Just had lesson #3 from Robert Cowie yesterday. The lesson hit me as particularly profound. We did a lot of the same types of exercises that we had done before, playing clumps of notes together, transposing up a half step, outlining phrases. But this week the general theme of the lesson was playing with your ear, not your mind.
I suppose a lot of my attitude towards the piano comes from being raised with a wind instrument. Especially with a trombone, you spend most of your mental energy listening to what you're playing in relationship with everyone else. So much so, that I found it extremely frustrating to play the trombone. (Plus, I never got the hang of the "PPHHHTT" thing of playing a brass instrument.) Saxophone was a bit easier, but still, you could bend notes with your mouth, so you had to be aware of what you were playing in relation to everyone else to stay in tune. With a piano, there's no question as to whether you're in tune or not. And if you are out of tune, you can't fix it as you play.
I always thought that I had to "calculate" where my fingers were supposed to go. Many of the exercises that we did focused on playing with your ear rather than with your mind. THe big shift in my head would come would I stop trying to calculate wher my fingers were supposed to go on what beat and just play with my ears - trust that my musical brain was going to put the fingers where they were suppsoed to go and if they didn't, let themselves correct. It's a very bizarre experience because I feel as if I'm letting a part of my head do the work that I'm not consciously aware of.
The other big lesson that he gave is that the goal is to play the whole piece free and easy. Therefore, I have to learn the piece free and easy. I can't practice the piece tense, frustrated, and calculating and expect that at some later point I'll be able to drop the tension, frustration and calculation. So the process is to break the learning of the piece into segments that always feel free and easy. To always practice in the mannerin which I want to be able to play it someday.
Ah-hah. A lot to process. It's been just over 24 hours since the lessons and there's been a dramatic improvment in my playing and my enjoyment of my playing. THe Bach minuet that has been haunting me is like a whole new piece. I t completely opened up to me this afternoon.