https://www.nih.gov/news-events/new...aks-may-help-our-brains-learn-new-skills

Spaced repetition is common in language learning for a while. You basically repeat the same words & phrases at regular intervals and eventually you get it into your head.

When learning a piece you'd practice it, rest for a little while and repeat it.

With pieces I think they're saying practice a few seconds of the piece then rest for a few seconds. While you're resting the 'task' is repeated at great speed in your brain.

So we play a measure or two for 10 seconds, wait 10 seconds, rinse and repeat? Sounds like a terrific way to learn - if it works . . .

You'd have to read the paper and make your own judgements.

The actual paper is here: https://www.cell.com/current-biolog...pii%2FS0960982219302192%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Typical academic verbiage that will put off all but other academics of like persuasion.

Regards,

Giving your brain a break is essential. When you get stuck on 1 part of the music, you'd come back with a fresh start. And you'd find that you can do what you wouldn't be able to before.

Of course you need to set goals like you want to be able to play the ending of a piece. And you keep working on it until you get it. Taking a break too early is like slaking off. Yesterday I worked on the last 8 bars of a piece. An hour should be enough and for the next hour I kept on playing until I got the ending 10x before taking a break.

Fascinating and good to know, thanks. This might be why I often intuitively pause and reflect for a little when repeating a set of phrases while working on a piece.

I've read a bit on this subject and typically an overnight break is what you are really looking for here.

How many times have you struggled with something, came back the next day, and it was a piece of cake. Those neurons are supposedly rewiring themselves when you sleep.

My understanding of it anyways....

Was practicing Chopin... then got frustrated... waited a couple hours... then it became easy.

Yes, a good night's sleep is the most important ingredient for learning but there seems to be this micro-learning aspect as well.

If only...

I was struggling with a measure, trying and failing over and over again to do it right, when my husband called me and asked me to help with something. After five minutes I returned, and played the measure correctly, several times in a row.

As if I had snapped out of an erroneous mindset.

Small and medium term breaks are definitely useful imo. It helps to have two sessions in a day, or to go out for a walk for five minutes. You want to get yourself out of a rut. Also, after a few good runs, you want to pause for a while in order to let the good vibes sink in.

Spending time on the keyboard is as important as taking time off.

My last piece contain scale runs and jumps. Otherwise the counting is straightforward. Need to derive the best fingerings and repeat it enough times to get muscle memory. Start with slow practice not to stress the fingers. After working on a section a few times, would be able to play faster.

When doing any jumps & octave stretches, thinking about it while taking a break may help. Still need to get the feel of the fingers in various positions.

I read somewhere a while back that practicing at night just before sleeping aids this process. Maybe that implies that practicing earlier in the day is not preferable. Early mornings would be the worst time.

I am certain that the brain is being rewired when we practice the piano. There is no muscle memory, muscles do not have a structure that remembers how the muscle was moved. The brain is encoding the muscle firing patterns that allows one to play a piece of music.

I don't know if evening practice is better than morning practice but I would be interested to learn if that is the case. I do both.

I dated a brain researcher for a while. She informed me that all of that math I had learned in college was gone, due to lack of use, and that the neurons had been repurposed to store other information. That was tough to hear. So much for digging up past knowledge.