One little pastime I have when I’m not playing or practising piano is reading, and this is perhaps true of many people.
And speaking from the perspective of a teacher / blog writer, it’s always nice to read a book that you can potentially apply to the mindset to better teach your subject. It may even help you yourself to learn!
Recently I finished a book that did just that.
Was it a book that delved into piano - or even just music - as an art form, or perhaps explored the life of the pedagogue? Maybe an inspirational historical account of how music helped people overcome a difficult period in times gone by?
No. No. And no.
It may surprise you that the book I recently finished was…
‘Jurassic Park’.
Yes - you did in fact read that correctly!
A book about genetically engineering dinosaurs with the intention of showing them off to the public in a big theme park and it all going horribly wrong!
Do you see the connection yet between the two things - piano and dinosaurs?
No!
It actually took me a while to make the connection, but actually the novel delves into something that I was relatively unfamiliar with (being self admittedly ‘artistically’ minded, less ‘academically’) : CHAOS THEORY!
What is Chaos Theory?
In a nutshell, Chaos Theory deals with the sheer vulnerability and delicacy of any system - no matter how well designed - and its likelihood of falling apart in drastic ways as a result of one or more extremely small factor(s).
One quote from the book reads:
“The idea of a perfect system is a fantasy. In reality, even the most well-designed systems will eventually break down due to unforeseen circumstances”.
Obviously in the book this is referring to carefully planned and monitored genetic engineering along with carefully controlled and monitored safety protocols in order to maintain the desired output: healthy, live dinosaurs in a controlled and safe environment.
But, I hear you cry, what about music? Why on earth is this relevant?
Let’s explore!
Chaos Theory Whilst Playing Piano!
Let’s take what we have just read about Chaos Theory and reapply it to our practice and performance:
“The idea of a perfect piano performance is fantasy. In reality, even the most well practiced / rehearsed pieces will eventually break down due to unconsidered circumstances”.
Obviously this isn’t to say that you won’t be playing perfect performances some of the time, but for years I’ve been sat here at the piano racking my brains as to why I can play it perfectly one day and then come to it later the next day only for it to fall apart before my very eyes.
To further quote from the source novel:
“Chaos Theory says that even the tiniest change can have massive consequences. Like a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a hurricane in Texas”.
Obviously a butterfly in your back garden will (probably!) not cause a dud note or a meltdown during your playing, but the point is that we focus on one thing and one thing alone when we learn a piece of music and that is:
Can I play it?
And if we happen to be able to play it then we give ourselves a pat on the back and very conclusively answer:
“Yes!”
However we need to be asking a slightly bigger question:
Why can I play it now?
And now we consider everything that goes towards making your performance work. We’ll take the knowledge and the general skill as written, but why is it that you may return to it in a week or even in an hour and play it not half as well?
Let’s start with the BIG THINGS!
The Big Things!
Your Instrument
It’s so obvious to say, but if you have a piano of your own then you will probably play your piano better than you play anyone else’s piano in the world! If you have a keyboard, you’ll probably be more comfortable playing keyboards than piano (and vice versa). And this isn’t even just a dynamic thing. Having a pattern engraved on a piano may distract you on an older piano if your piano is a more modern type. Even a different colour can have a big effect! This is why I always encourage pupils to try playing as many different pianos as possible, and if you are taking lessons then try and minimise home visits and make the effort to go to your teacher’s house / studio (even if only once in a while) to get a new feel.
Your Seat
This one all boils down to comfort, of course. And this is partly to do with the type of seat and its padding etc., but also to do with height. Fortunately, piano stools are infinitely more portable than the piano itself so if you were to consider playing on a different one you could take a stool if you thought for whatever reason they wouldn’t have one. However, make sure you know exactly the height you need to readjust to as this all plays a part.
Your Environment
Simply put, if you play piano in your living or dining room then it’s a familiar surrounding and that will fill you with a sense of comfort. Not to mention that you will also get used to things around the room. If you have a picture on the wall to your left or in front of you as you play, we can sometimes get lost in the picture whilst doing so, and having that lack of reference point can be a surprisingly difficult situation to content with. So that is to say, if you were to go and play on someone else’s piano, you have three things different to contend with: the piano itself, the stool (most likely) and the room. But there’s one more big thing:
Your Obligation / Lack of
If you are playing at home then the chances are you are either practicing - which is perhaps a little tedious but routine - or you’re doing so for pleasure. It’s like a win win. If you’re playing literally anywhere else then you will likely be doing so not just with those first three points thrown in to cause a major change, but doing so with reason. It will almost certainly be more a performance, even if it’s just you with a friend who said “hey - play us a song on my new piano!”. Now, there’s an added complexity - more of a mental complexity - to your playing as you need to perform!
