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Breaking It Down

When you are practicing, don't feel like you need to play the whole piece over and over. In fact, if that's all you're doing, you are missing out on the most helpful aspects of practice.

The general rule of practice is "Don't practice what you can do; practice what you can't." Basically, focus on the parts of the song that are challenging to you. Pull out that phrase. Break it into notes, fingerings, rhythm, etc. Work on each part and start putting it together. Master that little part, then move on to another part you are struggling with. Sometimes, that will mean literally working on the first two measures, then the next two, then the next two. Sometimes, it's a random pattern in the middle of the song. By then end of the week, you should have gotten all the little pieces figured out and be able to play through the song smoothly. But focus on the little elements before putting them all together.

Here is one strategy that works well. Try to play through the whole piece. When you get to a tricky spot, stop and mark it int he score. Continue on marking all the places that you need to work on. Look at how many spots there are and note if there are any repeated patterns in those places (eg, is it the same rhythm each time? Is there shift in hand position?Are there notes that are hard to read?) Start with any repeated patterns, and master them. Then go on to the random specific parts that you marked. Then play through again and make sure you can play them in context and not make the whole thing choppy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

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