Removing bad playing habits

[Sunshinexxx]

What were your bad playing habits you didn't know you had or realized you had before someone told you ?
And how did you remove them?
It be good to know to remove them before they get too tricky and second nature.

Mine were changing bellows apruptly and practicing without a metronome so playing in whatever-time.

What were yours?

 

[Ventura]

i would suggest using drum machines/tracks
to supplement the metronome and help avoid ennui

and yes, good habits are hard to find so keep any
you manage to get your fingers on

 

[noelekal]

Picking up the tempo.

I have a lifetime affliction with playing too fast. I have to be careful after a promising start to avoid running away with a piece. I haven't seen the metronome since we moved three years ago.

 

[Tom]

Too many songs.

Trying to build a repertoire on a foundation of “I can play that one….pretty good. Let’s add another.”

Removed the issue by an honest assessment of existing repertoire, and (re)building slowly from there.

 

[Ben-jammin]

if backing tracks are handy, they are a great tool to identify issues with your playing and help you practice recovering from mistakes. Also recording yourself and comparing the recording to other versions is extremely helpful in identifying areas to improve. Sometimes it can be a bit demoralizing but it is critical to not learn in a vacuum. I did this and realized while learning a piece I have a habit of letting notes drone on too long, it was really easy to fix after hearing my recording.

I think the biggest bad habit I’ve had is not always challenging myself during practices and ending up not making real improvement. It’s important to have accessible goals as you go along. This is kind of the opposite problem Tom mentions, it’s important to get the right balance for how you learn.

Another bad habit I had that my instructor helped with was always trying to learn both hands together right away. I now know if I am even having even a little bit of trouble with a section to start working slowly with each hand independently before trying to put it together.

 

[noelekal]

Too many songs.

Trying to build a repertoire on a foundation of “I can play that one….pretty good. Let’s add another.”

Removed the issue by an honest assessment of existing repertoire, and (re)building slowly from there.

Oh, well Tom, there is that.

I was listening to Breezybellows' video clip "Under Paris Skies" just now and my wife remarked that it sounded very nice. I replied that yes, it is and that I had been watching a book of accordion arrangements of French tunes that included the tune, but supposed that someone else snapped it up.

She suggested that I probably already had "Skies" somewhere in all my music and could probably do without even more to learn.

 

[Sunshinexxx]

Thank you for sharing yours. Taking notes here...and realising that I've got way more bad playing habits than just two.

Too many tunes but bit really playing them properly is also one of them...... assessment & repertoire building...

Separately playing left and right when learning a piece...

Recording oneself , yes, as well !
And even recording yourself with the metronome to play it back in half speed to check if you actually hit the clicks at th right time ...

 

[Sunshinexxx]

if backing tracks are handy, they are a great tool to identify issues with your playing and help you practice recovering from mistakes. Also recording yourself and comparing the recording to other versions is extremely helpful in identifying areas to improve. Sometimes it can be a bit demoralizing but it is critical to not learn in a vacuum. I did this and realized while learning a piece I have a habit of letting notes drone on too long, it was really easy to fix after hearing my recording.

I think the biggest bad habit I’ve had is not always challenging myself during practices and ending up not making real improvement. It’s important to have accessible goals as you go along. This is kind of the opposite problem Tom mentions, it’s important to get the right balance for how you learn.

Another bad habit I had that my instructor helped with was always trying to learn both hands together right away. I now know if I am even having even a little bit of trouble with a section to start working slowly with each hand independently before trying to put it together.

I read this recently about plateau- ing. It's the way we practice that we feel we make improvements. Making goals and reviewing them before the start of the practice. Thanks for mentioning it!

Also, building a repertoire for yourself and for an audience is a big difference. Recording oneself for an audience or a teacher is also practice because it adds another layer of pressure.

 

[John M]

Picking up the tempo.

I have a lifetime affliction with playing too fast. I have to be careful after a promising start to avoid running away with a piece. I haven't seen the metronome since we moved three years ago.

