Pressing The Right Keys Isn't Enough

I'm currently learning Ravel's Tocatta from Le Tombeau de Couperin, his collection of piano pieces dedicated to close friends that have died in the war. If you want to listen to the end product (although I doubt many of you will want to) you can find a nice rendition here. I'm only at the first quarter, and going at it at a very slow pace.

I noticed one thing wrong with my learning: I had very awkward fingerings for many of the phrases in the piece. Sometimes they are acceptable and customizable to each person's preference, but this piece's original tempo is a killer without proper fingering. This led me to think about how bad habits are instilled to begin with. (And I'm fortunate, for I haven't gone too far in the piece yet, or committed much of the piece to mechanical memory, which is by far the worst type of conditioning.)

Bad habits rarely die, even with much effort.

Good habits work the same way too. So that's a plus.

The trick is simple: "Don't gain bad habits."

Execution is a little trickier, for many people only notice the habits once it becomes a part of their lives. Or once their friends notice it and dares to tell them about it.

This doesn't only apply to general behavior, but thoughts, feelings, and yes, relationships.

Bad habits are done without yourself realizing about it. So, the best way of ridding yourself of it it to be conscious all the time. But that doesn't happen unless you have plenty of free time to commit or if you have electrodes that shock you whenever you perform the bad habit.

Another method is to replace it with another good habit. Must as well kill two birds with one stone.

In all, be aware of your own issues. Or ask a friends to kick you in your balls/ovaries for a taste of reality. Well, metaphorically of course.

Back to the old drawing board. Or piano, more like.

Meh.