This is one of the more interesting. Gig No.59. After reading my account you’ll probably think twice about booking me and I wouldn’t blame you. Interestingly, I’ve never known a wedding breakfast to be at the home of the bride, but for some reason that’s the address I copied down in my diary…

Halstead, Essex
Wedding breakfast
July 2009

Perhaps the hottest day of the year – at least 25˚C. And humid. One of those days you can stand outside a pub at 10 o’clock of an evening and enjoy a pint with some friends.

Anyway, straightforward drive to the address in Coggeshaw, Essex. Arrive just as coverage of the 2^nd Lions test against South Africa begins on my car radio. I’ve made such good time I decide to try a pub nearby.

“Are you showing the rugby?”, I ask the barman, trying to sound totally calm.

“You’re about the ninetieth person to ask me that.”

“You should be showing it then, shouldn’t you” suggests a helpful chap drinking at the bar.

Try another pub. Again, no luck. I listen in the car. Lions doing very well. 13-5 up now. Maybe there’ll be a tv at the venue.

No answer at the address. No sign of anyone. Call the bride on her mobile. Surely she’ll be able to help, but then again, she’s probably at the altar now. Try the door of nearly every neighbour. Everyone’s out. Finally someone answers. “Do you know the couple at No.10?”

“No. Just a minute. I think the young chap’s getting married today”. Fantastic. I’ve got an hour before I’m due to start. “I know he works at The Compasses pub.”

Call the pub. Someone there knows the village the wedding’s at. It’s 5 miles away. But I’m still far more concerned about missing what sounds like a fantastic rugby match. 13-8 now.

Get to Greenstead Green. Knock on a door. Sounds like the entire village dog population is behind it. Thankfully it stays shut and I walk across to the garden opposite. The gentleman cutting the lawn can’t help, sadly. Can’t speak either. Not to worry, dog woman appears. “I heard the dogs barking” Yes, you and the rest of the village. She has some vague recollection of the bride’s family but directs me to the village shop, a converted stable. Lots of delicious cakes on show, but sadly I have to ignore them. Find a woman who, quite fortunately, knows exactly the information I need.

So, with directions, I set off again. On the way, I pass a bride and groom sitting pretty on an open coach pulled by horses. Bride looks absolutely gorgeous, having the time of her life. Groom looks slightly uncomfortable. I’m pretty sure it’s my wedding couple, so I wind the window down.

“Hello”, I shout, “Who’s the bride?”

“It’s Jade.”

“I’m Gary.”

“OK” as if to say, very happy for you, mate.

Arrive at the venue. It’s sweltering. I’ve got half hour to get my gear out of the car into the marquee, set up and change. This will take 25 minutes in the best possible conditions, but I still want to see some of the rugby. Discovering this is a bit disconcerting, but I can’t help it. Find a tv in the summer house, but can’t manage to switch it on. Time to get moving!

All goes well until I find there’s no power point for me. But I sort something out with the help of the chef. 8 minutes to go. I’m still in my shorts and tee-shirt, sorting leads out. Bride’s mum pops her head around the doorway. Scans the room. Everything looks beautiful. Looks at me. “You should be playing”.

One quick change later and I’m happily playing away. All goes splendidly. Food is delicious, but not enough. Some lovely comments from people and no shortage of offers to help me get my gear back into the car. Lovely chat with the beautiful, beaming Jade.

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“I don’t know how you can say that! She practices lots; she’s always at the piano”

This was how a mother responded when I dared to suggest that her talented daughter needed to practise more.

A ‘practice’ session can so easily turn into a ‘play through all the bits I know already’ session. Enjoyable? Yes. But will we have made any progress?

Practising is working on our weaknesses, or practising the bits we can’t yet play, or play as well as we’d like. It needs focus – a level of concentration that might feel like hard work. If we want to seriously move our playing forward, we need to confront the things we know we’re not good at.

This takes courage. And determination

For example, we may know we can’t play that bit on line 4, but simply can’t face working on it; “It’s just so hard” we reason. Well, yes it probably is hard. But look at it properly. Try to work out exactly what’s difficult, and what’s required to master it. We might just sort out the problem.

Playing the piano is one of the greatest joys in the world, and to do it well, we need to work at it.

Maybe, after a stressful day, all you feel like doing is playing some pieces you already know. If you’re feeling low, stressed out or exhausted, this might be just what you need. It can often be very cathartic, and calming. But don’t call it practising. It’s playing.

How to start practising…

Ok, so we’ve accepted that we need to work a bit harder and we’re ready for a proper practice session. But how to start…

Advice often goes:  start with a few scales, warm your fingers up, play through a few tunes you know. In other words, ease your way in. But if we are going to get the most out of our time, we need to concentrate, and not be thinking about a conversation we had earlier, or an appointment we’ve got tomorrow. Try starting your practice with something you find difficult. Something that requires mental focus. For example: 10 minutes singing the melody of a piece. Or if that’s easy, sing the melody whilst playing the left hand. Or it could be working out the Timing of a bit you never seem to get right.

Making the most of your time requires some organisation

So let’s say we’ve mentally prepared ourselves to do a bit of work. The following suggestions maybe helpful:

1. Have a timer to hand and set a time-limit to your practise session, even if you’ve got plenty of time. Choose a timer with a gentle sound, not a clockwork mechanism with a loud bell. Great for a noisy kitchen, not so good when you’re trying to zone-in at your piano.
2. Get a ‘practise notebook’. Find something you like the look of, something you’ll enjoy writing in, rather than a spiral-bound jotter from the local shop.
3. Decide on a task, write it down, with date and time, and set a time-limit. For example, ‘last 2 lines, LH’ or ‘contrary motion scales. 5 mins’.
4. Save playing through something you already know until the end. Finishing a session on a positive note makes us want to do more the next time. As opposed to finishing when you’ve had enough or get a bit fed up.

Be warned: When we organise our practise session, time can often pass very quickly. But don’t take my word for it. Get planning!

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