[Luís]

Yes, it does give me some ideas, together with the idea that the same movement may not be compatible with slow and fast playing, just like it’s impossible to run very slowly or walk very fast. At some point, you have to change between walking and running.

[Luís]

Hi again

That sounds great. But how would I actually go about changing my mindset? How would I practice my attitude?
Should I include it in my self-talk? Simply remind myself frequently that it’s no use worrying (in the sense of actually worrying and also in the sense of spending mental energy on) about all those things I can’t control and that I should focus on the controllables?
Or is it all much simpler and a question of habit? As in, just practice focusing on the controllables and you will naturally change your attitude over time?

Thanks again for the reply
Luís Abrantes

[Luís]

Hi!

Yes, it helps although it raises a few other questions!

At some point in the course you talk about focusing on the controllables and it makes perfect sense. However, when you mention those, you mention breathing, relaxing the muscles etc but these are before you begin to play, right? When actually playing (and I’m thinking of solo playing), should focus be just on strictly musical aspects (singing, phrasing, etc) or do you recommend maybe now and then “taking a break” to relax you muscles (I’m guessing not)

But now that you mention the mental “script”, what exactly are you referring to? In the course, you talk about the attentional script but I thought that refers to all that happens before you start playing (what’s most helpful to think before entering stage, while walking on stage, etc) so I guess you’re referring to a sort of “musical intentions script”, no? Like, don’t forget to exaggerate this, really slow down here, and so on?

[Luís]

Hi again!

I actually had another question about focus.
I had done some mindfulness “training” before I started this course (maybe you’ve heard of Headspace?). One of the things that’s mentioned is that, in order to “quiet” your mind you should not try too hard. It’s a sort of like drawing with a pencil. If you press too light, you won’t draw a line but if you press too hard, you keep breaking the tip.
Now this actually leads me to two questions:
I found the “Be Hear Now” exercise to be really hard exactly because when you think of something else, it’s already over and I couldn’t actually go further than the first few bars. It felt like the “green polar bear” thing you wrote on one of your blog posts. Am I the only one? I’m certainly going about this the wrong way.

Also, is the focus required to play sort of the same as the one for meditating? The idea that thoughts and distractions naturally occur but the skill is not not having them but being able to not pay attention to them? Because I have a lot of difficulty really focusing on a piece that I know really well – my mind wanders very easily.

[Luís]

Thanks for your time, Noa.

I will try and let you know later how it goes.

Luís

[Luís]

Thanks a lot!

[Luís]

Thanks for the reply!

It does makes sense.

It reminds me of one of your blog posts that was about not just removing weeds from the garden but also planting and nurturing the plants you want.
If I understand, you’re saying that Positive Self Talk and those exercises are the nurturing of your plants while ACT can be a tool for “not caring about the weeds”.

Luís

[Luís]

I guess. I was thinking about it because of all the research about interleaved, variable and retrieval practice (I should add that your blog actually gave me the initial ideas for my Master’s dissertation…so thanks for that!) that kind of shows that these ways of practicing increase the number of errors but are more effective in the long term. They sort of make things more difficult in a good way (hence “Desirable Difficulties”) but I understand that if you are nearning a performance, you want to try and practice in the expected condition(s) and not in others that you know for sure won’t happen (like playing on a different piano).

[Luís]

Hi!

Sorry to revive such an old topic (necroing, I think they call it) but this topic really interests me.
So this means we should constantly try to make the piece/excerpt we are playing more challenging, right?
I mean, when practicing a difficult passage, at some point, slow practice will stop being so beneficial and we have to go further and change rhythms or do it at a higher tempo so as to keep it challenging.
And this also means that we will be kind of constantly making errors, no? If we are practicing a passage (slow or fast) and we consistently don’t make errors, then it is either ready or needs to be more challenging (just like at the gym – when you stop getting tired by lifting a certain weight, it’s time to add a little more).

Do you generally agree with this?

Luis