How I practice: a demonstration

I described my practice method in a 2011 essay. Recently, I encountered the book “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle, where he describes a practice method similar to this, calling it “Deep Practice.” Here is my version:

- Work out the fingering
- Play a short passage (perhaps four measures, or one phrase), slowly.
- Play it again
- Play it a third time, still very slowly.
[See the 2019 addendum below]
- Modify the rhythms several ways, still just this one phrase. The goal is to isolate the smallest musical unit – two notes – and tie them together with the neighboring units.
- Then larger groupings – four notes, two beats, a measure.
- Play the passage at a faster tempo, performance tempo if possible.
- Move to the next phrase, learn it in the same manner.
- For review, play the two phrases together.
- Move on to the third phrase.
- Repeat…
- When the practice session is nearly finished (or when I have worked through the entire movement or large section), give it a final slow, careful, mistake-free playthrough at half tempo or less. It settles the day’s work, as if telling the mind and body “Yes, this is how it goes.”
- The next day, repeat the above.

I have recorded an example of how this goes; it can be found here.

It is my first beginning with the Franck Chorale in E major, which will hopefully be the prelude for the February Evensong tomorrow. Before taking it to the organ as it is in the example, I have worked out the fingering, thoroughly. I write a finger number for every note.

I begin not at the beginning of the piece, but at measure 170. This begins a passage of about sixty bars that I expect to be the most challenging, and I normally begin my work on a piece at such a spot, building around it as the work progresses.

I am pleased that there are Problems, especially at the page turn between measures 174 and 175. It happens to be a difficult spot, made harder by the page turn. This seems to happen a lot; I have wondered if music editors do it intentionally. Especially in the first slow playthrough, there are almost always a few problems, and the clip is a good illustration of how to work on them, not allowing a mistake to go uncorrected.

Basically, my little workpiece is one phrase. I extend it a measure and a half past the phrase end because of the page turn, with the intention of starting the next phrase just before the page turn, giving it a double dose of work. Unless the turn is very easy, I generally do this.

After all of the rhythmic variations and groupings and playthroughs, I move on to the next phrase and treat it in the same manner. Then I string the two phrases together, and move on to the third phrase. When it is done, I string at least the second and third phrases together, and perhaps include the first phrase again, as well. At the end of the practice session, I finish with a final slow play-through of all that I have covered. I use the metronome for this, normally at half of the performance tempo.

The method seems highly inefficient in the short run, for it took me over twenty minutes to work through ten measures of music – in a piece that is 259 measures long. But I think that the listener can tell that those twenty minutes resulted in significant progress on the little passage, and one more day’s work on it will solidify it. In the long run, I find this method of work to be an immense time-saver.

My plan is to give the two pages that I got through today their Second Workout on my next day of practice – pretty much the same as the First Workout, except that it usually goes more smoothly – then lay it aside until I have worked through the entire piece in this manner. If possible, I will try to include one slow playthrough per week of the parts I have previously covered to keep them somewhat fresh. If this works, it could be the key for how I can better prepare a lot of music for one occasion, such as a recital or the Great Vigil/Easter Day.

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I made the recording and wrote most of the above on January 6 and 7. It is now February 4, with the Evensong coming up tomorrow. The Franck has made good progress and I think it will be ready, even though I did not complete my Second Workout on one two-page section of the piece until yesterday.

For a long time, I have been on a journey toward being a Better Musician. It has troubled me for years that I continue to make so many mistakes in performance, so I continue to improve my practice methods. I think that this month’s work on the Franck is a step in the right direction.
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Addendum, June 2019

The above system worked for a time. Old age and the onset of "yips" led to a modification: on the first day with a new piece, do the three slow play-throughs of a short segment, typically two to four measures. Move on to the next segment, with three slow play-throughs. Play the first and second segment together, slowly. Move on to the third segment, reviewing segments two and three. Then the fourth segment, reviewing segments three and four. And likewise through to the end of the movement or the piece, or the practice time available for the day.

I found that going onward with the rhythmic practice on the initial day ultimately contributed to the "yips" in performance. Nowadays, I do better by working gently the first day. On the second and subsequent days, I proceed as described above, with one slow play-through of each segment followed by rhythmic practice.

I still get the "yips," but not quite as badly.

The only other significant modification I have made is that I work more with one hand at a time, especially if there is any problem at any point from the first slow playing to the final preparations for performance. Isolate the short segment and the hand which is having difficulty, play the one hand's music slowly, perhaps with the rhythms if that seems like it will help, then put it back with the other hand and the pedals.