Insane Pianist?

An old boss of mine had a favourite expression (which he attributed to Einstein).  It was ‘the definition of insanity is constantly repeating the same action and expecting a different result’.  It was an expression that always made me smile. I still remember the first time it suddenly occurred to me that by this definition I was sometimes an insane pianist.  Why?  Well, I noticed myself repeating a passage, over and over, and still getting it wrong.  I was repeating the same actions. I was expecting a different result.  I was, therefore, an insane pianist!

Since that first realisation, I have noticed this phenomenon in my practising frighteningly often!

Sensible Practising

On returning to piano a few years ago, I quickly came to the conclusion that learning how to practice was something I really had to do.  In my younger years, to ‘practice’ I’d normally just repeat things.  As I’ve written before, up until about grade 8 this strategy always worked well enough.  I was even considered a ‘good’ pianist (for my level and in my circle at least).    However, at Grade 8 it all fell apart.

Looking to learn skill of practising, one of the first things I invested in was Graham Fitch’s eBook series on Practising the Piano. 

I also subsequently subscribed to his Online Academy.  Click here to learn more about it.  I like to think that I have studied and applied the principles.  I also like to think that I do now know how to practice much more effectively than before.  Therefore, why would ‘insanity’ creep into my practice time!

Things that can make us an insane pianist

I feel there are a few ‘danger zones’ that can interfere with our otherwise good habits.

Almost there

When I ‘know’ that something is too difficult for me to play straight off, I will start working out different ways of practising it.  Generally, the more different ways I can find, the better.  After some work, the day arrives when I can ‘almost’ get it.  That first time that by the skin of my teeth, it comes good!  In fact, I might even play it correctly 1 time in 10.  This is when I’ve noticed that I’ll then start repeating and repeating it, expecting that some miracle will happen and it will come good every time.  After all, it’s almost there, isn’t it? A few more repetitions should fix it?  Wrong!

Intermediate Music

Another danger zone for me is ‘intermediate’ music.  I’m talking here of intermediate within the context of my own playing.  This is music that might have one or two tricky spots, but nothing that I’m not confident I can’t resolve quickly enough.  For the rest, it should simply be a case of ‘learning the notes’, surely.

Here again, I’ve noticed that I have a tendency to simply keep playing through with the view that because the music isn’t ‘difficult’ then if I make any mistakes, they should ‘fix themselves’ on the next run.  Of course, they don’t!  If anything, simply repeating makes mistakes increasingly difficult to fix.  My fingers have, by this time, ‘learned’ to play things wrong!

Drilling

Another classic example is when we think we need to drill something.  By this, I mean we’re actively encouraged to learn by repetition.  Let’s consider an example with which I’m sure we’re all familiar.  We’ve all heard (and I imagine experienced) bumpy scales.  When the thumb crosses there’s that little ‘thud’.  However, we we’re in ‘drilling’ mode, we simply keep going over the scale, again and again.  We think we’re focusing on the ‘thumb’ but, in fact, are we actually doing anything different?  Actually, we’re not.  Rather, we’re again repeating the same action and feeling surprised that we’re not getting a different result!  Insane!

Guarding against being an insane pianist

I believe in each of these circumstances, we need to really make sure we remain mindful of what we’re doing.  

Once we can ‘just about’ play something, it shows that our ‘good efforts’ are now ‘starting to work’.  It’s a mistake to think they have ‘worked’.  The best policy is to stick with these practice techniques, keep working away at them.  Only when it starts to feel ‘easy’ can we say we’ve got there!

With intermediate music, the only way I have found to break this cycle is a ‘zero tolerance policy’.  I’ll physically circle any mistake I make on my score.  Then I’ll work on and around the error in isolation making sure I work out what I’m doing wrong and how to fix it.  I’ll then add some measures before and after.  It takes some self control to perhaps practice the segment more than I feel I need to.  However, if I don’t, then I can guarantee the next day it’ll fall apart again.

As for ‘drilling’ passages.  I’ve come to the conclusion that this really isn’t an effective way of working.  Certainly, repetition is the mother of learning, however, it’s only the ‘correct’ repetitions that are doing any good.  Therefore, going back to the scales example, I more sensible approach would be to work exclusively on the thumb crossing.  Avoiding the temptation to go back to the whole thing again takes some self control. However, practising around the actual problem does work far better than simply repeating past errors.

Are you too an insane pianist?  If you’re not sure, try video recording an entire practice session and watch it back to see exactly what you do.  Do you notice yourself repeating the same action and expecting a different result?