Am I overpracticing piano?
Firstly, I am 14 years old and I
have bought my piano this summer. I don't have a teacher, but my father
is a musician (not pianist) and has thought me how to read and write
music, and I do have perfect pitch. I can now sight read simple things.
I have told people that I had been practicing up to 15 hours a day, and
they have told me that it is way too much. Now, the summer is sadly
over and I have 50 hours a week to practice when I am not at school and I
can practice 3 hours a week at school (The piano I have is a digital
Yamaha, in school we have an upright and I feel like I need to practice
on it too). I also found a few ways to practice without a piano, so I
always practice while listening to teacher and doing other things. (My
teacher shouted at me in front of my class for this ) That makes 75+
hours of total (including non keyboard and the time I borrow from my
sleep.) a week. I don't do anything else. Sometimes I study German but
that's not much.
I had been only practicing to improve my technique, like Liszt did for 2
years, and tried to play things! I have composed to improve my musical
skills. I play them staccatto, or using pedal, using only sostenuto
pedal etc. by using as many different interpratational elements(what a
word ) as I can. And I thought it was boring and started playing real
pieces.
I can now play Rachmaninoff's C# minor prelude (the middle part is such
a mess), Etude Tableau Op. 33 No. 3 C minor (That EGCG chord!!), Two
Chopin Preludes (7-20, easiest ones ), three nocturnes (9-1, 9-2,
Posth-20), Satie's Gnossienne No. 1 and Gympnopedie No. 1, Bach Das
Wohltemperierte Klavier Prelude (Not Fugue) No 1 and No 2, Beethoven's
Moonlight Sonata Movements 1-2 and Chopin's Sonata Op. 35 No. 2's
Funeral March movement (I have forgotten which one it was ) Am I a fast
learner or is it normal for one who practices 70 hours a week.
I have played Moonlight Sonata 1st and 2nd movements in front of a
concert pianist (He is a friend of my father). He told me (I don't know
if he's told me these to not hurt my feelings ) my interpretation of
Moonlight was concert level and my C# minor prelude is really good, I
was fast in the Cascading chords part, except the middle fast section
was not clear and I could not accentuate the right hand's theme.
I actually now think about playing the third movement. I have heard
that it was difficult, but I think that it is doable . I have opened up
the tutorial video of bbdhrggl and it said it was grade 10 and it meant
ten years of serious piano playing. Ten years? Come on, I don't even
play for ten months. But it also said level 8 for the C# minor prelude
so I didn't care about that.
I have started practicin it 20 mins ago, and I can now play the opening
arpeggios at %85 tempo. While playing %100 it is really sloppy. I can
also play measures 9-14 with both hands. Would you recommend me to learn
this piece or try something easier?
Am I over practicing and should I stop practicing at this pace? How
long should I practice a day and how must I practice? Thank you for
reading and sorry for my English. I'll be glad if you help.
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bbdhrggl to Murvet: I stumbled upon your post a few minutes ago. when i refer to serious playing, one hour per day is serious! if you practice 15 hours per day, that is 15 years in my book. That means you qualify to play the Moonlight 3rd movement. But to answer your question: Yes, you are over-practicing. You might get hurt and not be able to play at all. Obsession, especially if accompanied by anxiety, is a disorder. Get help if you need it. Good luck.
