PRACTICE TIPS #28: Why Practice Hands Alone?

[Brent Hugh <bhugh@GRIFFON.MWSC.EDU>]

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PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical

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PRACTICE TIPS #28: Why Practice Hands Alone?

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Welcome back to Practice Tips from a long summer's break!  Now that our 

school year is started again, Practice Tips will be coming to your email 

box more regularly.



This week's Practice Tip is from an interesting web page about learning and 

memorizing music by pianist Ruth Slenczynska 

(http://www.siue.edu/MUSIC/html/ruths.html).  I will feature a few more 

tips from Slenczynska's page in upcoming issues.



This tip is about the importance of practicing and memorizing your music 

hands alone--especially practicing and memorizing left hand alone:



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[M]emorizing is a mind-directed art. Be respectful; this art requires a 

thorough knowledge of every musical detail in the score while the mind 

supervises every

move made by each of two hands simultaneously planning beautiful results - 

all this on demand!



You need to train your mind for that task. You must be aware of what each 

hand is doing because:



1. The left hand plays half the music but this music is far more obscure.



2. The left hand needs to be strengthened to be as dependable as the right 

hand.



3. During performance the mind sometimes focuses on the beautiful line of 

one hand or the other, and



4. *Each hand* must be in a position to function "on automatic" if need be 

for a few seconds.



This kind of thorough learning cannot be done both hands together in a 

hurry. There is genuine reward for patient effort.

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Starting with the next issue of Practice Tips, the list will be moved to a 

new server and have a slightly different format.  Stay tuned for details!



Happy Practicing!



--Brent





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

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

it, and in fact is toddling off to do some of it just about now . . .



Please remember that this tip is but a small spot near the tip of the

elephant's trunk--it's not even close to the whole elephant that is

"how everyone in the whole world should practice the piano".



Practice Tips Archives (updated about once a month):



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+  Missouri Western St College Dept of Music, St. Joseph, MO  +

+         Piano Home Page: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh         +

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