# Your Practice Routine and Learning Methods



## Lukecash12

Seeing as there are several piano teachers (myself included), I'm surprised we haven't gone into specific practice and conditioning methods (or that I'm aware of).

So, to kick start it, I'll share my methods.

*Practice and Conditioning*:

I start my day with hand crossing arpeggios in each key starting at C, and limber myself up with Alkan's opus 35 number 6 etude: 




I then run through Bach's first ten inventions, and his Sinfonia (3-part Invention) in g BWV 797. After that, I run through all the scales BH in octaves, and then (if I were in the key of C) I'd play in BH octaves C G E C E G, and so on up and down the keyboard in each key.

After that, I play scales again, changing meter and stressing on a different beat every time i change keys. Once I've gotten through all of the keys, I'll do the same with variable tempos in each key, and read through Alkan's Prelude opus 31 number 24 at variable tempos.

After that, I'll mess with some Czerny studies relevant to the piece/pieces I'm currently learning. While on working on my performance pieces, I'll shake it up by sight reading through some of Mozart's piano concertos, and then return to whatever it is I'm working on.

*Learning a New Piece*:

To start with, I just read through it with my eyes, take a look at the technicalities, and divide it into very short, numbered sections. I take my time with each section (hands separate first), playing them very (and I mean very) slow and fortissimo. Once the sections feel natural (depending on the length of the piece), and when all of the kinks are gone, I speed up each section to just below performance tempo, play the whole thing loudly as possible (I don't worry at all about the dynamics yet). Then, I forget about the sheets, and play it progressively faster and faster, until performance tempo seems easy (although some pieces never seem easy).

After I'm note perfect, rhythm perfect, and comfortable with it, I'll spend the rest of my time working on phrasing, rubato, dynamics, etc.

To summarize it, I do 90% of my practice ultra slow and methodically.


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## hlolli

I usually wake up at 7 and drink very strong coffee or morning tee. Torture myself with Liszt technical exercises (edited be Julio Esteban) play dry scales and arpeggios. Then I will browse trough my piano homework witch is sadly too easy for me. Then I scroll trough Beethoven Sonatas I've learned or try to learn a new one.

I have a very bad routine, I just started doing physical exercises in the morning this week and that calls for extreme discipline but makes big difference for the brain afterwards. That helps a little.

But when learning new piece I am probably worse. I start off playing on bar 1 and as far as I get until I stop. Do it over and over, any measure that is hard I just play it more often. I fix the tempo always afterwards but the tempo is my biggest enemy.

Pieces I'm learning at this moment are the first three Bach inventions, Beethoven Tempest sonata, four Bergmuller etudes that I hate! and other Icelandic works. This autumn I finished Edvard Grieg Norweigian dance, four Czerny exercises, Beethoven Leichte Sonata and Beethoven sonatina in F major.

Anyway my routine is boring, dry and inefficient. I spend up to 6 hours a day exercising.


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## Lukecash12

hlolli said:


> I usually wake up at 7 and drink very strong coffee or morning tee. Torture myself with Liszt technical exercises (edited be Julio Esteban) play dry scales and arpeggios. Then I will browse trough my piano homework witch is sadly too easy for me. Then I scroll trough Beethoven Sonatas I've learned or try to learn a new one.
> 
> I have a very bad routine, I just started doing physical exercises in the morning this week and that calls for extreme discipline but makes big difference for the brain afterwards. That helps a little.
> 
> But when learning new piece I am probably worse. I start off playing on bar 1 and as far as I get until I stop. Do it over and over, any measure that is hard I just play it more often. I fix the tempo always afterwards but the tempo is my biggest enemy.
> 
> Pieces I'm learning at this moment are the first three Bach inventions, Beethoven Tempest sonata, four Bergmuller etudes that I hate! and other Icelandic works. This autumn I finished Edvard Grieg Norweigian dance, four Czerny exercises, Beethoven Leichte Sonata and Beethoven sonatina in F major.
> 
> Anyway my routine is boring, dry and inefficient. I spend up to 6 hours a day exercising.


If you'd like me to, I could send you some information on how to get organized, and the best ways to tackle a new piece.


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## hlolli

Yes I really want to learn routine from more experienced player. I see you are able to play Alkan Etudes. I know that there is no short cut to such demanding piece, but it is easy to spend useless time on the piano.


