Watching Others Practicing Piano is… Quite Fun!

Sometimes I wonder what NTU PE members practice in Music Room 2. So, I decided to watch some of them, whom I think quite interesting to be examined.

I’ve  (secretly) watched at least 8 people practicing piano in the music room (on each of their timeslots, of course). Here are some of my conclusions.

Stuff Practiced

• Some members spend all their time to (sight)read (hard) pieces.
  These people are usually good sightreaders. Some said that they don’t memorize well.
• Some other practice memorized pieces only.
  They have good memory. Most of these people sightread slowly or too shy to sightread.
• Several of them practice learnt pieces.
  This can be re-reading (not sightreading!) pieces or practicing memorized pieces.
• The rest practice pieces to be performed on concerts, exams, etc.
• Very few people practice improvisation…

Motivation to Practice

Sometimes I ask them why they practice. Sometimes they told me their opinions about playing piano or the pieces they played.

I usually perceive some of their words as their motivations to practice. The following are not necessarily true.

• Some people practice if and only if important events will take place.
  Important events = Exams, performances, concerts, etc.
• Some other practice because of being motivated after looking at others playing piano.
  Well.. this kind of motivation can be…
  “Other people play very nicely. They’re cool! I must practice hard!”
  “Hey, that piece I also can play!” “Hey, I can also play that piece!”
  “Huh? Am I the only one who could play that piece?” 
• Several members think there are interesting pieces to learn (sightread).
  This is usually because they have ever heard the piece. Err… so they don’t purely sightread… [But if the pieces are just too hard to read, that can be called sightreading!]

After getting all those conclusions, I can reflect upon myself. I usually practice learnt pieces. I am motivated after looking others playing piano and when there are interesting pieces to learn.
Sometimes I sightread. However, I usually stop in the middle because of being “frustrated” of listening to my own playing. After that, I go back to the first page which I have memorized a bit.
Hmm… one more thing… I have the worst d nervous system among others.  When I practice, I rarely have mistakes. When I perform (especially in front of unknown people), I shake very badly. This causes me to make mistakes which are not supposed to be made…

Hmm… I guess this should be made as survey form or so…