Practicising Piano

As performers and teachers we all know that some kind of pain and stress some of the inevitable facts of our routine. When we are in pain our first response is to somehow get rid of that pain. This is not always possible. Still, our minds tell us that the less pain we experience, the happier we are.Ilan Lev  works many years with musicians and dancers and understands the body of the performing artist . Working with him changed many aspects in my practicing, performing and teaching. His holistic approach has wonderful results in my students' body language, reduced stress and pain and improved their sound production abilities. I consider his approach a breakthrough and would love to share some of his ideas, as they are applied in piano playing.

This work has as main objective the exploration of possible strategies that allow an optimization of the pianist’s practice process while applying them to the specific needs of the field of the collaborative piano. Therefore, it addresses the research of two authors with significant publications in the field of cognitive psychology of music, John Sloboda and Roger Chaffin, as well as a book regarding efficient practice written by violinist Robert Gerle in order to obtain not only suggestions from a professional for practicing in a more efficient way, but also the scientific directions that support these suggestions. For the application of this information in the field of the collaborative piano, it aims firstly to list specific aspects of this practice according to the work of pianist Martin Katz in order to, in a second moment, document the practice process of the author of this work as he learns a piano reduction of an opera’s air. As a result, the theme is approached from three different aspects: scientific (Sloboda and Chaffin’s publications); technical (Gerle and Katz’s publications); and personal (documentation of the practice process of the author of this work). With this research some of the main factors pertinent to the practice efficiency could be highlighted such as the conception of a musical work in its totality; the structural approach in the codification of new information; the decomposing of problematic passages in its components and the mental anticipation of the material to be executed. Among the aspects pertinent to the pianistic collaboration were emphasized the knowledge of the parts of other musicians as well as the specific needs of its execution; the study of the text of vocal works and the adaptation of orchestral reductions.

uf diesen Seiten wollte ich meine eigene Meinung über die Effizienz des Übens in der Praxis zum Ausdruck bringen. Das Konzept des effektiven Übens habe ich in mehrere Kapitel gegliedert. Beginnend mit der konzeptionellen Definition und dem Erreichen der Praxis, habe ich
versucht, die relevanten Informationen aufzunehmen und das Wesen des intelligenten und effizienten Üben abzudecken. Sollte das Hauptthema (Prinzip der rotierenden Aufmerksamkeit) meiner Selbstreflexion die
einzige gültige, abstrakte Unterrichtsmethode sein? Eine unverzögerte Zustimmung sollte als oberflächlich und unbegründet betrachtet sein. Der Grund dieser Argumentation ist fest mit meinem persönlichen Mangel/Insuffizienz in Bereich von unterrichten/lehren verbindet, demnach das Wachstum der pädagogischen Qualität verhältnisgleich mit selbstkritischen Beobachtungen gebunden.