Trouble sleeping while learning a new piece..

[Wrighty]

I wanted to ask if any of you have experienced this?

I am working on a new piece at the moment and putting in some hours. The last few days have been maybe 3-4h playing along with a lot of YouTube referencing and playing the chosen video at half speed repeatedly while trying to polish an area in the piece.

I am guilty also of re-watching/listening to the piece an hour or so before sleep..

Then, the night becomes a non-stop replay - my mind playing the piece over and over for what seems an eternity during the night while I am trying to sleep.

I can’t turn it off - it drives me nuts!

[RodB]

I have experienced almost the reverse situation so no help really. I find a new piece of music plays continually in my head thro the day.

I actually find it easier to sleep if I focus on a single project, at least where there is no worries. I find doing this with a section of a piece of music i am learning while visualising the fingering and alternatives can help the learning process as well as leave the rest of the music on mute!

Have you tried finishing your last practice session with playing something completely different or listening to something else entirely?

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Wrighty

I wanted to ask if any of you have experienced this?

I am working on a new piece at the moment and putting in some hours. The last few days have been maybe 3-4h playing along with a lot of YouTube referencing and playing the chosen video at half speed repeatedly while trying to polish an area in the piece.

I am guilty also of re-watching/listening to the piece an hour or so before sleep..

Then, the night becomes a non-stop replay - my mind playing the piece over and over for what seems an eternity during the night while I am trying to sleep.

I can’t turn it off - it drives me nuts!

Hi Wrighty, Ol' Andy here, were I being obsessed about something (pleasant) then dwelling on it as I hit the sheets is probably the best way for me to get to sleep.

Let it just flow over you.

[Robin, Wales]

It's difficult to explain this briefly but I'll have a go; so there will be some broad generalizations in what I write.

Learning involves, among many other things, changing our beliefs. I.E. what you believed about the piece/your playing before you started was different to your belief about the piece/your playing now. Some of those pre-beliefs and subsequent changes will not be obvious to you. If you are someone who has a strong belief system running through your core and are used to standing on 'solid ground' then this forced belief change will cause some underlying cognitive dissonance.

It is this 'anxiety' that's possibly keeping you awake at present. It will pass, and your non-conscious will accept that the way you saw the world yesterday is now different to the way you see the world today. This cognitive dissonance is very common as, in most of us, it takes an overwhelming amount of contrary information for us to really change our underlying beliefs; which is one reason why learning something new can be such a trauma LOL!!! But it is also why we have those wonderful 'lightbulb' moments in learning, which is when our belief about something clicks to a new setting.

A good mantra can be to tell ourselves that "We don't know what we don't know" when facing a learning environment. And this is what folks mean by saying to approach something with an open mind. It is very difficult to do this as we all carry a lot of baggage, both useful and not useful, from previous experience into a new situation.

Your sleeplessness may be a little anxiety created by this cognitive dissonance. As I said, it will pass when you either have the piece under your belt (you've had your 'lightbulb' moment - although this can also be a slow burn) or your have set it aside in the 'return to later' box.

[Wrighty]

Originally Posted by RodB

I have experienced almost the reverse situation so no help really. I find a new piece of music plays continually in my head thro the day.

I actually find it easier to sleep if I focus on a single project, at least where there is no worries. I find doing this with a section of a piece of music i am learning while visualising the fingering and alternatives can help the learning process as well as leave the rest of the music on mute!

Have you tried finishing your last practice session with playing something completely different or listening to something else entirely?

Lucky you ;-)

I will try to switch it off earlier.

[Wrighty]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi Wrighty, Ol' Andy here, were I being obsessed about something (pleasant) then dwelling on it as I hit the sheets is probably the best way for me to get to sleep.



Let it just flow over you.

I think that whilst I enjoyed the practice and the piece, that it also caused me a lot of mental struggle to get it clear in my head, which may have contributed.

Hope you’re well?

[Wrighty]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

It's difficult to explain this briefly but I'll have a go; so there will be some broad generalizations in what I write.



Learning involves, among many other things, changing our beliefs. I.E. what you believed about the piece/your playing before you started was different to your belief about the piece/your playing now. Some of those pre-beliefs and subsequent changes will not be obvious to you. If you are someone who has a strong belief system running through your core and are used to standing on 'solid ground' then this forced belief change will cause some underlying cognitive dissonance.



