Piano Experience

A little over two years ago, ballet girl finished Suzuki piano book 1. In a school recital she performed  all but one piece. Preparing for that recital was stressful for me. I consulted a friend who suggested recording some practice sessions and critiquing the observations. I found it difficult to juggle many pieces at various levels of 'done', and I was surprised when at the end they all came out well.

Now that Suzuki book 2 has been completed, we are at it again-preparing for another recital. Again, there are many moving parts and nothing is at its final steady state. We are two weeks away and there are two complete songs, and two scale and accompanying cadences that need to be learned. I am uncomfortable. I really dislike rushing. 

What makes me especially uneasy is a competition that took place this weekend with the results of which I am not content. I wish I had taken the contest more seriously, and I wish I had pushed for better preparation from the teacher. Walking out of lesson on Saturday, I could not believe that the song was not reviewed, at all, given that the competition was the following day. At this point, there was one thing I wanted from this piece-even tempo. Ballet girl delivered. I know ballet girl would have played it better if her teacher had listened to the piece and made the few last minute corrections, which from the judge's remark are definitely problematic.

I also feel that I should not be the one doing the planning for the recital prep. I feel that I should have received some direction, or scheduling from the teacher. There are certain things I do not mind taking responsibility for, but the scheduling should be with the teacher. For the book 1 recital and now for the book 2 recital. I doubt that other parents are on the hook the way I have been. I am also struggling with the whole book recital concept - it takes time to relearn old songs, and again, for me it is uncomfortable to juggle songs in various stages of done. 

I came through a web search at a site which among other advice had the following section. I appreciate this, but I still want more help from the teacher. 

“I must not work on any new pieces until I master the one I’ve already started.”

Reality: Professional pianists have 10 or 20 pieces that they are working on concurrently! There are sections within each piece that are at varying levels of mastery. This is really a good way to go about practicing, because if we become fatigued or bored, we become much less efficient with our learning. By giving yourself permission to switch your attention to different compositions or to different sections within one piece, you are actually BECOMING efficient. This happens for two reasons: 1) You are honoring your fatigue level on any one piece. 2) When you step away from working on something, you allow your subconscious to do ITS job and continue processing it without giving it your attention. This dramatically increases the results, better than if you had been exclusively working on the one piece.