Focus

[derbex]

is something I have a problem with, in two different ways. Firstly when practicing the first run is often the best after that I can think too hard about what I am doing and fluff a passage. Secondly just drifting off and thinking about something else, often related but not that related -such as 'I could play this at a session' or 'maybe a few double stops would help this along'. Third out of two id just getting distracted, sometimes forgivably, such as last weekend when two girls in posh frocks and fascinators started dancing to our playing at a wedding, and sometimes not so, just by anything, birds flying by, a spider on the wall whatever.

Does anyone have any tips for gaining more focus?

[Rob Beck]

I feel your pain derbex, I have the same problem myself!

I do wonder if the answer is to get to the point where you can get distracted without it adversely affecting your playing. I find that the problem is more apparent when I realise that I am distracted, that's when I mess up, rather than when my mind is actually wandering. It's a bit like touch-typing for me, I can do it until I realise that is what I am doing, then it all goes wrong!

Posh frocks and fascinators - a lethal combination that would scupper the best of us! Don't worry about that one

[Mark Wilson]

There's a lot of interesting 'how to' books on the art of practicing and playing music. The one I've read most suggests only 'practicing' while you are in the moment. As soon as your mind drifts set it down for a bit.

Also I cant practice a tune more than a couple times without noticing my mind on to other things. If I need reps on it I'll play it once every 10 minutes or play the hard bits in random order.

Effortless-Mastery-Liberating-Master-Musician

The Practice of Practice-Boost-Your-Music-Skills

[Frankdolin]

For me too much focus can sometimes make learning harder. When I get hung up on a tough learn the best thing for me is to get away from it for a couple of days, clearing my head, and when I come back to it be able to "get it". In my experience thinking and playing don't mix. If you've got to think hard about what you playing your more likely to have a problem. My biggest problem is trying not to think about "everything", while I'm playing...

[Tobin]

Distraction is an issue for any musician, I'd wager. Especially when playing out in front of people. There's a certain skill involved in looking at the audience without looking at the audience, if you know what I mean. You want to see the crowd, but not see the individual people. That causes your mind to focus on something other than what you're there to do. It's the same thing in a jam setting; you kind of have to pay attention to the cues and nods that go on, but if you try to pay attention to every individual, you lose focus on your own playing.

Playing an instrument does require some focus, but the curse of it is that too much focus is a recipe for fatigue or mistakes. We all have to learn to go on "autopilot" to some degree, and let our practice kick in. But going on autopilot doesn't mean one's mind should wander. I try to just think ahead in the music I'm playing (like perhaps one or two measures ahead of what I'm playing at the moment). It keeps me focused on the music without being too intensely locked into every minor thing.

[derbex]

Come to think of it 'Posh Frocks and Fascinators' would be a good name for a girl band -from Billericay

[JeffD]

Does anyone have any tips for gaining more focus?

When you find you are too focused on consciously moving muscles and making the sound, concentrate more on the feelings - what does it feel like to be playing this, how do I feel, happy, frustrated, entertained, angry, whatever. You are not day dreaming, just changing focus to another important part of the equation.

[Simon DS]

I find that most of the time my head can lose focus but my fingers don't go wrong. The problem for me arises when my fingers play a four note chunk that is a little more exotic than the rest. If I've lost focus (again) at that moment and if I have recently played that exotic chunk in another tune then the muscle memory can play the next chunk from that other tune. Micro-epilepsy someone once told me! I've been learning how to jump back in with the next chunk by starting tunes in the middle. A bit like learning the positions of each 3rd or 5th for example, so you can jump octaves in a melody.

[jshane]

......There's a certain skill involved in looking at the audience without looking at the audience, if you know what I mean......

Totally agree. It is the same for public speaking. Its a weird mental #### that lets you perceive without paying specific attention.

[farmerjones]

My problem these days, is when it's really cooking. Everything's really going well, i'll get caught listening. Uhoh. Then my bit must start half a bar in to be in time. This is when we learn humility, and to never take one's self too seriously.

IOW - Focus? Meh - Just do it more and again, and maybe next time you'll be there. Clams survive on attention. If you as good as ignore them, they seem to go away.

But doesn't it seem like everyone's preparedness level is a bit unique? Some find it OK to walk on the wire, while other's comfort zone is to prepare and rehearse, and prepare and rehearse, and. . . . for the love-of-mike get on with it. But that's subjective. I've not found anything wrong with over preparedness. And I mean, is it not better to play with others that are overly prepared, as well?

[mandocrucian]

It really is SO SIMPLE, but students just say "yeah, yeah, yeah" and ignore it and go back to the same old stuff they've been doing.

Just get used to VOCALIZING/SINGING what you play. You think it's all about your fingers - it's NOT, it's about your ear.

At first, the instrument may tell you what pitch you are supposed to "sing" (i.e. hum, whistle, whatever). Then it becomes are simultaneous thing, moving on to your "ear" a micro-second ahead and your fingers responding to what you have sung/thought. And unless you fuse the two circuits - ear, and physical hand actions - into one, your playing will never be what it could be.

