The Three Little Pigs

First published in 2016, this post remains one of Graham Fitch’s clearest illustrations of what strong foundations really mean when learning a piece. If a piece seems fine in the practice room but becomes shaky under pressure, the problem often began much earlier in the way it was built and the learning process was approached.

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We all know the story of The Three Little Pigs, in which each pig builds a home. One takes hardly any time building his out of straw, so he can spend more time playing and relaxing. The second pig builds his home out of sticks, which takes slightly longer, but he too values his down time. The third pig chooses to build his home out of bricks, which requires a great deal more time and effort, but he values taking the time to build a home properly. When the Big Bad Wolf pays a visit, needless to say only the third pig’s house of bricks stands up to the wolf’s huffing and puffing.

Comply with Building Regulations

The first two piggies used substandard and unsuitable materials, while the third piggy had taken the trouble to use approved and recognised methods of construction.

In the UK, Building Regulations set the minimum standards for how buildings are designed and constructed. In my piano teaching, I have my own equivalent: a set of tried and tested principles that apply from the very start of learning a piece, helping to ensure the finished performance is strong enough to withstand pressure.

Every time we begin a piece, we are deciding what sort of house we are going to build.

The House of Straw

The player who builds his house of out straw mistakenly believes that running through a piece over and over again in an occasional, unfocussed practice session will suffice. He assumes that getting a note, chord or a passage wrong nine times and correct on the tenth attempt means he will get it right in his exam on the first attempt. He’ll be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat on an unfamiliar piano with an examiner sitting in front of him – no worries. His fingering feels good enough for now so he doesn’t think it is necessary to bother with it.

The House of Sticks

This player is doing a little bit of good work and knows he’s supposed to practise regularly. He also knows about slow practice, but the problem is he doesn’t do it slowly enough or for long enough, and certainly isn’t really concentrating or listening as he does it. He finds it hard to resist the temptation to doodle when he’s sitting at the piano, and while he does occasionally practise the weak spots in his pieces, most of the time he just plays through things he already knows.

The House of Bricks

The player who builds his house out of bricks takes pleasure, satisfaction and pride in the process of learning and enjoys doing this thoroughly and deeply. For him, the journey is just as important as the destination. Here are some of the principles he works by:

• Have the patience to work out a good fingering from the outset, and write it in your score
• Learn to differentiate between the process of practising and the act of performing
• As you learn notes, aim to make no errors at all. If you do make errors, fix them immediately!
• Equip yourself with a good set of practice tools so you know how to solve problems
• Learn to completely relish ultra-slow practice
• If you’re going to play from memory, start the memorisation process at the note learning stage

The Big Bad Wolf

I have described the sort of approach above that is optimal for security in performance as well as fantastic pianistic progress in general. But who is this Big Bad Wolf anyway, and should we be afraid of him?

It is one thing to play in the comfort and security of our own home, and another when we play in front of others. The Big Bad Wolf might be a real person (someone who constantly criticises us and puts us down) but usually it is a state of fear coming from our own mind. It is that part of ourself susceptible to the imagined judgement of others when we perform – we imagine our audience is criticising every little thing we do.

The Big Bad Wolf might even be the excess adrenaline our body pumps into our bloodstream that turns our fingers to jelly. Solid preparation won’t stop the wolf showing up as we sit down to perform, but we’ll be in a stronger position to ward him off!