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## dafnis

now, first of all I am not (nor studying to be) a professional player. I would consider myself a serious amateur, skills maybe around 4-5th grade...
With the limited amount of time that I have to play in a day (1h max) I like to go through Hanon (pls don't hate me for loving it!!) as far as I can go, then a bit of Bach (which I like far more, of course).
About learning a new piece I am probably in between both your ways. I remember my teacher (when I did study yeeeeears ago) always had a hard time for me to play as slow as possible - I've experienced it is the best way, but it's just that sometimes I get carried away... I also divide the work in small sections and dynamics come last for me as well.
Though every great pianist I've heard of always stress how they consider every work a total unity, not dividing it, and considering all items with the same importance (therefore considering dynamics, etc. as they progress). Of course these people are geniuses so it might get easier for them! Any thoughts on this?


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## Lukecash12

dafnis said:


> now, first of all I am not (nor studying to be) a professional player. I would consider myself a serious amateur, skills maybe around 4-5th grade...
> With the limited amount of time that I have to play in a day (1h max) I like to go through Hanon (pls don't hate me for loving it!!) as far as I can go, then a bit of Bach (which I like far more, of course).
> About learning a new piece I am probably in between both your ways. I remember my teacher (when I did study yeeeeears ago) always had a hard time for me to play as slow as possible - I've experienced it is the best way, but it's just that sometimes I get carried away... I also divide the work in small sections and dynamics come last for me as well.
> Though every great pianist I've heard of always stress how they consider every work a total unity, not dividing it, and considering all items with the same importance (therefore considering dynamics, etc. as they progress). Of course these people are geniuses so it might get easier for them! Any thoughts on this?


It really depends on your technical skills before diving into the piece. Of course, I can sightread hot-cross-buns and apply any dynamics specified on the sheet. A lot of time goes into figuring out confusing rhythms, rubato, accents, phrasing, and transitions. Universal intuition in the context of interpretation is something you acquire over several years of practice and performance. But technicalities have to be understood and acquired constantly, even by me nowadays.


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## Lukecash12

Also, here is some pretty sage advice on how to deal with speed barriers, learning rhythmic devices, and what-not: http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book


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## Lukecash12

And now, for some great quotes on technique from pianofundamentals.com:



> "*Playing arpeggios correctly is technically complex. This makes arps particularly suitable for learning some important hand motions, such as thrust, pull, and the "cartwheel motion".* "Arpeggio", as used here, includes broken chords and combinations of short arpeggic passages. We shall illustrate these concepts here using Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (3rd Movement) for the thrust and pull, and Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu (FI) for the cartwheel motion. Recall that suppleness of the hands, especially at the wrist, is critical for playing arps. The technical complexity of arps arises from the fact that in most cases, this suppleness must be combined with everything else: thrust, pull, cartwheel motion, and TU or TO. One note of caution: the Moonlight is difficult because of the required speed. Many Beethoven compositions cannot be slowed down because they are so intimately tied to rhythm. In addition, this movement requires a minimum reach of a 9th, comfortably. Those with smaller hands will have much more difficulty learning this piece than those with adequate reach.
> 
> Let's first discuss how to play TO arps. Arps extending over several octaves are played TO just like long scales. Therefore, if you know how to play TO scales, you know, in principle, how to play TO arps. However, the method of playing TO arps is a more extreme example of the TO motion than for scales and therefore serves as the clearest example of this motion. We noted above that the easiest TO motion is that used in playing chromatic scales (1313123131312 ... for the RH). The chromatic TO motion is easy because the horizontal motion of the thumb is small. The next slightly more difficult motion is that for playing the B major scale. This TO motion is easy because you can play the entire scale with flat fingers so that there is no collision problem with the passing thumb. The next in difficulty is the C major scale; it is more difficult because all the fingers are crowded into the narrow white key area. Finally, the most difficult motion is the TO arp in which the hand must move rapidly and accurately. This motion requires a slight flex and flick of the wrist, sometimes described as a "throwing" motion. The nice thing about acquiring the TO arp motion is that, once you learn it, you simply have to make a smaller version of the same motion in order to play the easier TO motions.
> 
> *Because arps jump over several notes, most people spread the fingers to reach those notes. For fast arps, this is a mistake because spreading the fingers slows down their motion.* The key method for fast arps is to move the hand instead of spreading the fingers. If you move the hand and wrist appropriately, you will find that it is not necessary to spread the fingers. This method also makes it easier to relax.
> 
> *The Cartwheel Method* (Chopin's FI). In order to understand the cartwheel motion, place your left palm flat on the piano keys, with the fingers spread out as far as you can like the spokes of a wheel. Note that the fingertips from pinky to thumb fall on an approximate semi-circle. Now place the pinky above C3 and parallel to it; you will have to rotate the hand so that the thumb is closer to you. Then move the hand towards the fallboard so that the pinky touches the fallboard; make sure that the hand is rigidly spread out at all times. If the 4th finger is too long and touches the fallboard first, rotate the hand sufficiently so that the pinky touches the fallboard, but keep the pinky as parallel to C3 as possible. Now *rotate the hand like a wheel counter clockwise (as viewed from above) so that each successive finger touches the fallboard (without slipping) until you reach the thumb. This is the cartwheeling motion in the horizontal plane. If your normal reach is one octave with your fingers spread out, you will find that the cartwheeling motion will cover almost two octaves! *You gain extra reach because this motion makes use of the fact that the center three fingers are longer than the pinky or thumb. Now repeat the same motion with the hand vertical (palm parallel to fallboard), so the fingers point downwards. Start with the pinky vertical and lower the hand to play C3. Now if you roll the hand up towards C4, (don't worry if it feels very awkward), each finger will "play" the note that it touches. When you reach the thumb, you will again find that you have covered a distance almost twice your normal reach. *In this paragraph, we learned three things: (1) how to "cartwheel" the hand, (2) this motion expands your effective reach without making any jumps, and (3) the motion can be used to "play" the keys without moving the fingers relative to the hand.*
> 
> *In actual practice, cartwheeling is used with the hand somewhere between vertical and horizontal, and the fingers will be in the pyramid position or slightly curved. Although cartwheeling will add some keydrop motion, you will also move the fingers in order to play.* We apply this method to the LH broken chords of Chopin's FI. In section III.2, we discussed the use of cycling to practice the LH. We will now add the cartwheel motion to the cycling. Cycle the first 6 (or 12) LH notes of bar 5 (where the RH first joins in). Instead of just translating the hand sideways to play each note, add the cartwheeling motion. If you position the hand almost horizontally, then practically all the keydrop must be accomplished by finger motion. However, if you raise the hand more and more towards the vertical, the cartwheeling motion will contribute more keydrop and you will need less finger motion to play. *Cartwheeling is especially useful for those with small hands because it automatically expands the reach. Cartwheeling also makes it easier to relax because there is less need to keep the fingers spread widely apart in order to reach all the notes. This motion also releases the tension in the wrist because you can't cartwheel with wrist tension. These reductions in stress make the hand more supple. You will also find that your control increases because the motions are now partly governed by the large motions of the hand which makes the playing less dependent on the motion of each finger and gives more uniform, even results.*"


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## Lukecash12

Continued:



> "Suppose that you want to play the (LH) "do-so-mi-so" quadruplet ("Alberti accompaniment") many times in succession, very fast (as in the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata). The sequence you practice is CGEGC, where the last C is the conjunction. Since the conjunction is the same as the first note, you can "cycle" this quadruplet indefinitely without stopping. If you practice the quadruplet slowly and gradually speed it up HS, you will hit a "speed wall", a speed beyond which everything breaks down and stress builds up. *The way to break this speed wall is to play the quadruplet as a single chord (CEG). You have gone from slow speed to infinite speed! This is called a chord attack.* Now you only have to learn to slow down, which is easier than speeding up because there is no speed wall when you are slowing down. The key is -- how do you slow down?
> 
> *First play the chord and bounce the hand up and down at the frequency at which the quadruplet will be repeated* (say, between one and two times a second); this teaches the hand, wrist, arms, shoulder, etc., what they need to do for fast repetitions, and to exercise the appropriate muscles. Note that the fingers are now positioned correctly for fast playing; they are resting comfortably on the keys and slightly curled. Slow down and speed up the bounce frequency (even beyond the required speed!), noting how to alter the wrist, arm, fingers, etc., positions and motions to maximize comfort and avoid fatigue. If you feel fatigue after a while, then you are either doing something wrong, or else you have not yet acquired the technique of bouncing the chords. You will need to practice it until you can do that without tiring because if you can't do it for a chord, you will never do it for quadruplets.
> 
> Keep the fingers close to or on the keys as you increase speed. Get your whole body involved; shoulders, upper and lower arms, wrist. The sensation is to play from your shoulders and arms, not your fingertips. When you can play this softly, relaxed, fast, and without any feeling of fatigue, you have made progress. Make sure that you are playing perfect chords (all notes landing at the same time) because, without this kind of sensitivity, you will not have the accuracy to play fast. *It is important to practice the slow bounce because that is when you can work on the accuracy and relaxation. Accuracy improves faster at the slower speeds.* However, it is absolutely essential that you get up to fast speeds (if only briefly) before slowing down. When you slow down, try to maintain the same motions that were required at high speed, because that is what you need to ultimately practice."


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## Lukecash12

Continued:



> "Many teachers justifiably stress "quiet hands" as a desirable objective. *In this mode, the fingers do most of the playing, with the hands moving very little. Quiet hands is the litmus test for technique acquisition.* The elimination of unnecessary motions not only allows faster play, but also increases control. Many of Bach's music were designed for practicing quiet hands. Some of the unexpected fingerings indicated on the music score were chosen so as to be compatible with, or facilitate, quiet hands play. Some teachers impose quiet hand playing on all students at all times, even for beginners, but such an approach is counter-productive because you can't play quiet hands slowly so there is no way to teach it at slow speed. The student feels nothing and wonders why it is any good. When playing slowly, or if the student does not have sufficient technique, some extra motion is unavoidable, and is appropriate. To force the hands to be motionless under those conditions would only make it more difficult to play and create stress. Those who already have quiet hands technique can add a lot of motion without detriment when playing slowly or fast. Some teachers try to teach quiet hands by placing a coin on the hand to see if it is quiet enough so that the coin will not fall off. This method certainly demonstrates the teacher's recognition of the importance of quiet hands, but it does nothing for the student. If you are playing Bach at full speed using quiet hands, a coin placed on your hand will immediately fly off. Only when playing beyond a certain speed does quiet hands become obvious to the pianist, and necessary. When you acquire quiet hands for the first time, it is absolutely unmistakable, so don't worry about missing it. The best time to teach the student what quiet hands means, is when playing sufficiently fast so that you can feel the quiet hands. Once you have it, you can then apply it to slow play; you should now feel that you have much more control and a lot more free time between notes. Thus quiet hands is not any specific motion of the hand but a feeling of control and the near total absence of speed walls.
> 
> In the case of the Bach pieces discussed here, the quiet hands become necessary at speeds close to final speed; obviously, the speeds were chosen with quiet hands in mind. Without it, you will start to hit speed walls at the recommended speeds. HS practice is important for quiet hands because it is much easier to acquire and feel it in your hands when played HS, and because HS play allows you to get to quiet hands speed more quickly than HT. In fact, it is best not to start HT until you can play in the quiet hands mode with both hands because this will reduce the chances of locking in bad habits. That is, HT with or without quiet hands is different, so that you don't want to get into the habit of playing HT without quiet hands. Those with insufficient technique may take too long a time to attain quiet hands, so that such students may have to start HT without quiet hands; they can then gradually acquire quiet hands at a later time, by using more HS practice. This explains why those with sufficient technique can learn these inventions so much faster than those without. Such difficulties are some of the reasons for not trying to learn pieces that are too difficult for you, and provide useful tests for whether the composition is too difficult or appropriate for your skill level. Those with insufficient technique will certainly risk building up speed walls. Although some people claim that the Bach Inventions can be played "at any speed", that is true only for their musical content; these compositions need to be played at their recommended speeds in order to take full advantage of the technical lessons that Bach had in mind. There is an over-emphasis on speed in this section because of the need to demonstrate/achieve quiet hands; however, do not practice speed for speed's sake since that will not work because of stress and bad habits; musical play is still the best way to increase speed -- see section III.7.9.
> 
> For those with stronger RHs, quiet hands will come first with the RH; once you know the feel, you can transfer it to the LH more quickly. Once it kicks in, you will suddenly find that playing fast becomes easier. This is why HT practice doesn't work for learning new Bach pieces -- there is no way to get to quiet hands quickly HT.
> 
> Bach wrote these Inventions for technical development. Thus he gave both hands equally difficult material; this provides more challenges for the LH because the bass hammers and strings are heavier. Bach would have been mortified to see exercises such as the Hanon series because he knew that exercises without music would be a waste of time, as demonstrated by the effort he put into these compositions to incorporate music. The amount of technical material he crammed into these compositions is incredible: finger independence (quiet hands, control, speed), coordination as well as independence of the two hands (multiple voices, staccato vs legato, colliding hands, ornaments), harmony, making music, strengthening the LH as well as the weaker fingers (fingers 4 and 5), all major parallel sets, uses of the thumb, standard fingerings, etc. Note that the ornamentals are parallel set exercises; they are not just musical ornaments but are an integral part of technical development. Using the ornaments, Bach asks you to practice parallel sets with one hand while simultaneously playing another part with the other hand, and producing music with this combination!
> 
> Be careful not to play Bach too loud, even where F is indicated. Instruments of his time produced much less sound than modern pianos so that Bach had to write music that is filled with sound, and with few breaks. One of the purposes of the numerous ornaments and trills used in Bach's time was to fill in the sound. Thus his music tends to have too much sound if played loudly on modern pianos. Especially with Inventions and Sinfonias, in which the student is trying to bring out all the competing melodies, there is a tendency to play each succeeding melody louder, ending up in loud music. The different melodies must compete on the basis of musical concept, not loudness. Playing more softly will also help to achieve total relaxation and true finger independence."