Just watch any jazz guitarist or keyboard player - chances are they are mouthing what they are playing, if not actually grunting out some sounds. (Applies to the superior rock/folk/blues players as well) The vocalizing is them AMPLIFYING their thoughts, keeping the melodic ideas loud enough in their brain to keep it from getting drowned out by everything else going on around them.

It's the same thing with deep breathing/meditation exercises - you concentrate on the breath and the count of inhalation, hold and exhalation, because it provides a FOCUS point to keep all the extraneous thoughts and babbling at bay. You can block out the vocal content of the office/home bore/harpy by just singing a song/tune in your head. (I fing Beldar Conehead's version of "Tainted Love" while he gnarfels the garthok to be extremely effective in reducing yakking into background noise (blah blah blah Ginger, blah blah blah)



If you want to add your theory reinforcement into the EAR>HAND wiring, you can sing the arpeggio/scale with either note names, sol-feg syllables. Or you can sing out the fret numbers. And if your plectrum hand needs to stay on track of the proper pick direction, sing those (Down up down up Down Down) or the metric count ( 1 & 2 & 3 4).

But don't expect INSTANT GRATIFICATION and things to magickally transform in 15 minutes. ("This stuff ain't working.....it's just dumb...")

Read my commando interview (linked below), which is probably 10 years old or more. I've been saying this stuff consistently for years.

Niles H

[Simon DS]

Also here's an interesting link to a page on multiple intelligence, it shows how some people can seen the fretboard in their head clear as day, while some can remember all the tunes their friends like and others have no problem with learning all the individual notes as letters as classical or jazz players do- amazing, how I wish i could do this. And it's great to see how different we are. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory..._intelligences

[Randi Gormley]

I've found that closing my eyes and listening helps me to focus when my mind wanders, fwiw. that way i'm not concentrating on what my fingers or the audience or whatever is doing. ymmv

we have a guitarist who is delving into ITM from a classical background (she's also a singer) and she sings to herself every time she gets lost. so there's that. eventually, she won't be constantly lost, so some of that will go away. I will say that I find that distracting if i'm sitting near her!

[stevedenver]

I thought about this overnight!

I agree about ear. But there are times i struggle to hear something clever, fitting.

But, i find, there are times i want to experiment on the fly. Its fun.

Otoh, many times, i am dutiful, keeping straight, strong time with light chop, straight melodic break, double stops, trem. More a reliable sidecar.

It is a mindset. Listen, respond, play, provide energy, be engaged.

Practice helps with consistency, and execution.


Many bands have set in stone arrangements and breaks, choreographed, proven.
This provides a good performance. And....those same bands improvise, when audience, muse, and stars align.

I too wish i was consistenly in the moment. Sleep, work, hectic schedule, traffic, mood all effect me. I find sometimes it takes an hour to dial in, singing, groove, sync really well with the bands i play with, even after years or months of playing.

It is a frustration.

[mandocrucian]

FOCUS DRILL

1. Select a tune you can already play well.
2. Ask your wife, kid, etc. to try to make you screw up, short of physical contact. (Jokes, mooning, silly walks, being nagged, tantrums, etc.)
3. Try playing the tune while they do this. see how long you last before you mess up.
4. Repeat, but this time "sing" the tune while you play it. How much longer can you keep going now?

5. Try this again with a more complex tune(s)s that is(are) not so ingrained.

HAVE YOU BEEN CONVINCED?

[bratsche]

HAVE YOU BEEN CONVINCED?

No. This will never convince a person with a brain block like mine, who is 100% incapable of singing, speaking, or uttering any kind of coherent vocalization - even la-la-la-ing or "synchronized grunting" - while playing an instrument, without messing up just about as soon as my mouth has opened. Luckily, though, I've found other good ways of maintaining and improving my focus. But thanks for asking.

Edit: I should be constructive here, too, and mention something that I find helpful. Thinking and anticipating a measure or so ahead of where I am in something I'm playing helps me maintain my focus. Much as it's well-known to be a good sight-reading practice to stay visually and mentally ahead of one's playing like that, I've learned that it also works for me when playing something I know from memory.

bratsche

...and I had to look up "fascinators" .... no idea what that meant. And boy, I was wrong by 180 degrees (I guessed it was shoes. LOL)

[stevedenver]

No. This will never convince a person with a brain block like mine, who is 100% incapable of singing, speaking, or uttering any kind of coherent vocalization - even la-la-la-ing or "synchronized grunting" - while playing an instrument, without messing up just about as soon as my mouth has opened. Luckily, though, I've found other good ways of maintaining and improving my focus. But thanks for asking.

Edit: I should be constructive here, too, and mention something that I find helpful. Thinking and anticipating a measure or so ahead of where I am in something I'm playing helps me maintain my focus. Much as it's well-known to be a good sight-reading practice to stay visually and mentally ahead of one's playing like that, I've learned that it also works for me when playing something I know from memory.

bratsche

...and I had to look up "fascinators" .... no idea what that meant. And boy, I was wrong by 180 degrees (I guessed it was shoes. LOL)

Singing and playing is a skill.
There is so much more going on, instrument, voice, lyrics, and listening....like driving and texting but far less dangerous.




