June 8, 2019

Patience…

I don’t know like you but I am struggling sometimes with my ability to be patient. Especially with piano. I need to force sometimes myself to slow down. Like many wiser and much more experienced pianists I would like to say always repeat: do not speed things up too quickly. I am better and better with that great advice. Sometimes is so tempting to speed up. Piano quickly tells you the truth. No, no, no! Too quick. How I know it? By doing mistakes here and there in the piece I am learning. In that moments quick feedback is handy. That is why it must be something in place that will tell you that, I have my app. And shows me where I did mistakes. I can work on them. SLOWLY. You may work with different sources. I hope you have that feedback in place. It helps to by working on your mistakes slowly to speed up later. Much faster actually when you start slow, slow, slow, faster, faster, faster, even faster, even faster, even faster, even more faster, even more faster, even more faster… till we get it 🙂

I have this saying in place ready for me when I want to speed up things too quickly: Slow means fast. I think I heard it in some movie, not sure. It doesn’t matter actually where it came from, but using it while playing or learning to play piano works perfectly fine. Patience is a key, on so many levels. With new skill you learn on your piano, with new scale you practice, with new piece you play, with progress you make. Everywhere is that patience. When I speed up I am actually slower, frustrated by not seeing results. When I go slow first, really slow (especially with new material) it goes actually much faster after all. It lifts up my spirit that something was achieved already. Maybe not with right tempo yet, but still something at some level is mastered.

What I want to share here and you can use it if you like is that phrase:

Slow means fast. – author unknown (to me)

Use it while you practice, or in your life. There is a trick though. We can’t stay to long in this slow phase at some point we need to challenge ourselves a bit. But still slowly forward and faster achieved and again slowly even more forward and faster achieved until we are where we planned to be. With no mistakes 🙂 while playing that part. Great! Right? Easier say to do, but it is worth trying that. Do as you pleased.

So, piano is a great teacher of patience for me, and it reflects as well in other areas in my life. That is why apart of music, I am addicted now to piano. It makes me I believe better in many other things.

All, right, it is time to Go-Go-Ja-Ro! I have stolen that from forum 🙂 Lets plan practice and start actually practising today. I will do my usual 30+/60+/30+ (pluses mean it may take longer):

• 30 mins with my scales practice using my app PianoMarvel
• 60 mins new material learning and practising/mastering previous material
• 30 mins fun session – just enjoying piano and playing what I know already… my reward for two previous sessions.

It is time to make this cloudy, cold day sunny… in my heart! Do the same with yours and lets bring the warmth back :)… and practice patience 🙂

Take care.