Piano Students freeze in recital? ‘As if…’ game offers creative solution! [Printables]

Have you ever taught a piano student who had memorized their recital piece, but then drew a complete blank at the recital?

One reason that students experience this kind of brain freeze may be because they’ve been practicing too much in the same way. With too many carbon-copy repetitions, all played the exact same way, some musicians can default to ‘autopilot’ — a state in practicing when the fingers are running along but the brain isn’t actually thinking about any of it.

In the comfort of home or the piano studio, the student is able to play fairly well on autopilot. But in front of an audience with the lights fixed on them, their brain panics and thinks, “Wait! What’s next?”

There are creative ways to shake things up to keep the mind focused in the practice that leads up to a performance, and one of them is this.

1. Inspired by William Westney’s Perfect Wrong Note

The last time I read William Westney’s Perfect Wrong Note, I found four bookmarks in various places throughout the text. Apparently, this was my fifth attempt to read it. And this time I finished!

It’s been a while since I read it that fifth time, but the lasting impression I got from it was to leap outside the box and embrace vitality in music again, sometimes by practicing in unexpected ways.

I wanted to distill Westney’s infectious curiosity into a game that would reach my students.

When I have a printable in front of me with playful visuals that appeal to kids, it seems easier to remember what I’m hoping to do in the lesson. As the teacher, I seem to need these prompts to stay focused.

2. The ‘never be bored’ rule of practicing

Playing your piece all the way through is the slowest way to learn it. It’s also rather boring.

With endless repetitions, playing music over and over and over again, there can be some gains. Always playing each phrase with the exact same flow can help it…always flow in the exact same way. But after a while your playing might begin to feel like colouring inside the lines in a two-dimensional picture. It feels like it’s lacking a deeper dimension.

Always playing music the same way feels safe because then when you come to perform it, you think you’ll know exactly what to expect.

But this kind of practice also has its drawbacks. The main one is boredom. When your brain gets bored, you lose traction with learning. And you’ll lose the essence of vitality in your playing.

Repetitions make your brain fall asleep on the job. Not inspired to improve. Mistakes start to creep in. Instead of getting better, your playing almost invariably gets worse.

You’re not learning anymore. Even worse than not learning, you’re beginning to embed new mistakes into your playing. Who wants to learn mistakes?

There are smarter ways to practice!

The best way to get better and better is to stay focused. But staying focused is very difficult. Why? Because your brain gets bored. So, to keep your brain from getting bored, switch things up.

What your brain loves more than anything else is novelty.

3. Keeping it playful is good for focus

Pretend you’re a kid at the beach with all this sand in front of you and a big woven bag full of buckets and shovels. And there’s seaweed and there are little smooth rocks and seashells everywhere. What will you do with all these elements? You’ll play! You’ll make it up as you go along!

Why are we happiest when we open ourselves up to possibilities in a playful setting? Why does our stress level go down? Why are we so engaged? It’s because we’ve given ourselves permission to just have fun. This is the prime mental state for learning.

Are you playing a sensitive piece that has long, flowing phrases? Sometimes just play it all forte and staccato. Experiment. Do the opposite of what the music asks for. Feel the phrases in different ways.

Are you playing a passage that’s all on high notes? Sometimes play it all pianissimo on the lowest keys.

Are you playing a piece that’s in the Major mode? Sometimes switch it to a new octave in the minor mode, with a different dynamic at play.

This kind of experimentation is a healthy way of staying playful at the piano! By trying the music in different ways, you’ll unlock more of the essence of the music, itself.

Rather than boring, predictable practice, which has a negligible effect on improvement, why not open yourself up to the unexpected adventure of discovery that is only made possible by throwing convention out the window every once in a while and just playing around with the piece in front of you?

You’ll wake your brain back up and the next practicing you’ll do, even if it includes repetitions (which are necessary, by the way), will count.

4. The ‘As if’ game and printable

The ‘As if’ game pokes a little fun at tweens and teens and how they roll their eyes and sarcastically say, “As if,” when they want to express disbelief. That disbelief suits this game, which seems to thumb its nose at the conventions of composed pieces…because with this game your students will play their music in unbelievable ways!

In the context of this piano game, ‘As if’ encourages piano students to imitate scenes in sounds.

Each game card has an image and a prompt, like “Play ‘as if’ you’re a prancing pony,” or “Play ‘as if’ you’re a leapin’ lemur.”

When one of my beginners got the card about bells, she knew just what to do! She added pedal to her piece. The next card got her to play slow and low. Then the next, high on the piano, with bounce and quickly. All with the same piece of music!

When another student got the card about popping balloons, they played each key with a big accent.

The aim is to reframe the music in different and creative ways. Why take a piece that is clearly written by the composer to be soft and luscious and play it like popcorn? Or why take a piece that is written to be bold and play it in a sneaky, spooky way?

According to William Westney, this kind of exploration challenges the pianist to jump outside the normal parameters of music and experience it in new and exciting ways. Being bored in practice has several consequences when it comes to performing.

First, it can produce boring, predictable performances.

And, second, in the case of ‘autopilot practicing’, predictable practice can also trigger brain freezes in performance, when a student goes blank and can’t remember music that they can normally play memorized.

On the other hand, when phrases, sections and pieces of music are explored with exciting or unexpected new interpretations, creativity turns on the mind.

• No more getting bored and practicing on autopilot (which can have disastrous results in performance).

• ‘As if’ practice catches the mind’s attention and resets the attention so that meaningful practicing can occur.

• New nuances can be discovered. The silly exploration of ‘As if’ practice can help the pianist feel music in a new way that adds vitality. Then, when the pianist goes back to the composer’s intended sounds, new shades of interpretation are layered on.

5. Ways I’ve used ‘As if’

‘As if’ can be used in several different ways.

• The first time we try it, it’s usually with scales or exercises, to make them more fun. Instead of plodding through, we play them with a story. Here’s where we use the printable cards!

• In the lesson with repertoire. We use the cards to explore pieces in new ways!

• I ask my students to create their own ‘As if’ scenes at home while they prepare to perform, to keep their practicing fresh.

Now it’s time for you to give it a try!

Get your ‘As if’ printable here!

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Video of the Week

Serendipity in Blue (Intermediate, Level 4). A serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity in Blue weaves in and out of different keys and modes, making each phrase feel like a new discovery. It glides seamlessly between D Major and several related modes: D Phrygian, D Locrian, B-flat major and G Harmonic Minor. As the subtle changes happen, there’s a bluesy feel to the music, so shape carefully. Available as the studio-licensed Serendipity in Blue eSheet!