We’ve all been there, whether as a student or someone who has been playing the piano for years, that we are working on a new piece of music and even though we are trying it is not coming together and it can be really frustrating.
The first bit of advice would be that this happens to everyone some of the time and that being stuck doesn’t mean that it is too hard or we just aren’t capable, it just happens on a semi regular basis and that’s just the way it goes.
If the frustration is building up and it feels like you are hitting your head against a brick wall, then stop. There’s no point in continuing to proverbially hit your head against a brick wall. Changing what you are playing can be really useful here, especially if it is something that you really enjoy playing. Once the frustration has dissipated, then you might like to try again.
If that doesn’t work, then I suggest you get up from your piano and do something else for a while and come back to the piano in a few minutes or a few hours, whatever feels right. Sometimes things don’t work because it’s almost like we are trying to force things to work.
Sometimes no matter what you try, it just doesn’t work for a while. So if you are taking lessons then you may need some input from your teacher. Sometimes it is necessary to just leave the frustrating piece of music for a few days or leave it until your next piano lesson.
Whenever you get back to attempting a piece of music, make sure you are clear as to what exactly isn’t working – is it reading the notes, is it the timing of half a bar, is it the fingering? The next step is to work on a small fragment. For instance, if it is one chord that is a sticking point, practice the chord several times. Then practice it with the chord that leads into it. If it is your timing, then work on one section at a time, going over multiple times very carefully until it starts to flow. Whatever is not working, just practice that small portion of the piece until it works, then you can practice a bigger segment until that flows too and keep going until you can play the whole thing.
Another thing that is a very useful tool is to play it very , very slowly. The advantage of practicing slowly, is that it gives you time to think and time to prepare yourself for what comes next. It doesn’t matter how slow you go because it will help you to play the tricky bits accurately. I’ve sometimes had students argue that this can’t help if something is meant to be played fast, but this is not true because once you get something at a very slow speed, you just gradually increase the speed until it is the correct speed. You might be surprised how quickly you can go from playing a piece of music from slow and accurate to very fast.
Whatever you do when a piece of music just isn’t working the way it should, don’t give up on it, sometimes having a break can help while other times, persistence may be the key. As annoying as it is, try not to allow yourself to get too frustrated, just remember that this happens to everyone and as long as you don’t give up entirely, you can overcome the tricky bits.