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## Lukecash12

And now, the explanation of the TO (thumb over) technique:



> "Let us start by analyzing the basic fingering of scales. Consider the RH, C major scale. We begin with the easiest part, which is the RH descending scale, played 5432132,1432132,1 etc. Since the thumb is below the hand, the 3 or 4 finger rolls over the thumb easily, the thumb naturally folds under those fingers, and this descending scale fingering works well. This motion is basically the TU motion; the TO descending motion is similar, but we will need to make a slight but crucial modification to this in order to make it into a true TO method, but that subtle modification will be difficult to understand until we master the TO method. Thus the difference between TU and TO for the RH descending scale is very subtle.
> 
> Now consider the RH, C major ascending scale. This is played 1231234, etc. *In the TO method, the thumb is played just like the 3 and 4 fingers; i.e., it is simply raised and lowered without the sideways TU motion under the palm.* Since the thumb is shorter than the other fingers, it can be brought down almost parallel to (and just behind) the passed finger without colliding with it. In order to hit the thumb on the right key, you will need to move the hand and use a slight twitch of the wrist. For scales such as the C major, both the thumb and passed finger are on white keys and will necessarily crowd each other somewhat. In order to avoid any possibility of collision, the 3 or 4 finger must be quickly moved away as the thumb comes down. This is the operation that must be practiced in order to play a smooth TO scale. In the TO method, it is not possible to hold the 3 or 4 finger down until the thumb plays, unlike the TU method, and the thumb cannot pass over these fingers. For these reasons, some people object to the name TO because it is misleading, but I have not been able to find a better name. When you first try the TO method, the scale will be uneven and there may be a "gap" when playing the thumb. *The trick in learning the TO method is to reduce this "gap" so that it becomes inaudibly small.* Therefore, the transition must be very quick even in a scale played slowly. As you improve, you will notice that a quick flick/rotation of the wrist/arm is helpful. Beginners usually find TO to be easier than TU, but those who learned TU for many years will find TO difficult and uneven.
> 
> The logic behind the TO method is the following. *The thumb is used like any other finger.* The thumb only moves up and down. This simplifies the finger motions and, in addition, the hand, arms, and elbows do not need to contort to accommodate the thumb movements. Thus the hand and arm maintain their optimum angle to the keyboard at all times and simply glide up and down with the scale. Without this simplification, technically difficult passages can become impossible, especially because you still need to add new hand motions to attain such speeds, and many of these motions are incompatible with TU. Most importantly, *the movement of the thumb to its correct location is controlled mostly by the hand* whereas in the TU method, it is the compound motion of the thumb and hand that determines the thumb location. Because the hand motion is smooth, the thumb is positioned more accurately than with the TU method, thus reducing missed notes and hitting of wrong notes and at the same time bestowing better tone control to the thumb. Also, the ascending scale becomes similar to the descending scale, because you always roll the fingers over for passing. This also makes it easier to play hands together since all fingers of both hands are always rolling over. Another bonus is that the thumb can now play a black key. It is this large number of simplifications, the elimination of the stress that results from the paralyzed thumb, and other advantages discussed below, that reduce the potential for mistakes and enable faster play. There are exceptions: slow, legato passages, or some scales containing black keys, etc., are executed more comfortably with a TU-like motion. *Most students who had used only TU will initially have a terrible time trying to understand how anyone can play anything TO.* This is the clearest indication of the harm done by not learning TO; for these students, the thumb is not "free" as explained below. We shall see that the free thumb is a very versatile finger. But don't despair, because it turns out that most advanced TU students already know how to play TO -- they just don't know it.
> 
> The LH is the reverse of the RH; the TO method is used for the descending scale, and the ascending scale is somewhat similar to TU. If your RH is more advanced than the LH, perform the explorations to faster TO speeds using the RH until you decide exactly what to do, then pick up that motion with the LH.
> 
> Because students without teachers have difficulty visualizing TO, we examine a video clip comparing TO and TU here:
> The video shows my RH playing two octaves TO, ascending and descending, played twice. This is then repeated using TU. To non-pianists, these may appear to be essentially the same, although the TU motion was slightly exaggerated. This illustrates why videos of piano motions are not as helpful as one might think. The TO motions ascending are basically correct. The TO motions descending has one error -- a slight bending of the nail phalange of the thumb. At these moderate speeds, this slight bending does not affect the play, but in strict TO, the thumb should remain straight for both ascending and descending play. This example illustrates the importance of learning TO as early as possible. My tendency to bend the nail phalange is the result of using only TU for many decades, before I learned TO. An important conclusion here is *keep the thumb straight at all times for TO.*"


