. The result: despite a little progress at the outset, I wasn't moving forward. I was stalled. Breakthrough #1 The first breakthrough was realizing that if I truly want to learn this piece and play it well,

March Goals Recap/Looking Ahead to April

It's April 1, and time to revisit the goals I set for last month. I practiced a total of 50.45 hours in March, averaging 1.62 hours (or just over an hour and a half) per day. Realistically, I practice about 45 minutes to an hour a day on weekdays, and I usually get at least one longer practice (or multiple shorter practices) in on one or both days of the weekend to bring the average up. CLASSICAL GOALS Chopin, F Minor Nocturne March Goal: Have entire piece by memory and performance-ready. I have about 90% of the piece by memory, but I still have some work to do before it's performance-ready. The only two sections that I don't quite have are "The Agitation" and the "stretto" section with the seventh chords. I'll work on both this week and will have them both memorized before the weekend. April Goal: Finish memorizing, and polish, polish, polish! My focus now is really on phrasing and dynamics. I have the notes down, even in the difficult passages. Fro

Maple Leaf Rag Breakthrough

Oh, Maple Leaf. Where to begin? At the Beginning I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I learned the A and B sections of Maple Leaf Rag back in the 1990s. I can’t tell you if it was early, mid- or late 90s, but it was during those 10 years after I’d graduated college, when I was playing a good bit of piano but not taking regular lessons from anyone. I don’t remember teaching it to myself at all. I just know that, at some point, the first half of Maple Leaf Rag was part of my two- or three-song repertoire of pieces I’d be able to play by memory over the next 25 years. It was always sloppy and I knew it, but people loved it, and so I played it if there was ever a piano around. Back in January, I decided to properly re-learn those two sections, and to finally learn the C and D sections of this wonderful piece. I worked on these over the next month or two, learning (and-relearning) the notes pretty quickly ... but it took time to memorize, and also to get everything to tempo surpassing a

Picking Up the Pieces

Search This Blog