Practice makes.... Perfect?
- Mar 1, 2017
- 3 min read
So, has it ever happened to you that when you repeat a certain action over and over we either improve or feel like there is no improvement at all? Whether it be practicing an instrument, studying a medical degree, or even building a house with our bare hands, practice makes perfect, or does it? It was Einstein who once said "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results"; this doesn't mean doctors, musicians, and constructors are insane. This quote made me start to think: what is the kind of practice that leads to improvement?
On February 18th of 2017 I had the great pleasure of being part of a master class imparted by young artist Conrad Tao, I took this chance to be able to work on the current repertoire for my future recitals. We as performers were able to present to the artist some well polished repertoire pieces for us to see it from a different perspective and have a better understanding of it. The piece that I presented was Sergei Rachmaninoff's Prelude in B minor Opus. 32 No. 10. Before we began I introduced myself and Conrad stated: "I love this piece, it is just so dramatic!" it was a great description of what the piece really is, dramatic with many dynamic changes. I have been playing this piece for about 5 months now, and started to think to myself: "Well... I can kind of play it and understand it now, so staying consistent and practicing will keep it in shape." I didn't realize I gradually started overlooking everything! After I finished playing the piece for Conrad, he said "You have a good general idea of the whole piece, and I would like to work on dynamics and colors." After that, we immediately started to dissect the piece in a way I hadn't done in a long time. It was like taking laser cutting edge precision and applying it to my piano practice, being very well aware of how every part had to be consciously thought of before playing and understanding it. At one point of the masterclass Conrad said "You play this piece beautifully, with intensity, but it fails to convey what it wants to because it does not have all these dynamics used properly. It falls and ends in a depressive way".
He was absolutely correct to describe the way he did for me to realize what to improve on. Imagine in your piece you have 3 characters being the main melody, the bass line, and the accompaniment. Each of these play a specific role, the main melody is like the main character always having the main theme or importance in the story. The bass line is right next to the main voice having a huge presence, and lastly the accompaniment of triplets drive the piece harmonically. Paying much more attention pays of by then putting all these together and creating this scene for the three parts to play together.
Here I leave for you the section of this prelude in a video for you to see what we worked on for most of the master class.
It opens boldly, and is all connected by the main melody on top of the accompaniment of triplets and the bass line that moves with the melody. It all starts growing, snowballing in a crescendo and getting faster to reach a musical climax.
In conclusion, having a conscious practice looking for results and goals makes all the difference in Improving at anything you do! At the end of this blog post I am including images of the master class program with participants and information about the artist Conrad Tao.
Stay tuned for more news and about recital projects coming soon!!
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