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## Lukecash12

To finish this off (for now), here is some information on Post-practice Improvement, which should be very encouraging for frustrated pianists (I would practice for 6-9 hours a day when I started, and was very, very disheartened at the lack of progress):



> "*There is only a specific amount of improvement you can expect during practice at one sitting,* because there are two major ways in which you improve. The first one is the obvious improvement that comes from learning the notes and motions, resulting in immediate improvement. This occurs for passages for which you already have the technique to play. The second one is called post practice improvement (PPI) that results from physiological changes as you acquire new technique. This is a slow process of change that occurs over weeks or months because it requires the growth of nerve and muscle cells.
> 
> Therefore, as you practice, try to gauge your progress so that you can quit and go to something else as soon as a point of diminishing returns is reached, usually in less than 10 minutes. *Like magic, your technique will keep improving by itself for at least several days after a good practice.* Therefore, if you had done everything right, then, when you sit at the piano the next day, you should discover that you can now play better. If this happens for just one day, the effect is not that big. However, the cumulative effect of this occurring over months or years can be huge.
> 
> It is usually more profitable to practice several things at one sitting and let them all improve simultaneously (while you are not practicing!), than working too hard on one thing. Over-practicing can actually hurt your technique if it leads to stress, bad habits or injury. You do have to practice a certain minimum amount, about a hundred repetitions, for PPI to take effect. But because we are talking about a few bars played at speed, practicing dozens or hundreds of times should take only a few minutes. Therefore, don't fret if you practice hard but don't see much immediate improvement. This might be normal for that particular passage. If you can't find anything wrong with what you are doing, it is time to stop and let PPI take over, after making sure that you made enough repetitions for PPI. Also, be sure to practice relaxed because you don't want PPI of a stressed motion.
> 
> There are many types of PPI depending on what is holding you back. One of the ways in which these different types manifest themselves is in the length of time over which PPI is effective, which varies from one day to many months. The shortest times may be associated with conditioning, such as the use of motions or muscles you had not used before, or memory issues. Intermediate times of several weeks may be associated with new nerve connections, such as HT play. Longer times may be associated with actual growth of brain/nerve/muscle cells, and conversion of slow to fast muscle cell types (see section III.7.1).
> 
> You must do everything right to maximize PPI. Many students do not know the rules and can negate the PPI with the result that, when they play the next day, it comes out worse. Most of these mistakes originate from incorrect use of fast and slow practice; therefore, we will discuss the rules for choosing the right practice speeds in the following sections. Any stress or unnecessary motion during practice will also undergo PPI and can become a bad habit. The most common mistake students make to negate PPI is to play fast just before quitting practice. The last thing you do before quitting should be the most correct and best example of what you want to achieve, which usually a moderate to slow speed. *Your last run-through seems to have an inordinately strong PPI effect.* The methods of this book are ideal for PPI, mainly because they emphasize practicing only those segments that you cannot play. If you play HT slowly and ramp up the speed for a long section, PPI is insufficiently conditioned because you don't have enough time to make the necessary number of repetitions. In addition, the PPI process becomes confused because you mix a large proportion of easy material with the small amount of difficult ones and the speed, motions, etc., are also incorrect.
> 
> PPI is nothing new; let's look at three well-known examples: the body builder, marathoner, and golfer. While lifting weights, the body builder's muscles don't grow; he will in fact lose weight. But during the following weeks, the body will react to the stimulus and add muscle. All the muscle growth occurs after the exercise. Thus the body builder does not measure how much muscle he gained or how much more weight he can lift at the end of the exercise, but instead concentrates on whether the exercise produces the appropriate conditioning. The difference here is that for piano, we are developing coordination and speed instead of strength and bulk muscle. Thus, whereas the bodybuilder wants to grow the slow muscles, the pianist wants to convert the slow muscles into fast ones. Another example is the marathon runner. If you had never run a mile in your life, and tried it for the first time, you might be able to jog for a quarter mile before you need to slow down for a rest. After some rest, if you tried to run again, you will still tire out in a quarter mile or less. Thus the first run resulted in no discernible improvement. However, the next day, you may be able to run a third of a mile before tiring -- you have just experienced PPI. This is how marathoners condition themselves to be able to eventually run 26 miles. Golfers are familiar with the phenomenon in which they can hit the ball well one day, but terribly the next because they picked up a bad habit. Thus hitting the driver (the most difficult club) too many times tends to ruin your swing, whereas practicing with the #5 wood (a much easier club) can restore it; therefore it is important to practice with a easier club before quitting practice. The analogy in piano is that playing fast, full tilt, tends to ruin the PPI whereas practicing simpler material (short sections HS) tends to improve it.
> 
> PPI occurs mainly during sleep. You can not repair your car while driving it on a highway; likewise, most of the growth and maintenance of the body cannot occur during the waking hours. Sleep is not only for resting, but also for growth and maintenance of the body. This sleep must be the normal, over-night type with all of its major components, especially REM sleep. Babies need so much sleep because they are growing rapidly. You may not get good PPI if you did not sleep well that night. The best routine for using PPI may be to practice in the evening for conditioning and then reviewing it the next morning. PPI is triggered by cell death; hard practice causes premature cell death, and the body over-compensates for this in case there are more cell deaths. You might think that 100 repetitions can't possibly cause cell death, but cells are always being replaced, and any extra work will increase this replacement rate."


