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The most deadly bad habits are learning shortcuts that cause you to destroy your flexibility as a musician (example on piano: practicing a piece always at the same volume, so you would be unable to change the dynamics of the piece if it strikes you during performance), playing with tension (I have given myself multiple types of tendinitis and can attest to this), and repeating a mistake (more on this at the bottom). As for learning in first gear, don't be afraid to make mistakes, as long as you are thinking about the mistakes and analyzing them, rather than blindly repeating them as "a thing that is hard so I will work in it later while I approach the parts of the piece that I enjoy." The way to improve is by hurling yourself at something too difficult for you, and then slowly improving your technique once you are able to analyze why a particular bit of music you're working on is beyond you. To play a piece *perfectly, it is like wiping a glass window. You want to play the piece perfectly, every. single. time. So as you build the piece in your head, you cannot leave the equivalent of 'you missed a spot.' If your technique manages to be perfect, clear glass, the listener can 'see' through it to the music. It is dangerous that you already know the piece in your head, because your memory of the music can trump the mistake even as you are making it, because you hear 'how the piece should be' rather than how you're playing it. It's imperative to listen to recordings of your work as you polish it; only at the level of mastery does this become a superfluous tool. By listening to it back, you effectively can 'see' all the spots on the window that you are trying to wipe away. Finally, there are only two types of playing the piano: practice, which involves deliberate and labored cleaning-up of your weaknesses and mistakes, and playing, which is the exhibition of your efforts to make something beautiful and perfect. The book does address this; most amateurs enjoy playing more than they practice, so they play a lot and fool themselves into thinking they are practicing (I am very guilty of this) and rarely practice, so their playing sounds like they need more practice :) |