Mental Mistakes Hinder Progress

mafields627 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:37 pm Post subject:

I need some advice on a problem I've encountered all of my career as a player. Up until now, I have been able to deal with it b/c I wasn't too serious about the horn. Now that I'm a music major and am becoming more serious about my practice time, I find that I am constantly hindered from progressing due to mental errors. I can work on a problem spot, get it right, move on. But, when I come back to that spot later, it's wrong again. This lack of consistency is really starting to bother me. What are some ways I can help this, without just sitting there hacking away at it? How can I make it automatic?
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--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

tims9999 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:30 pm Post subject:

You have to keep how you want to play it in your head. Easier said than done

_Don Herman · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 6:17 am Post subject:

A few random thoughts...

If you're working on only the problem spot, that's a problem!

If e.g. a measure is giving you trouble, work out that measure slowly, then speed up, while gradually adding measures in fornt of and then behind the problem spot. So, work out the measure, then play the measure before plus that measure, then a few measures or the phrase leading up to it, etc. Add a measure or phrase behind as well, so you don't work on the problem spot in isolation. The latter is especially important for a starting measure.

Extra credit: Sing the measure, then the phrase. Sing the pitches, but in a comfortable octave if need be, but get the sound in your head. For a "cold" entrance, play it in your head a measure before so you are "joining" rather than "starting" the sound.

If the trouble spot is way high, or even way low, work it out in your midrange first so you know what it sounds like. No need to kill yourself whle getting the "feel" of the piece.

Work it though backwards. Really! Start with the last note and play it through backwards. Forces you to really focus. Then switch to forward ("normal").

Finger with your left hand a time or two.

Stand up if you sit, sit if you stand, put a leg on the chair -- make a small change which forces you to engage the brain a bit more.

Did I mention singing it?

HTH - Don
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Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

tcutrpt · Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 4:41 pm Post subject:

Don has some great ideas. I would add these too:

-Make sure you are learning the problem areas slow enough. Most of us are culprits of playing something correct one time and feeling that we have it down. Make sure if you're working a problem area that you try and play it a few times through without a mistake. This is the only way to make it consistent. Reinforcing the correct notes, rhythms, sound, etc.

-If it is a fast passage, try changing the rhythm slightly a few times and then play it as written. For example, if you have straight 16th notes, try playing dotted 16th-32nd dotted 16th-32 a few times. Then reverse it and play 32nd-dotted 16th.

-If it's a range thing, try expanding the range higher or lower than it is written. If you have a written A above the staff that you have to leap up to or hit cold, transpose it up a couple of steps and then try it as written. If you play it up to a C or D, then the A seems easy when you go back.

-Make sure you're using a metronome at least some of the time. When you can play it perfectly with the metronome and then play it perfectly without using it, you're in good shape. With me, I find that I tend to not line up my fingers with my tongue on fast passages if I'm not using a metronome on a regular basis. My fingers want to rush the easy parts. Make sure everything is lining up with a constant tempo checker before you tell yourself that you've fixed the problem.

Most importantly though as Don said, be a singer in your brain and hear every note clearly. This should be your focus when playing music. Once you can get this idea ingrained in your head, your consistency will be much improved.
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Matt Cyr
trumpetmc@gmail.com

rafq · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 11:10 am Post subject:

Sometimes the mental problem is you see the problem measure as a problem before you get to. This is like target fixation e.g. if you are riding a motorcycle thru a turn & you focus on a rock on the side of the road....you are going to hit that rock. Once you have the phrase or measure down don't focus on getting it right & it will become just like the rest of the piece.

robert_white · Heavyweight Member Joined: 19 Feb 2003 Posts: 1583

I second all of the above thoughts and add one more:

Take time every day to play musical material that's easy for you. Could be Concone, Arban "Art of Phrasing" melodies, Getchells, tunes you've known for years, whatever. Playing simple (for you!) material is important to reinforce the notion that the horn is an extension of you. Over time, I've found this has helped me adapt my concentration to longer and more difficult pieces.

Just a thought.
Bob

_bugleboy · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 6:49 pm Post subject:

If you get it right, and then come back to it and it still plays wrong, that should tell you that you really didn't get it.

Don has mentioned the real trick to getting it to play when you get to it in the music. You need to practice enough before the spot occurs so the auto pilot will take over before you get to the trouble spot. Just getting the lick down is just that. You've got the lick down. To get it down in the music you'll have to augment the trouble spot with enough "leader" notes to make the spot part of a greater section of music than just itself.

The only exception to this would be a trouble spot that comes after a rest. Then you need to be very time conscious when you practice the spot.

Castle Bravo · Heavyweight Member Joined: 13 Apr 2003 Posts: 542

Try the alexander technique http://www.alexandertechnique.com/ this deals with mental stumbling blocks as well as many other things, and it works!

The General · Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2003 9:11 am Post subject:

Don Herman used to end his posts with this quote... I'll try to get it right... Help me out Don!

"Practice makes permanent, not perfect."

A technique that works well for me, is to make the music more difficult, by assigning a variety of successive rhythmical patterns to the area that is giving you problems. In the end, what is written becomes much easier.

Best always,
Bruce

JoseLindE4 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 791

> Don Herman used to end his posts with this quote... I'll try to get it right... Help me out >Don!
>"Practice makes permanent, not perfect."
Personally, I prefer the Claude Gordon (??) quote:
"Practice doesn't make perfect, but it sure does improve the odds."

mafields627 · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2003 1:43 pm Post subject:

Thank you all for the suggestions. I think repetition is the key to solving my problems; that and slowing the tempo way down then working back up with repetitions. Sometimes the solutions are so simple that you just need to hear them from someone else before you believe them.
_________________
--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

Quadruple C · Heavyweight Member Joined: 28 Nov 2001 Posts: 1448

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-09-24 15:47 ]

mark936 · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2003 8:35 pm Post subject:

hey castle bravo--

i clicked on your mp3 several times- that dubba C and each time my dog went nuts.

now the whole neighborhood is awake.

PH · Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2003 8:50 pm Post subject:

One thing that can be a significant help is to do mental practice away from the instrument. Visualize the act of playing and other things that can help you focus. This is such a big topic that it probably deserves separate thread.

Find and read "Psychocybernetics" by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. Do what it says and then read it again.

rafq · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:21 pm Post subject:

Great post Bill, I've seen so many people throw technical excises at mental problems... sure we have to work out the technical stuff.... but we also have to deal with the mental aspects of playing....especially if that's what we're having a problem with.

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2003 7:51 pm Post subject:

On 2003-04-19 12:11, The General wrote:
Don Herman used to end his posts with this quote... I'll try to get it right... Help me out Don!
"Practice makes permanent, not perfect."
***
Hi Bruce! Forgot to catch this one... You're close 'nuff, my friend! Here's the quote, and author:

"Practice doesn't necessarily make perfect, practice makes permanent."
- Charles Hughes

I say: Be careful what you make permanent!

Trust me on this...

- Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley