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What do you do when you have one of those moments, when everything you try just seems to lack motivation and gets depressing/boring?

I know it happens to all of us at some point, and this wouldn't be the first time... but I really feel stuck at the moment and could use a little inspiration to get things going again.

Every time I try to play something, it sounds monotonous, repetitive, boring, I have tried experimenting with something new but just don't know what to try to spark that motivation.

Usually, whenever this happens, a few days later I'm up and going again more motivated than ever, but this time I seem to need a kick up the backside

Watch these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1gm3T7wcDs&list=PLB7XYR8ntX77z9ouuUP8QpNXt0AVvP2bn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1gm3T7wcDs&list=PLB7XYR8ntX77z9ouuUP8QpNXt0AVvP2bn

Everyone has those moments, and it's up to us to work through these roadblocks so we can enjoy the result. To me, Josh Wright really is a great pianist, and teacher. If I were you, I'd also watch a few of his other videos:

1- Removing roadblocks.
2- Rachamninoff prelude op.3 no.2 (even if you don't play it).
3- Not becoming bored.

Etc. I guarantee you'll find lots of great advice and amusement from watching his videos and getting into his though process.

thwump.

That was me kicking your backside


Of course there are times where we all feel fed up and frustrated and think that we're not making progress.

Try some type of music you've never attempted before:
Have a look here, there are some sample pages you can down load to try

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Jazz-Rags-Blues-Book-1--00-6642.aspx

Or got to the makingmusicfun website, they have tons of stuff to have fun with.

Try just improvising with chords in the left and some melody in the right hand.


Try playing your pieces with different styles -- play softly, agressively, in a mysterious way--- "play" - is the operative word - find something that amuses you and stay with it for a bit.

Sound out the melody line to a favourite TV show or commercial,

let yourself be goofy.


Decide to be in a better mood.

The fact that you realize this is a temporary slump to get over and that you will get over it, is pretty positive. Hang in there and you'll be back on track soon.

Working with a new LH rhythm pattern usually gets me going again. Shifting from ballad tunes over to Latin, blues, C&W, boogie, gospel, etc. does it as well.

Listening to the way a tune is played on the radio, youtube, tv etc., has intrigued me since I started ... doesn't matter if it's a solo artist or a rock band, it boils down to using ones ears to figure out how 1 guy with ten fingers can play what 4 guys with forty fingers just played in a lot of cases. Fun stuff!

Cheers for the tips, I'll be sure to check them out shortly.

Some new styles/rythm would be nice it seems to me right now I'm doing the same things over and over

No wonder you're bored!

re-affirm your goals and/or begin a new challenge - that should stir things up.

I went to see someone play a piece I didn't know and expected not to like. I learned more by watching than I would have from listening to a recording. YouTube would have done in a pinch, but live was better, and a small recital space was better than a large hall.

Well, when you put it that way.... I keep trying to change things up, but I end up coming back to what I know which really bugs me.

Time to come up with something new. The little life-lesson is that its all about what you bring to the piano, not what the piano brings to you.

Digging a little deeper isn't always easy.

Enjoy.

What I do is try to have some playing commitment, any playing commitment, in my immediate future. This can be piano party, online recital, formal recital, open mic, etc.

I try to have some new piece that I want to have polished by the performance. I don't always succeed, but I still gain the benefit of the effort to pick up something new (and I usually have a backup piece or two to play if I'm not going to be confident in my new piece.)

Are you with a teachter?
I haven't been bored yet and I think it's kind of impossible with the challenges I get from my teacher.

Yes, I have a teacher and a lesson today in fact!

Perhaps I should ask for a few more challenges on the side to help keep things varied

I think this happens when what we are doing is no longer a creative process. This can especially be the case when you are learning to get the right notes and rhythms on a page and practicing just by repetition. This is not the best way to get the "right notes and rhythms" first of all, and secondly it's extremely boring and puts our creative minds to sleep.

To resolve this, here are some tips:
-Learn new practice techniques. Do a search on this forum about practicing and you will find numerous tips on creative ways to practice. You may need to start with some new pieces and come back to the ones you are on
-Ask your teacher about ways to jump-start your creative juices
-Do some improvising and composing. Ge those creative juices flowing! You have some great tools to do so in the MOX with relatively little time investment on figuring out how. Just pick a Performance you like and start playing!
-Get out of your comfort zone and learn music that interests you but may seem daunting, like a jazz standard or something.
-Play with others. If you have a friend who plays an instrument or sings, maybe have a jam session with them improvising together, or perhaps you can select a piece you can learn on your own and set up a time where you get together and try to play it.
-Go see a live performance. It doesn't have to be classical piano, it could be any music that you love. Seeing professionals that are good at what they do is really inspiring.

I wish those last 2 were easier to accomplish, firstly I know nobody who plays or sings (despite having been looking and enquiring at several places for years) and live performances, guess I could give one a go (would have to travel a bit no doubt)

Since you take lessons, ask your teacher if she has other students you could play with - either piano duets or if they play other instruments. Several of my students take lessons in other instruments and love the opportunity to work with other students on collaborative efforts.

I have asked before, but I don't recall why I never ended up finding anyone... I'll be sure to ask again.

That was my first thought, too.

Finding someone else, to try something new with, might be even better.

One nice thing about music:

. . . You don't have to take a "vow of fidelity" to the pieces you're playing,
. . . or the genre you're studying.

. Charles

Hmmm. I know how you feel. My solution is to play my guitar.

For duets there are other solutions, especially for practice.
Edition Peters sells Book + CD combinations where the CD plays one of the two (primo or secondo).
I am studying the Diabelly OP 149 which is available with CD. (I study it with my wife though).