• Store
  • Sign-up
  • Sign-in
Menu
Practising the Piano
  • Home
  • Resources
    • Multimedia eBook Series
    • Online Academy
    • Video Lessons
    • Annotated Study Editions
    • Repertoire Resources
    • Piano Technique Resources
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Online Events
    • London Piano Courses
    • Practice Clinics
    • Online Performance Workshops
  • Blog
      • Practising
      • Learning Pieces
      • Technique
      • Performing
      • Teaching
      • Archive
  • About Us
    • Help & Support
    • Contact us
HomeGeneral tipsTop Ten Tips for Trouble Spots

Top Ten Tips for Trouble Spots

By Graham Fitch, 2011-07-03 Posted in: General tips

It is possible to hack away at a trouble spot for several minutes, constantly repeating it and beating it into submission, and then be able to manage it, more or less. I am sure a statistician would be able to come up with the odds for this being so. Apart from being incredibly unskillful, it is a waste of time because the following day you will most likely be back to square one. Practising like this is like building your house on sand – some days all will be well, but on others, the whole thing just collapses.

In performance we can’t take multiple stabs at something, it has to be right first time and this fact needs to be reflected in our practice. Think about it – if we never practised errors, we’d probably never play any!

I would have to go further – it has not only to be right but also to feel easy.

There is no such thing as a Difficult Piece.  A piece is either impossible – or it is easy. The process whereby it migrates from one category to the other is known as practicing.  (Louis Kentner)

Trouble spots are like bad apples or unruly kids in a class. Left unattended, they ruin the good ones. Identify the trouble spots in the piece, those places that trip you up and cause you to stumble and fall (and affect subsequent parts of the piece you know perfectly well) and isolate them. They will usually consist of small parts, perhaps a bar, or even a couple of notes that derail you (but may of course be longer).
Put them in the equivalent of pianistic detention for a few days and give them special attention. For my younger students, I mark these in the score with square brackets and next lesson I will hear these extracts first. If they are still not right, I will work on them with the student but will make a point of not hearing the piece as a whole until these passages have been mastered (thereby training them how to practise).

TOP TEN WAYS TO PRACTISE TROUBLE SPOTS

10. Practise the spot ultra-slowly, also with separate hands.

9. Starting from the beginning of the spot, add a note (or a beat) and repeat this. Go back to the beginning of the spot and add another note (or beat) and repeat this. Etc!

8. Start from the end of the spot by playing the last note (or beat). Now add the note (or beat) before this, and repeat. Follow this process until you reach the beginning of the spot.

7. Start anywhere in the spot. If it is a longer section, begin from any bar. If it is a small section, begin on any beat, or any note.

6. To reincorporate a former trouble spot back into its surroundings, you can add the bar before (or whatever smallish section makes sense), and now begin from there.

5. Next, do this with the bar or section that comes after.

4. Finally, play the bar before, the bar itself and the bar after. Don’t forget to STOP at the end of your predetermined section, to evaluate (see 3.) and then repeat it. The tendency is to carry straight on – resist this though.

3. Use a feedback loop between each repetition so that you can identify precisely where the problem lies and mentally rehearse it before repeating it. You’ll be repeating with a definite purpose, and the feeling of starting each repetition from a clean slate.

2. Transpose (very slowly). Perhaps not for youngsters, but don’t put any limitations on them either!

1. Return to the trouble spot frequently throughout the practice session. Go back to it between pieces, so that you approach it from fresh each time. Also, make a special trip to the piano outside of your regular practice routine, just to play this one extract. This might take just a minute or two!

 

 

 

Tags: evaluationfeedback loophands separatelySlowlystoppingtranspositiontrouble spots

Related Posts

The Three S’s (Part Three)

The Three S’s (Part Three)

By Graham Fitch, 2011-06-06
Posted in: Practising, Teaching

And so to the last installment of "The Three S's" - "Sections". I realise I am in danger of repeating myself here - much of what is contained in this post has been mentioned in previous ones - but for the sake of completeness, a little recapitulation isn't a bad…

Read More

Tags: evaluationmaintenancememorySectionsThe Three S's
The Three S’s (Part Three)
Getting Students To Use The Practice Tools

Getting Students To Use The Practice Tools

By Graham Fitch, 2013-02-03
Posted in: Teaching

Following the launch of my ebook series last week, I had an email from a reader who tells me she is enjoying reading about the practice tools. She is excited to start using them herself, but is a bit dubious that she is going to get her students to practise…

Read More

Tags: childrenfeedback looppractice toolsPractising The Piano eBook SeriesteachingThe Three S's
Getting Students To Use The Practice Tools
Practising Polyrhythms

Practising Polyrhythms

By Graham Fitch, 2015-06-25
Posted in: Practising

Following a question on a Facebook page about coping with polyrhythms, I decided to republish this post from 2012. I hope it helps! I want to suggest some ways of solving a polyrhythm where one hand is playing in divisions of four while the other in divisions of three. I am…

Read More

Tags: beethovenmetronomepolyrhythmrhythmSlowly
Practising Polyrhythms
Voicing Chords

Voicing Chords

By Graham Fitch, 2011-07-10
Posted in: General tips, Practising

A chord is officially two or more notes played simultaneously, but there are probably as many species of chords as there are of spiders. There is so much to say about practising chords that this is part one of a multi-part series of posts (not sure how many yet) on…

Read More

Tags: chordsfingersSchumannstrengthtouch
Voicing Chords
Stolen Time & Musical Expression

Stolen Time & Musical Expression

By Informance, 2023-04-27
Posted in: General tips

We tend to think of rubato as being largely associated with the romantic period, but elements of what we would call rubato can be traced back to as early as the 9th century! It was an established part of  music performance in both the baroque and classical periods. This week’s blog post explores the origins of tempo rubato and how composers such as CPE Bach and Mozart incorporated it within their works.

Read More

Tags: CPE BachexpressionMozartrubato
Stolen Time & Musical Expression
The History of Piano Technique (Part 2)

The History of Piano Technique (Part 2)

By Graham Fitch, 2013-11-29
Posted in: General tips

One of the things that really gets my goat is the totally erroneous statement that the harpsichord is incapable of expression. Many famous and influential pianists who should know better regularly fall into this trap. We need to remember that the harpsichord from the High Baroque was a fully developed…

Read More

Tags: bartolomeo cristoforiDavid SchraderDulckenexpressionhammer-fingerharpsichordhistoryjs bachKenneth GilbertMuseum VleeshuisPleyelPractising The Piano eBook SeriesRuckersRuth DysonSusan Alexander-MaxtechniqueVermeer The Music LessonVladimir HorowitzWanda LandowskaZipoli
The History of Piano Technique (Part 2)

Previous Post

Preparing the Canvas

Next Post

Voicing Chords

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Sign-up To Our Mailing List!

Sign-up to our email newsletter for free resources, news updates and special offers!

TOPICS

  • Practising
  • Learning Pieces
  • Technique
  • Performing
  • Teaching

LINKS

  • Online Academy
  • Informance
  • Help & Support
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Practising the Piano All Rights Reserved

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy Policy
  • T&Cs