And there was your refresher course in some very big differences that you may come across whilst playing and practising piano.
However, this talk about Chaos Theory got me thinking about why I can play exactly the same thing in exactly the same environment. On a Monday morning, wake up and play a simple piece of music great! On a Tuesday morning, wake up and play the same piece dreadfully.
Why?
That, fellow Chaoticians, is where we must explore the Little Things…
The Little Things!
Time of Day
Typically I will practice in a morning, and one thing that is interesting is that I’ve noticed that I’m slightly more of a morning person when it comes to playing and practising. Therefore, my best output is in the morning! So there’s a little clue as to why it might be different if I play the same piece later on in the day…but wait! There’s more…
Sleep
This, of course, ties into the time of day in as much as yes I may be generally better in a morning, but if I’ve not slept as much then I’ll not play as well. As well as my hands being physically more lethargic, I’m not going to have the same mental stamina to get through a piece. Sounds obvious? Wait, however…there’s even more!
Repertoire
What have I just played? If I had eight hours sleep on a Sunday and a Monday night, got up at the same time, did everything the same and then played the same piece of music at the same piece of time but both times following on from a different warm up then the results might be drastic. If I’m doing something that is a slightly more ‘mindless’ warm up (i.e. those that are well engrained into muscle memory e.g. scales) then I might continue playing on from those much better than if I move onto a brand new warm up exercise the following day and engage my brain for 10 minutes trying to work on some new finger positioning for a new Hanon technique. That will take more of a mental strain and because it’s not yet muscle memory, it will get my fingers a little more strained than the previous day’s warm up.
Seating Position
This isn’t related to height now, but is to do with where you sit across the keyboard. Theoretically you should always begin in front of Middle C, but how close are you to that each separate time? Remember our tiny variation discussion from earlier? If you sit just a couple of centimetres to your left compared to last time you played a piece, your right hand and arm will have to compensate that distance with a touch more a stretch and your left arm will have to compress slightly. You won’t feel a massive difference in comfort, but these are the little things that may have an effect.
And that just takes us onto the butterflies! These are the things that seem completely unrelated because they are completely separate from your efforts when at the piano, but are things you should always bear in mind…
The Butterflies
Temperature
Obviously a highly advanced, virtuosic concert / competition pianist may constantly be adjusting the temperature to get an all round skill when it comes to playing come all climes, but if you’re learning a piece of music then just take note of what temperature it is that works well for you. Take note also of when it doesn’t work well and try to keep yourself within the lows and highs of your limit.
Diet
This isn’t a plea for healthy eating although I suppose I should legally say I don’t recommend you eat an unhealthy diet (and that’s not for piano, that’s generally!) but consider what - if anything - you have eaten that day when you do a good vs. a bad performance. In addition, take into account how much you ate, how full you were when you finished and how long has passed since you did finish. In such a way as I don’t have to imply you need to change your diet, try to work your piano practice sessions around your food habits as best as possible - and this may be entirely personal, so there’s no right or wrong way here!
Work and Leisure (including Exercise)
Aside from the mental strain of coming home from work and forcing yourself to practice (never a good idea!), work can have its own issues as can a fair amount of other hobbies such as cooking, DIY, video games, the gym etc.; they take their toll physically.
Light hobbies like reading (the very hobby that triggered this blog post, in fact) won’t fall into this as such, but things that involve lots of typing, writing or other handy work - especially if there’s heaviness involved - will have varying degrees of impact when it comes to playing. Take note of how your hands feel and how comfortable your posture is when sitting at the piano and try to identify if there is anything you could relate it to that you have done. Take note as to how soon after a task you start and stop aching and how severely vs. what you have just done. If you do play anything on piano, can you play things at the speed you’d like or does everything lag? Similarly to the whole discussion on diet, these are things that will affect different people in different ways, so try to make it work for you.
In Conclusion
So, with my new mindset of ‘Musical Chaotician’ well and truly defined (not really - but it sounds good!), I have reached the conclusion that there is even more at play against you than even I had accounted for. Obviously, you will never recreate every single scenario like for like, but keeping consistency and identifying the weak points is a potentially great place to start in helping you be consistent with your playing and practice!
No doubt I’ve missed several factors that can all play into your performance going awry - big and small - so feel free to comment your own additions down below!
Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Congleton, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.
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