Let’s Think About Mistakes

You might think that the first thing we’re going to talk about today is how to always avoid making mistakes and to be as perfect as you can; but I’m not; at least not at first.

First, we need to establish a realistic viewpoint of mistakes and how they have their own wonderful lessons to teach us!

Think of this as a “myth-busters” list about mistakes.

1. We think that we can’t make any mistakes but the truth is…we have to expect them. At least in the beginning and for quite a while.
2. We are awful players because we keep making mistakes or make the same mistakes over and over again…yet the truth is that every single pianist makes mistakes daily when they first start out. What it really means, is that you are learning.
3. Once we correct a mistake we won’t ever make it again…and while this is true for more advanced players, not so true for beginners. Read on to find out why!

So many times I see and hear students make a mistake – stop playing – apologize – and then start over again. J

• We approach our playing with the basic attitude that says that we have to be “good”, we can’t mess up, and if we do we owe some type of apology for it and then we make ourselves go all the way back to the beginning…just to start the same cycle over again.

Before we address these issues at our pianos, let’s deal with them in our thinking first.

As you read the 3 examples of how our views about mistakes could be defeating us instead of teaching us – try to identifying any of them that you have in your own inner dialogue before you start playing.

Allow yourself to make mistakes and in fact expect to. You can’t help it when you’re first starting out. That’s why you are learning. If you expect to make mistakes while you are learning, you won’t end up judging yourself so harshly when you do make them. Mistakes don’t mean that you’re a horrible player. If you are a beginner…you have to allow yourself a long time to learn everything necessary to be able to play well. This isn’t something that you will learn in just a week, or a month, or even a year. It’s a journey not a marathon. You will repeat some mistakes even after you’ve practiced on them. Sometimes there are just certain challenges that take longer than others to master. Be patient and always keep at it instead of giving up or feeling like your practicing isn’t accomplishing your goals.

Mistakes show us that we are learning and growing. They show us specifically what we need to work on and challenge us to sometimes find new ways of doing something that works when the first way didn’t work. We have to learn to be more objective and not view mistakes as personal commentaries on our self-worth and /or ability to become the type of pianist we want to be. If we learn to embrace mistakes instead of cringing from them – we’ll move forward towards our goal faster and easier.

Check in on your thoughts and adjust what you need to before you start practicing. Once you do that, you will be prepared to tackle any mistakes that you encounter.

Many beginning pianists actually encounter the exact same types of mistakes. Consider them a “part of the package” so to say.

Remember when I said to expect mistakes? What I give you in this video lesson is the best way to deal with these common mistakes and how you can even avoid them altogether! The most common mistakes that beginners make are:

1. Always starting from the beginning. If you always start at the beginning, you’re learning the first part well because you play it the most, but the middle section (s) will not sound as good simply because you aren’t playing them enough.
2. Playing a piece or exercise too fast. Trying to play a piece too fast causes all kinds of issues because not only do students miss notes and rhythms, they often don’t hear other mistakes that are being made – meaning that they can’t be corrected if they aren’t noticed.
3. Not using the correct fingers/fingerings. This will cause you to stumble in your notes especially when trying to play fast and up and down the keyboard. Make sure to write in any fingerings that you need to so that you’ll learn the correct ones from the beginning.
4. Trying to play a piece that is too advanced. This is one of those times that if you notice that you are making too many mistakes consistently, you might be trying to play a piece that’s too hard for you at your current level. Make sure you know how to do everything that the piece requires or else you have access to resources that can help you learn what you need to be able to play the piece.
5. Avoiding learning your music theory. You just can’t do this because it will cause unnecessary mistakes. Music Theory involves your notes, rhythms, key signatures, time signatures and other things that are vital to reading and playing music. As you learn music theory you will be able to look at a piece before you even start to play it and be able to know what key it’s in, identify the rhythms, chords, and articulations noted in the music. This will make it a lot easier to play the piece correctly sooner.

This video goes over all of these points at our piano keyboards so you can see real life examples of each one and hear further discussion on how we can overcome these common mistakes in our own piano playing. 

If you like my tips and lessons, you will love the courses over on my website. Whether you are a beginner looking to get a solid foundation to build on or you are looking to take you existing skills to that next level, the online music courses on my website - https://www.pianolessonsontheweb.com will help you do just that.