Posted by Ian Easton on October 05, 2001 at 01:32:12:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Playing "in the zone" posted by Devin on October 04, 2001 at 21:39:23:
I agree, Devin.
to some extent, one shouldn't allow oneself to produce anything less than the best you are capable of, but on the other hand, it's easy to let that train of though turn to being overly self critical; concentrating on the technical side of things and discounting the musical aspects of the performance.
In teaching young students (and beginners) I often find that they practice and play just to get the notes right. By that, I mean that they stop whenever an error occurs. Granted, that's a valid way of perfecting something, but it's also important to learn to play 'past' the wrong notes. I tell kids that after they've 'practiced' something, they should play it through non-stop regardless of errors. It can also be a valid aproach to play a piece just for fun (non-stop).
Cheers,
Ian