By: Tony Edwards
A. Having a memory slip is more common than you may think. Every
musician struggles with the stresses of performance anxiety, especially when it comes to
playing pieces from memory. Often the performer finds his muscle memory skills
(kinesthetic memory), that he has worked so hard to perfect, seem to disappear as the brain
goes into panic mode. Though there is no absolute way to insure a perfectly memorized piece,
there are several things that you can do to help deal with the problem.
In order to better understand this lets first discuss two ways in which the brain
"thinks". When you do something for the first time the brain analyzes or "thinks" about it. For example:
When you first read a piece of music you must first analyze the notes and then move the hands accordingly.
You have no idea what's coming next. You have to think or analyze. But as you familiarize yourself with
the music your hands begin to instinctively know where to go. This is referred to as kinesthetic memory
or muscle memory. As you play the piece more and more the hands seem to develop a memory all their
own. You can play the music almost involuntary. This is the goal of practicing and must be accomplished in order to perform any piece of music.
Then comes the big day, the day of the performance. You walk out on stage and begin to play. Things are
going great, just like you practiced. As you continue the performance the onset of nerves or "performance anxiety begins to take effect. Your heart races,
hands sweet, and that little voice inside your your head begins to question your ability. Your brain starts to panic!
Your hands are moving in the right direction but your mind frantically searches for the notes, but to no avail. And then it happens. Memory crash!
Sound familiar? Of course it does. We have all had that experience. It is human nature and
perfectly normal, so don't beat yourself up over it!. In times of stress the brain will panic and automatically revert to analytical thinking, ignoring (or rather "not trusting") its kinesthetic memory.
It will frantically search its "analytical" memory banks for notes or pitches. The key to help eliminate memory slips is
to constantly reinforce analytical thinking.
Here are some exercises to help accomplish this goal:
- Play the piece with your eyes
- Stand at the keyboard and play the notes with your eyes. Watch the notes as they go by. If you
encounter a memory slip, take the music and fix the problem. While doing this try not move your hands (don't play the
piece in the air) since this will only access your kinesthetic memory.
- Seeing the piece in your mind
- Close your eyes and play the piece in your mind. Try to visualize either
the keyboard or the music as it goes by. To insure that your are concentrating call out the notes
to yourself. If you come to a place where you can't remember what comes next, look at the music
and then continue with the exercise.
- Thinking ahead
- Place a metronome on a very slow setting (at least 50 clicks slower that
you perform the piece). As you begin playing the first measure play the second measure with your eyes looking at the keyboard.
This technique requires allot of concentration and focus. As you feel more comfortable with this process
increase the speed. The farther you can think (look) ahead the better.
- Experience
- The more your body can acclimate itself to the stresses of performance anxiety
the less likely your are of having a memory slip. Before a major performing experience try to schedule several
little ones. Play for friends or a teacher. Many people find that when they tape record themselves they get nervous. You can even simulate the feelings of nervousness.
Try this: set up a room (or a recital hall if you have access) in the same fashion that you will perform. Pretend it is the real thing and tell yourself
that no matter what happens you will not stop and fix mistakes. Before you go into the room do 10-20 jumping jacks and
spin around 5 times. A racing heart and slight dizziness will mimic the symptoms of nerves.
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By: Tony Edwards
A. Practicing is the most important ingredient to becoming a successful
musician. 30 minutes of focussed, efficient practice can accomplish much better
results than 6 hours of non-efficient practice. Here are some helpful hints that have helped both me and my students to better improve our skills.
- Routine
- Lets say two young men, Bob and Tom, decided to enter a marathon and had a year to prepare.
Bob began training immediately running three days a week. The first month he would run
2 miles. After feeling comfortable with this distance he increased his run to 4 miles. Each week he would
try to increase the distance until he reached the big event.
Tom, feeling he had plenty of time
to prepare, procrastinated and did nothing. Before he knew it, months passed and he had one week before the big event.
Tom decided that to make up for lost time he would "cram" for the marathon and run 30 miles.
Of these two examples who do you think won the race? Bob of course! I'm so surprised
how many of my students think this analogy is absurd, but yet will cram the day before a lesson.
Practicing 30 minutes/ 5 days a week will accomplish much more than six hours in one day. It is
very important to set up a strict practice regiment with periods of rest just as an athlete preparing for the Olympics.
- For every hour take a ten minutes break. For a weekly routine take a day or two off.
- Beginners should practice 30 minutes to 1 hour a day (5 days a week.)
- Advanced players should practice anywhere from 2-6 hours a day.
- Goal setting (by-line method)
- Just because you practice 4 hours a day does not necessarily mean
that you will increase your musical ability. It's important not to practice mistakes. I've seen it happen to many times--a student will
practice the same mistakes over and over again. Here's a really great method to insure an efficient
practice routine.
- Day 1
- First read through the piece to get familiar with its difficulty. Try to establish a good practice
tempo. One that you can play with virtually no mistakes (i.e. if the piece is marked 120 start at 60).
- Day 2
- Practice each line until you can play it perfectly 3 times at your practice tempo (60)
- Day 3
- Increase the length to 2 lines. Be able to play 2 lines 3 times perfectly at the practice tempo.
- Day 4
- This time increase the tempo up 5-10 clicks on the metronome. (ex. 2 lines at 70)
- Day 5
- 3 lines/ 3 times at 70 perfectly
- Day 6
- 3 lines/ 3 times at 80 perfectly
- Continue alternating length and tempo until you can play the entire piece perfectly at the marked tempo.
This method of practice may seem simplistic but I still use it to this day and have found it to be the most
efficient method of practicing. Try it and I'm sure you'll notice improvement!
- 80% of what you practice
- A student comes into my studio and begins to play his assignment.
A few measures into the piece he begins to "crater". He stops and says, "I swear I played it perfect yesterday."
Sound familiar? Of course, everyone has had this experience. Always remember that your level of performance in an
uncomfortable or stressful situation will never equal the level of performance in a
comfortable situation. A good rule of thumb: You will always perform 80% of what you practice. Therefore, the
best way to improve the chances of a good performance is to increase your odds. Instead of practicing the piece
until you can play it once perfect, try practicing to the level of 3 times in a row perfect.
- Default method
- So you've done your homework. You've set your goals in an efficient manner and can play the piece 3 times
in a row. The big day comes and it happens----you crash! Why???? It could be because your "default" needs to be reset.
When most of us practice we begin with a warm-up, run some spots, and then play through the piece 3 or 4 times
before we get a good run. In other words we warm-up to the performance. Unfortunately, when we perform we do not have that luxury. Try this: When you begin your practice
routine start by playing through the piece first. See if you can play a perfect performance right off the bat. Begin with this before going through your daily practice
regiment. This is also a good method to discover potential problems that may crop up in a performance.
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