Piano Practice Habits: Slow. Things. Down.

Everybody knows that slow practice works wonders for your playing, but how slow is slow?

How Slow Should You Go?

1. Slowly enough to pay attention to what you need to pay attention to.
2. Slowly enough to be aware of the sounds you are making (Ears).
3. Slowly enough to think analytically about the patterns you are playing (Intellect).
4. Slowly enough to visualize the arrangement and sequence of notes on the keyboard (Eyes).
5. Slowly enough to feel the sensations created by your body movements (Muscles).
6. And slowly enough to play accurately… with a clear musical intention, correct notes, good rhythm, and natural choreography.

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Six Huge Benefits of Slowing Things Down

1. Slow playing gives your four musical intelligences time to be fully conscious of what your brain is doing.
2.  Slow playing gives you enough time to always play accurately… which is absolutely essential for training your brain to move your muscles repeatably and reliably in response to your musical intentions.
3. Slow playing exposes every physical and mental insecurity… things that easily go unnoticed at performance tempo.
4. Slow playing allows sufficient soak time for the information in your short-term memory to transfer to your long-term memory where it can become permanent. In doing so, you will discover that you have memorized a piece without even trying.
5. Slow playing gives you lots of time to think… and therefore is a great way to test if you really do know everything you think you know about a piece.

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Gentle Reminder: The quality of your performance is absolutely determined by the quality of your study and practice habits. In other words, the gift is not talent. The gift is love. If you love what your are doing, the discipline will follow!

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learn more… Practice Habits