Practice Balance

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Practice Balance

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VietFlamenco

Posts: 140
Joined: Aug. 1 2010

Practice Balance

Practice has seem almost unmanageable lately even though i'm practicing minimum of 2 hours every weekday and 3-5 hours weekends. It normally takes me about 3 weeks to play a new piece well with daily practice. In addition i'm learning new material every week while going back and practicing all the old material.

My problem is this. How do you guys make time to learn new material and at the same time try to memorize previous stuff you've learned. For me, i'm only able to play the old stuff if I have the music sheets right in front of me. There just doesn't seem enough time to do everything. Do you set aside a day where you do nothing but try to memorize a specific piece?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2011 7:08:50

por medio

Posts: 289
Joined: Nov. 15 2009

RE: Practice Balance (in reply to VietFlamenco)

You can't practice all. Focus on what you need to learn. Older pieces that you have learnt will come back when you want to recall. If you're getting ready for gigs, well then you need to practice all of what you'll play obviously.

Practicing pieces are good, but don't forget the basics. It'll allow the pieces to make much more sense.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2011 8:43:24

Elie

Posts: 1837
Joined: Apr. 10 2010

RE: Practice Balance (in reply to VietFlamenco)

actually I have suffered from the same problem you're facing now, I always wanted to keep the previous stuff I've learned in a good shape and at the same time I wanted to learn new material .. so I ended up with a solution it might not be the greatest but it suits me and suits my life style
what I'm doing is :
I made a (week) schedule and assigned a palo ( piece I've played before ) and a technique to each day of the week in addition of learning new stuff .. I usually can't practice on mondays because my schedule is heavy on those days .. so I keep mondays off practicing to recover my hands.
for example : Saturday : tangos + alzapua + learning part of the new piece im working on , Sunday : Taranta + picado+ learning part of the new piece im working on etc ....
btw it's not so effective for learning new materials but it's the best I could came up with .
hope this bring some idea that suits u
good luck

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2011 9:08:14

Tomrocker

Posts: 404
Joined: Apr. 18 2010
From: Italy

RE: Practice Balance (in reply to VietFlamenco)

I started playing flamenco guitar last March after a couple of years struggling with the electric guitar which developed a great deal of theory. Sometimes i feel depressed because i really practice for few time a week but when i pick up the guitar and play i really feel cool even for few minutes. When i asked my teacher about development and timing, he asked me to create a diary and to write down all the things i do day by day, to assign a new targets with the coming back to to the basics every time possible, to search the difficulties and work it cuz otherwise i'll keep playing the same old stuff but i realized naturally that i really need to much time practice to work these things out since learning a new piece ain't easy so he suggested to create my own method of learning without worrying to much about time. Players worry about development all the time asking when they can finally become confident and confidence comes after practicing well so i do practice every day something and stick to it example ( Today i'll work on my thumb, Alzapua) next day i'll work on Tremolo, and if it's a new piece, then i'll cut things down and work it slowly etc. Copass disasters

il golpe on beats 3,6,8 and 10 in Buleria etc. By the end of the week, my diary is not empty even if my time practice is not much. I'll join you and wait for a goldern advice to be posted by the monsters in here

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This is hard stuff!
Don't give up...
And don't make it a race.
Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 16 2011 9:23:53