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HomePractice toolsLaying Solid Foundations in a New Piece

Laying Solid Foundations in a New Piece

By Graham Fitch, 2020-02-27 Posted in: Practice tools, Practising

Have you had the experience of learning a new piece one day and coming back to it the next day to find it hasn’t stuck at all?

Photo by Ludwig Kwan from Pexels

If you approach a new piece using the repeated read-through method, you’ll probably find at the end of a practice session you have managed to get it sounding better than it did at the start of the session. But how frustrating when you come back to it the next day it feels like it hasn’t stuck at all!

Fortunately, there are much better ways to go about learning a new piece such as using my Three S’s: Slowly, Separately and Sections to build solid foundations for consistent progress.

In the following video, I demonstrate The Three S’s in action using Petzhold’s Minuet in G minor (BWV Anh. 115) from the Anna Magdalene Notebook. Working in units of one bar (plus one note) and with each hand alone, we find as many patterns as we can as we practise. By patiently repeating a small unit of music – enough to hold in our working memory – at the speed of no mistakes and with our mind fully engaged, we are digging firm foundations for security later on.

Practice like this takes a fair deal of discipline, but the rewards are significant. Remember:

“Practice makes permanent, and only perfect practice makes perfect!”

For more detailed information on the process, follow this link to my blog post, A Daisy Chain

Further Information & Resources

  • The Practice Tools Lecture Series (click here to view the series index)
  • Q-Spots Series (click here to view a blog post on this series)
  • Practising the Piano multimedia eBook series – Part 1: Practice Strategies and Approaches (click here for more information)
Tags: JS Bachlearning a pieceNotebook for Anna Magdalena BachPetzholdSectionsSeparatelyslow practiceSlowlyThe Three S's

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2 Responses to “Laying Solid Foundations in a New Piece”

  1. Bruce Mellor

    2023-12-08 on 10:45 PM

    Hi Graham,
    I’m 73 years old and started to learn piano from scratch 2 1/2 years ago.
    I could read music well having played the recorder, cello and flute over time.
    I’ve just used your one bar plus one note method to learn 16 bars of Purcell’s Rondeau.
    Fantastic – thank you.
    I achieved 90% perfection in just two sessions whereas previously I had tried to learn the piece on 8 occasions as my skill progressed but with no success!!!
    the one bar plus one note method will now be my firm practice tool.
    Kind regards,
    Bruce.

    Reply
    • Graham Fitch

      2023-12-11 on 8:41 AM

      How wonderful to hear this, Bruce! Thank you so much for your inspiring comment 🙂

      Reply

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