Hi Karl,

> What are the magic tricks when the piece you're practicing becomes
> stale, because you've played it a million times, progress is close to
> zero, and you don't want to hear it anymore? Please!

I've got two suggestions, and they aren't mutually exclusive -- you can use
them both, and in either order. The first is to just leave it alone for a
bit. Don't look at it, play it, think about it. Work on something in a
different style and different key. The other is to imagine you are someone
else, and play it in the style they would use. I don't mean imagine you're
some famous pianist. What I have in mind is something more along the line
playing it how Lancelot would play it, then Teddy Roosevelt, then Shirley
Temple, and then the Wicked Witch of the West. That should freshen it up a
bit ;-)

Have fun with it,
Meg