I'm learning to play hurdy gurdy, as an adult. I've taken a bunch of singing lessons in my life and I can sight read music well enough but never encountered a struggle I'm about to describe.
I have never really learned to play a musical instrument before. I have been practici g almost a year I love it and I'm happy to practice about an hour every day day most days. And I'd say for all intents and purposes gurdy would reseble a piano playing since it has keys.
I'm learning mostly simple dances (e.g. Suzato - La Mourisque, Schiarazula Marazula, Branle de Chevaux) and I love them and find them very fun. These are short melodies that tend to repeat a lot and very quickly I get to a point where my muscle memory would take over and playing would become sort of automatic.
At that point I feel as though I stop progressing. I can play through the song, but my knowledge doesnt feel very solid and any disturbance causes me to get very lost and confused. This often means that on my first play through during a practice I go without mistakes and then I either start overthinking and making mistakes or lose attention and even skip parts.
I have just taken my first lesson with a teacher in person and he wanted to play along a song that I was decently familiar with and could play through pretty confidently by myself and I would just keep getting lost with him so much that it looked as though I'd never practice it before.
It may be relevant that I have a mild attention deficit disorder but mostly I can conpensate pretty well.
Do you recognize elements of your practice? How do you stop playing "on autopilot" and get more mindful about the piece and actually get a solid knowledge of the piece? Can you recall notes when playing a piece you had practiced or is it meant to be saved in your muscle memory only? Would small improvised ornamentations, which are encouraged in this kind of music, perhaps help break the routine and keep one's brain more actively engaged?
Submitted May 14, 2026 at 06:47PM by sorreladam https://www.reddit.com/r/Learnmusic/comments/1tdce3j/learning_to_play_an_instrument_mindfully/?utm_source=ifttt