It is this 'anxiety' that's possibly keeping you awake at present. It will pass, and your non-conscious will accept that the way you saw the world yesterday is now different to the way you see the world today. This cognitive dissonance is very common as, in most of us, it takes an overwhelming amount of contrary information for us to really change our underlying beliefs; which is one reason why learning something new can be such a trauma LOL!!! But it is also why we have those wonderful 'lightbulb' moments in learning, which is when our belief about something clicks to a new setting.



A good mantra can be to tell ourselves that "We don't know what we don't know" when facing a learning environment. And this is what folks mean by saying to approach something with an open mind. It is very difficult to do this as we all carry a lot of baggage, both useful and not useful, from previous experience into a new situation.



Your sleeplessness may be a little anxiety created by this cognitive dissonance. As I said, it will pass when you either have the piece under your belt (you've had your 'lightbulb' moment - although this can also be a slow burn) or your have set it aside in the 'return to later' box.

Hi Robin

That’s very interesting, and makes sense.

To offer more context on this situation - this was apiece that I had two different tabs for but neither of which were the exact version I wanted to play. This meant a lot of extra time turning the tab into what I wanted to play by watching the video ad infinitum..

There was anxiety because I felt I didn’t have a clear picture of what I wanted to play by the time I went to bed - hence bing anxious and working it through subconsciously I guess.

Thanks for the insight..

[archerscreek]

Yes. In fact just last night I played Jerusalem Ridge so many times in my head that my fingers surely would have bled.

[Joe Sustaire]

I haven't really had a piece keep me from sleeping, but I have resolved problems that I have had learning a new piece in my sleep. This has happened numerous times. I'll be working over and over on a piece and am just unable to get it, then I'll go to bed and sleep and it seems my subconscious takes over and figures out how to play it. The next day I go at it again and find that my troubles playing the piece have mostly been resolved.

Not as handy as just putting the tab or teaching dvd under my pillow, but sure better than nothing, ha!

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Wrighty

I wanted to ask if any of you have experienced this?

Hi W

Nope. But my wife has…

[rick-slo]

One of my music professors in college related that while in the middle of the night he woke up with a melody in his head that he was so
enamored with that he got out of bed and jotted it down on paper, and went back to sleep. Upon wakening in the morning and taking a
look at it he realized it was a melody from one of Beethoven's symphonies.

[Wrighty]

Thanks all for the comments - interestingly I found that today I was playing it much more fluidly and managed some of the more challenging sections, so whatever happened was helpful - even if I was tired as a result!

[Su_H.]

I went through something similar just recently. All I can think about was the piece and every chance I got, I would practice it. I'm still thinking about the piece and still practicing and studying it but it doesn't consume me like it did a few months back.

Anyway, I have so much respect for this piece and I think I may have gone through what Robin is talking about.

I guess it goes something like this.
1. I can do this piece.
2. Man, this piece is difficult.
3. I need help.
4. I got some tips, I can do this piece.
5. Man, this piece is difficult.
6. I need more help.
7. I got more help and more tools...I can do this piece.

Right now, I'm at 7 and I will not give up on Austurias.

[Su_H.]

I forgot to mention that somewhere around 5 and 6 I almost gave up....and one poster put up a comment saying a person has to know his limits. That comment angered me and fueled me to make one hard push and right now I'm on the verge of being able to play Austurias.

[jeanray1113]

Originally Posted by Su_H.

I went through something similar just recently. All I can think about was the piece and every chance I got, I would practice it. I'm still thinking about the piece and still practicing and studying it but it doesn't consume me like it did a few months back.

Anyway, I have so much respect for this piece and I think I may have gone through what Robin is talking about.

I guess it goes something like this.
1. I can do this piece.
2. Man, this piece is difficult.
3. I need help.
4. I got some tips, I can do this piece.
5. Man, this piece is difficult.
6. I need more help.
7. I got more help and more tools...I can do this piece.

Right now, I'm at 7 and I will not give up on Austurias.

This reminds me of an arrangement I have been working on for a few months. At one point Insaid, only half-joking, that I might actually learn it before I die(assuming a life expectancy of another 20 years or so!) Now, I have a goal of performing it at a music camp I will go to in July, and my progress is such that I believe this is a realistic goal.