I well recall when i started guitar, that keeping rhythm with syncopated, backbeat, pick up notes, etc took practice.

Imho, it is indeed, surviving " distraction", or, more accurately, being able to hear the steady rhythm, keep my hands going, and, sing another rhythm or timing. For me, its coordination of sorts.

It takes relentless dogged practice, is frustrating, and can be done.
But, the key, is to keep at it, despite failing.

For me, the first step was to automate the rhythm hand, singinging on the beat, and then, when mastered, adding freer vocal phrasing.

[Pete Martin]

As always, Niles makes very good points!!!

One thing that really helped me. After going about 3 years without being able to play due to overuse injuries, my performing arts doctor suggested I practice no more that 5 minutes at a time without taking a break of at least a couple minutes. I protested, saying I practiced several hours a day and often went a couple hours with no break. I said I would get anything accomplished if I did it her way.

She told me to think about what I wanted to accomplish in the next 5 minutes before I picked it up again.

I found following her suggestion, I got a LOT more accomplished in WAY less time. It made me think about what I wanted and was getting done in a verydifferent way. I also learned there is a BIG difference between PRACTICE and PLAYING. I now practice this way all the time. When I play, I go longer, but am always careful not to overdo anything and aggrivate tendinitous.

[derbex]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I tried humming along and everything went to pot as I started thinking about the humming as well as the playing however perhaps practice will make perfect, the fact that for me tunes stick better if if learn them by ear suggests that there may be something in this.

I think reading one bar ahead would also help, although I am starting to play more complicated pieces in positions up the neck that I am not really used to, which means that I look at the instrument and then lose my place on th page.

Pete's advice accords with some others I have seen, and my own experience, in that the first run through of a tune is often the best and it would perhaps be best to take a quick breather and think about what I want from the next go round.

[gtani7]

some players write elaborate practice/lesson plans (for themselves or students), or keep a detailed journal/diary/log of everything music related, or both. A sample practice plan: http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2011/10...onal-practice/

But probably you're not aiming to be a pro player and you don't have a lot of time. So aiming for 3 good practice sessions a week is good, and always warmup, every day. You can make the last part of warmup challenging, picking wise or ear training/theory wise or other ways. For some also, it helps to analyze your difficulties or what doesn't flow that well in your tunes and work on those points.

[bratsche]

Singing and playing is a skill.
There is so much more going on, instrument, voice, lyrics, and listening....like driving and texting but far less dangerous.

Not only is "singing and playing" a skill, but (just) singing is a difficult one, too, for some of us! I hate nothing more than having no instrument in my hand, and having someone ask me, "how does such-and-such a tune go?" Left with nothing but my voice to go by, I often have trouble conveying the tune in a recognizable manner, whereas if I played a few bars of it, it would be much easier (to me) and more recognizable (to the other person)... Singing requires much more conscious effort than playing does, at least for me, and comes out sounding worse. Go figure.

As for texting and driving, I doubt I could even do that. Mainly since I've only texted about 20 times, ever. LOL

bratsche

[Korwen]

While not a mandolin player yet (still shopping) I do play other instruments that require me to perform in front of a crowd, and have wrestled with distraction my entire music playing career.

I use a similar technique to Mandocrucian - I can't sing the song because my primary instrument is mouth-blown, but to keep myself from getting distracted I keep the tune in my head, I kind of "play along" with it, thinking about how it goes in the moment.

My most common distraction is when I'm worried about the next part coming up, I question where my fingers go, what note the next part starts on, or how to play the run coming up and that's when I screw up.

The second most common is when I'm congratulating myself on a good job, I'll play a part really well and think to myself "Hey that was pretty darn good" and then I almost inevitably fluff a couple notes.

It's something I'll probably have to keep working on as long as I'm playing music (which will likely be as long as I'm physically able to) but each time I practice I work on it, and I think it's getting better.

The real tough part for me now is hearing myself and the other people I'm playing with so I can hear what they're doing and give kudos/critiques as necessary. Ever since I've had to do this I've had more and more respect for my teachers past, present, and future.

[Kevin Stueve]

Posh frocks and fascinators - a lethal combination that would scupper the best of us! Don't worry about that one

Two countries separated by a common language -- someone translate this to 'murican for me

[billkilpatrick]

Stay young - that's my tip. Don't know how you're going to do it but at 70 and counting, my mind is all over the place ...

[billkilpatrick]

Two countries separated by a common language -- someone translate this to 'murican for me

"POSH" - acronym for "Port Out - Starboard Home" - Steamship passengers who could afford the more expensive, shaded and cooler cabins when sailing to India or Australia and back.

Frocks - diaphanous, loose fitting summer dresses.

Fascinators - Hats that ain't hats …