I had that problem. I was concentrating so much on playing the notes, I found I was not "listening" to myself. Once I got familiar enough with the song and could listen to what I was playing, I realized how fast a tempo I was playing. That helped me a lot to get the right tempo.

 

[Vladimir M.]

What were yours?

Hi SunshineXXX

to tell you the truth, based on over 40 years of my playing the accordion (I'm 52), I see the most significant risks in a completely different direction:

Bad physiognomic habits of holding the instrument and manipulating the instrument during playing.
A significant part is manifested in the musical manifestations that can be heard and which, of course, first catch your attention - you simply hear it.
BUT:
The rest manifests itself over time as pain in the back, shoulders, joints, etc. You can't hear it, but unfortunately you can feel it very much.

My humble advice:

• record your accordion playing on your mobile phone and then listen and validate them at your leisure - without your instrument.
• If you're playing something on the accordion, then close your eyes from time to time and watch what your body is doing as you play. How are you feeling? What is not pleasant/physiological? If you change the position, how does it affect the quality of your playing and the resulting sound?
• Never play "against the accordion" - that is: don't try to pointlessly play things that are technically and musically extremely difficult on it.

Best regards, Vladimir

 

[JerryPH]

- bad posture. Constant self-awareness and watching out for unwanted body pains, video yourself, ask a spouse to watch your posture and mention it when its bad

- Low elbow, wrist bent too much - my fix may not work for everyone... I had a teacher that hit my forearm with a baton everytime it went too low (months of bruises until I got it to their satisfaction... lol). Later on when I came back to playing, I noticed that I held it too low as playing faster was an issue... I then started my first 20 minutes of EVERY practice with an exaggerated overly high elbow, it was more like weight lifting with the accompanying shoulder muscle pains and aches, but in about 4 weeks, it was easy to bring it down to the right angle and hold it there without effort.

- lack of practice time... NOTHING I can do about that, until I retire... lol

 

[losthobos]

Wasting time playing dodgy corny trash pieces that are what's expected of the accordion rather than beautiful melodies that aren't written for the accordion .....

 

[JerryPH]

Wasting time playing dodgy corny trash pieces that are what's expected of the accordion rather than beautiful melodies that aren't written for the accordion .....

Hey hold on there Terry, some of those dodgy corny trash pieces that are what's expected of the accordion make me happy... LOL!

Terry's message, though, is VALID... don't waste time playing music that doesn't make you feel good inside!

 

[Sunshinexxx]

I read this recently about plateau- ing. It's the way we practice that we feel we make improvements. Making goals and reviewing them before the start of the practice. Thanks for mentioning it!

Hey hold on there Terry, some of those dodgy corny trash pieces that are what's expected of the accordion make me happy... LOL!

Terry's message, though, is VALID... don't waste time playing music that doesn't make you feel good inside!

Which message are you referring to please? You said Terry's message...? Cheers

 

[Sunshinexxx]

Thank you everyone for your valuable input. We can all learn from those tips even with or without our own teachers.
I've only recently become aware myself how much tension I was holding in my shoulder and neck and basically in my whole body. So breathing and becoming aware of my posture and held tension before playing and while has become, or is still a new part of my practice.

It's a great reminder though that you guys mention it as well. Thanks again.
I love this community!

 

[Newbie]

What were your bad playing habits you didn't know you had or realized you had before someone told you ?
And how did you remove them?
It be good to know to remove them before they get too tricky and second nature.

Mine were changing bellows apruptly and practicing without a metronome so playing in whatever-time.

What were yours?

My instructor is working with me on bad habits. I am in PH book 2. Still struggling with alternating basses and putting it all together. She has slowed me down to leaning 2 measures at a time and not going to the next 2 until I have mastered the original 2. As I get individual measures mastered, I can start connecting to a line of music and so on. I also moved back to my student sized accordion, not the best situation but my accordion with all the bells & whistles was too heavy and overpowering for me and it was controlling me. It weighs 25lbs/11.36kgs. I am making slow progress I get a bit disheartened when I read about other new players moving through a book a month and try not to compare myself to them.

