Right now I’m in the middle of my teaching week, as well as full of Mexican food and ice cream. So the chances of a long followup to yesterday’s post are a bit slim at the moment.
But here’s a quick thought from one of my lessons today. In weight lifting, a lot of attention is paid to exercising your muscles enough so that they grow, but not so much that they over-fatigue and can’t recover. If you do it just right, its the last repetition of a movement that accounts for the majority of muscle and strength gains.
This is like piano practice. Some students (very few) over-fatigue themselves, but most don’t do quite enough. Just like that last 10 percent of work can account for 50 percent of muscle growth, that extra 10 or 20 minutes of practice, or those extra 2 or 3 repetitions of a section, can make an enormous difference in practice output.
Not progressing like you’d like at the piano? Up your daily practice time by 10 or 20 minutes. Try 6 repetitions of a section instead of 4. Go over a section slowly for 10 minutes before bed, etc. etc. Try this out for a few weeks, and see if it makes a difference. You might be surprised.
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Hi Sam – Yes Bach can be tricky and is a great mental workout I find as well. I’m glad you enjoy the blog! I’m updating frequently so feel free to keep visiting/commenting 🙂
So true. That extra push towards the end is where the development happens.
I’ve just found your blog and am enjoying going through it. There’s valuable insight and understanding here.
I’m a player, at B level, for whom playing is now an important part of each day. It’s a real joy to be able. I’d always skimped on sight reading and set about to correct that about 10 weeks ago. 1 hr a day at 11am. Bach is the best workout, making all else easier from there. I’m glad I’ve put in the effort. I’ve gone from 1/10 to round 5/10 now. Aiming for 8.
Thanks for writing.