Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Practise with Goals

I have seen Ehnes for a long time. Brings back good memories. Thanks, Tubbie!

The only thing is that in Ehnes' lecture I didn't hear much about practising with goals. Tubbie, what did you get out of it in the main?

The thing he said that rang a bell to me was "I am going to practise for a certain amount of time" as opposed to "I am going to accomplish this at the end of this practise session."

That would then mean "Practice without Goals".

That's what that indian quote of TheHappyPianoTeacher says.

I think what I was hearing is that Ehnes has reached a new stage in his life where he is definitely no longer in the position of 100% student (like the music majors he was addressing), but is in the middle of "life". He is a new father of a baby girl and having time to spend with her, his family, and earning a living are now his priorities - so where does practising come in. Unlike his student days, where practising was his job, he now comes in at the end of the day exhausted, wanting to spend time with his family, and still has to practise and prepare for his upcoming performances.

The thing I got out of this personally is that he is now in the shoes of many of us, who are trying to learn and grow (therefore need to practice) but have all these other things draining us of our time and energy. I'm thinking for this:

he is addressing a very primary thing - at least starting that practice session, when exhaustion and the family are pulling at him - so that it will get done. For any of us with the same kinds of conflicts, this is one component, and I'm glad to borrow it as needed.

Most people here are probably not familiar with Ehnes. He has had a site for ages where he teaches the elements of violin playing in a well planned, structured, and thorough manner. His actual practising for himself would be goal oriented and efficient as second nature by now. Otherwise it would be as Albunea said. I'm surmising the goals. (In the past, as a violin student, I have learned a lot from Ehnes' site).

I never really have any idea how long it will take to accomplish anything. My goal for practice is to "work on this." Maybe I'll get it or maybe I will need to work on it more another time.

I prefer goal-orientation along with "work on this goal until it gels and don't look, at the clock", but that isn't always practical. I freelance, work comes unexpectedly, unpredictably. Sometimes I'll have 15 hour days (nights). On those occasions I may switch to a time-orientation - 15 minute "breaks" for piano where I'm also doing the kind of task that fits into such a break. It might be studying two measures of music of a new piece or practising some particular physical motion of technique. For the two measures - 3 such breaks over four days can add up to 24 measures of music. Then when I have normal time again, this can be polished.