Forum Replies Created

  • Seth Adelman (piano)

    Member
    April 12, 2023 at 9:37 am in reply to: Post your WOOP – Week of April 10th

    At this point I’m continuing to refine two new habits: 1) to include some deliberate (problem solving) practice whenever I work on repertoire, and 2) to find multiple times for practice each day, so I’m not always waiting till the end of the day….

    And basically, both goals are being achieved! As Noa says, deliberate practice is actually more enjoyable than ‘repeat and auto-correct’ practice, so this is becoming self-reinforcing. And even when I’m not specifically writing down impressions and suggestions, I’m still trying to think in problem-solving terms, about what can be improved, and I’m making more notes on scores than I have before.

    Regarding practice times, Jason Sulliman’s presentation last week gave me a lot to think about. His idea of ‘particulate’ practice sessions of about 15 minutes is quite different from my default habit of just practicing till I get tired of doing so ????. I’ve always assumed that you need extended open blocks of practice time to make real progress. But it can often be tricky to find more than one of those blocks each day, at least in my life as I try to juggle diverse interests….

    But it’s always easier to find brief chunks of time for, say, some warmups or focused repertoire work. I’ve tried this over the last week and indeed you can make progress in 15-20 minutes if you plan things well. It’s also easier for me to find regular practice times – for example, after breakfast – if I don’t insist that each session has to be, say, an hour or more.

    My current goal is to work in 2-3 brief practice sessions daily, and on busy days to be satisfied with even one brief session rather than nothing at all. This would actually be more consistent than what I’ve done over the years ???? and should be more than sufficient to achieve my admittedly modest goals, as an amateur who performs occasionally.

  • Seth Adelman (piano)

    Member
    March 27, 2023 at 12:09 pm in reply to: Post your WOOP – Week of March 27th

    Last’s week’s WOOP – to engage in some deliberate, problem solving practice each day – went well! As Noa suggested, the act of working out in detail the specific problems and possible solutions, and writing all this down, doesn’t take long and allows me (or forces me) to come up with effective strategies! I wound up creating a separate worksheet for each piece I’m practicing, so that I can list the entries in the same order in which they occur in the piece. And if I do this sort of practice first (after warming up), I’m less likely to drift off into ‘mindless’ unreflective playing (as opposed to actually trying to improve ???? ).

    For this week’s WOOP, I’ll again choose something modest but attainable, for which I just need to commit to in writing and in public:

    Wish: to make time for two open-ended practice sessions each day. I’d like to improve on my default tendency to fit practice into short blocks where my time is limited, or to save practice for the end of the day when I’m tired.

    Outcome: as with last week, if I can ingrain this as a habit it will enhance my general sense of self-efficacy, which is always a good thing… ????

    Obstacle: it would be easy to get sidetracked with other early routines, then all of a sudden I need to leave the house and what happened to my practice time?

    Plan: “When I plan my day (either in the morning or the night before), I will time-block these two practice sessions so that they’ll take priority over other activities.”

    And: I’d like to continue last week’s WOOP (daily deliberate practice) as well. It all seems doable! ????

  • Seth Adelman (piano)

    Member
    March 20, 2023 at 12:57 pm in reply to: Post your WOOP – Week of March 20th

    My first WOOP! My long-term goal here is to work through the Beyond Practicing course and ingrain the skills. And since Noa has already divided up the content into discrete goals, I’ll simply follow his recommended timeline.

    Wish: Skill 1, lesson 1, deliberate practice. I’d like to make explicit problem solving a more consistent part of my practice, and will aim to tackle one trouble spot this way each day.

    Outcome: By the end of the week, it would be nice to see that this is actually becoming more automatic, since that will boost my sense of self-efficacy, and that’s always appreciated… 🙂

    Obstacle: I’m sure it would be easy to default to routine practice, especially if my time is limited or I’m tired, since (as Noa says), that’s still somewhat effective. But I also know it’s unrealistic to wait for the ‘perfect’ time to develop new skills, so…

    Plan: “When I sit down at the piano, after warming up, I’ll pick one trouble spot (from previous practice) and apply deliberate practice methods, including new videos (if needed) and writing down my thoughts, *before* doing anything else.”

    And… I already recorded my ‘before’ video last night, so so far so good… 🙂

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