Hey all, I’m trying really hard to get better at playing the piano, but it has always been difficult for me. I end up relying way too much on my ear and muscle memory, which gets me fairly far, but then I get lost in my own thoughts and have no idea where I am / how to recover if I make a mistake. It feels like the better I get at playing something, the more susceptible I am to completely biffing it because I got there by relying on my crutches instead of actually processing it the way (I think?) it’s supposed to be learned, if that makes sense. I can read music and all that, but between the attention span and the hand eye coordination issues, I start to glaze over the actual notes on the page. Any good pianists with ADHD? Any tips? I know slow and steady is the main thing, but the glazing over makes that so hard to manage. Maybe I just need to accept that this will always be difficult for me, but I would love to hear others’ perspectives. (Also this community seems pretty dead, so if there are any more active non-meme ADHD communities that Beehaw federates with, please point me in the right direction!)

  • rozwud@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    Yeah, I’m mainly a vocalist, but I played clarinet for years, so I’m not new to the whole practicing an instrument thing. Piano just has that extra layer of difficulty because my hand eye coordination sucks, so playing two different parts in separate hands while also keeping track of where I am in the music is super challenging for me.

    Mindfulness meditation has come in very handy for me at various points in my life. I used to struggle badly with rejection dysphoria before I knew what it was, and mindfulness meditation helped with that. I like the idea of applying mindfulness to this situation. Thanks for pointing that out; I think that could be very helpful!