 

[JerryPH]

Which message are you referring to please? You said Terry's message...? Cheers

Lostlobo's post, his name is Terry and it's post #12 here.

 

[Sunshinexxx]

My instructor is working with me on bad habits. I am in PH book 2. Still struggling with alternating basses and putting it all together. She has slowed me down to leaning 2 measures at a time and not going to the next 2 until I have mastered the original 2. As I get individual measures mastered, I can start connecting to a line of music and so on. I also moved back to my student sized accordion, not the best situation but my accordion with all the bells & whistles was too heavy and overpowering for me and it was controlling me. It weighs 25lbs/11.36kgs. I am making slow progress I get a bit disheartened when I read about other new players moving through a book a month and try not to compare myself to them.

Thanks for sharing! I went back myself to book 2 book 3 being a step up again from two. So far book two gives you a good foundation to changing chords and alternating. I know what you mean with feeling disheartened at times. But breaking down parts , like practicing only difficult measures, like your teacher recommends is what I do now too after hearing another music teacher saying that. I am slow as well but stopped comparing myself with others... unless it's great advice such as all these different replies here!
Moving slower might be just good practice as well. I rushed through book 2 but enjoy now to memorise my favourites from it. They are still a challenge

 

[JerryPH]

I read this recently about plateau- ing. It's the way we practice that we feel we make improvements. Making goals and reviewing them before the start of the practice. Thanks for mentioning it!

Plateauing is something that is very age dependant (hits later in some, hits earlier in older players). I never hit a plateau until after 5-6 years of playing and getting in to competition performance levels.

Of course, like anything else, there are different kinds/levels of plateaus but basically they are all the same.

It's when you suddenly no longer advance or cannot get past a tough section in a song. Really, there are only 2 things to do to get past it:

1. Slow down or stop for a while until you are mentally rested and ready to push past it slowly
2. Power through it, push hard, don't stop until you push past the plateau or block

Either way works and which method you use depends on you.

The first version is better for older, non-professionals/performers or low-mid level players. It is easier mentally and takes longer because there is no need for the high stresses requested to power through. You get through it slowly, no stress, over a longer period of time.

Though anyone can do either method, the second way is more for advanced players where there are set goals to reach and there may be time constraints. It pushes you over the plateau faster, but the stresses are much higher. Grim determination, motivation, a set game plan and firmly set micro-goals are placed in front of the performer, tackled and moved on to the next set of goals. In extreme cases, one is placed in to very long hours over many consecutive days, weeks or months.

Pushed to the limits, one has the distinct possibility of burning out a player and in extreme circumstances, can cause a player to stop all together. This is what happened to me.

I've done both, I prefer the slower/longer/gentler method now, but I did the second method for years.

When young, I powered through plateaus to push to higher plateaus and so on. It's brutal, but there is no better way to move forward and improve at very fast rates. It involves a massive time investment, high motivation, and quite honestly, most can do it for short periods of time, but the ones that push in to the 10-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, growth is amazing, its the equivalent of being an athlete on steroids... but the downsides are equally as harsh.

Choose the method that works for your needs, but I would now advocate moderation when powering through. Know when enough is enough, you'll stay in the game longer.

 

[Ben-jammin]

Jerry has very good advice here. I would go as far as saying trying to power through something can frequently be counter productive. I have found it good to have a few pieces to work on at a given time. When I run into something difficult that I struggle with, I spend a limited amount of time working on it, but once I feel I stopped making progress (usually within 10 minutes or so) I move on to something else and come back to it later. Much of the time when i come back fresh to the difficult bit it has become significantly easier. Understanding how you learn and how long you can focus can be critical to make the most of your practice time. For some people having three or four separate fifteen minute practice sessions a day will be much more productive than one 2 hour long one. For me I know the most efficient approach is several iterations at a difficult spot while I’m refreshed enough to focus.