PRACTICE TIPS #1: Oh, I wish I had learned that years ago!

[Brent Hugh <bhugh@griffon.mwsc.edu>]

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PRACTICE TIPS #1: Oh, I wish I had learned that years ago!

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This week a comment by my friend and colleague Jerry Anderson caught my

attention.  On our online Piano Pedagogy Message Board

(http://www.insidetheweb.com/mbs.cgi/mb175278), several pianists and

teachers are having a discussion about how to get technically difficult

passages up to tempo.  Jerry wrote:



"I tell my students to ALWAYS play up-to-speed or faster, BUT take a LONG

time between notes or a group of notes [as needed] to assess and feel what

you are doing. There is little to be gained by slow playing because the

physiological movements at half-speed are totally different from those at

full speed. That's why the often suggested method of practicing with a

metronome and moving it up a notch or two every day is disastrous for most

of us (Oh, I wish I had learned that years ago!)."



Let me repeat the crux of the matter:



    There is little to be gained by slow playing because 

    the physiological movements at half-speed are totally 

    different from those at full speed.



By "slow playing", Jerry means playing a passage (particularly a

technically demanding passage, although *every* passage has some sort of

technical demands) at a tempo well below the final performance tempo.  From

the technical point of view, playing a passage at a slow tempo is largely a

waste of time, because the muscles used, the coordination needed, the

motions used, the coordinating and controlling thoughts your mind must

think--all are totally different at half speed than at full speed.



If--as most pianists do--you spend a lot of time learning your music at a

slow tempo, then gradually increasing the tempo until you reach a fast

tempo, you are basically doing more than twice the work necessary to learn

the piece.  You are first learning the technique necessary to play the

piece at a slow tempo, then you must *unlearn* that technique and learn a

totally new technique for playing up to tempo.



Does this mean slow practice is useless?  Does it mean the national speed

limit has been revoked and you can now zoom through all your pieces at a

breakneck rate of speed with reckless disregard for notes, rhythm, and

musical nuance?



In a word--no.



The rules of thumb are these:



   Slow practice is good--necessary!--for developing a clear 

   mental conception of the music.  It is basically useless for

   developing the necessary technique to play the passage.



   Fast practice--up to tempo--is necessary for learning the 

   right technique for playing the passage.  However, playing 

   too fast on passages that are too long can easily lead to 

   a blurry mental conception of the music--you are playing 

   faster than your mind can think.

   

   The longer the musical passage, the slower you must play it to do

   it right.  The shorter the musical passage, the faster you can play it.



The upshot: Spend more of your practice time playing small (perhaps very,

very small) sections of your piece, up to tempo. Spend less of your

practice time playing lengthy sections of the piece at slow tempos.



Keep Practicing!



--Brent

bhugh@griffon.mwsc.edu



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PRACTICE TIPS is by pianist, teacher, composer, and internet nerd

Brent Hugh.  Brent knows about practicing mostly because he *does*

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