Janielle's Musical Escapades

Repetition Without Aim

A few days ago, as I taught my sister Jirene some pieces (to prepare her for an audition at Blackburn High school in Dec), I told her that she must start practicing for real. You know many times we think that to practice is simply to play a piece from beginning to end for 3 times, then move on to the next, and then that’s the end of it. I now realize how futile such a method of practicing is! Sadly, I admit that I used to do that – and I find most people are contented with practicing like that.

I told Jirene that she must stop the routine or habit of treating a music practice like just a brief, mindless “run-thru” of pieces. She must pick out the nasty parts and work on them until it becomes more than playing “automatically” or mere the reading of notes. Such practice can be compared to studying a textbook, or “listening” to a boring teacher rambling on – the mind is not really absorbing the information, it is wandering elsewhere.

Likewise with practicing the piano, one must not merely treat it as a boring, aimless repetition of songs or notes! It is far, far more meaningful. At this point, I am truly a lover of Classical music (which most people would deem as a boring and old-fashioned type of music for old people). I’ll probably talk about my love for it some other time. :P Anyway, continuing, we can’t practice without having a desire to understand the particular nasty bit (which is most often the bestest bit!). If not, we’d just be rehearsing the same thing for ages without discovering anything new!

I told Jirene, “Repetition without an AIM is useless. You must have a plan and goal. Now your aim is the audition. Practice your music with that aim and purpose!”

Hmm, the moment I said that, I immediately thought to write it down so that I won’t forget. Haha, the best quotes come from spontaneous mouths, or rather, minds. Hee (: Now that's also a good quote, hey! :P