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## hlolli

WOW this is a treasure!! THANKS!


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## Lukecash12

hlolli said:


> WOW this is a treasure!! THANKS!


You are very welcome. If you've read through all of that, have some questions about it, want some more good tips and tricks, just let me know.


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## Lukecash12

And now, something I forgot to mention. How to perfect your transitions more quickly:



> "*When practicing one segment, always include the beginning of the following segment.* This continuity rule ensures that when you have learned two adjacent segments, you can also play them together. It applies to any segment you isolate for practice, such as a bar, an entire movement, or even to segments smaller than a bar. *A generalization of the continuity rule is that any passage may be broken up into short segments for practice, but these segments must overlap. The overlapping note or group of notes is called the conjunction.* If you are practicing the end of the first movement, then include a few bars of the beginning of the second movement. During a recital, you will be glad that you had practiced in this way; otherwise, you might suddenly find yourself stumped on how to start the 2nd movement!
> 
> We can now apply the continuity rule to those difficult interruptions in Fur Elise. To practice bar 53, add the first note of bar 54 (E played with finger 1), which is the conjunction. Since all the difficult sections are for the RH, find some LH material to practice, even from a different piece of music, in order to give the RH periodic rests by switching hands."


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## howlingmadhowie

i think the most important thing is to listen. a student who is happy with second rate will never become a first-rate pianist. it doesn't matter what technical exercises they do. while by the same measure, a student who insists on getting it right already is first-rate.

i also find something like hanon (or any repetitive dull and boring exercises) to be excellent fodder for advanced students. if you can make them sound alive and graceful, then you really are a great musician.


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## Lukecash12

howlingmadhowie said:


> i think the most important thing is to listen. a student who is happy with second rate will never become a first-rate pianist. it doesn't matter what technical exercises they do. while by the same measure, a student who insists on getting it right already is first-rate.
> 
> i also find something like hanon (or any repetitive dull and boring exercises) to be excellent fodder for advanced students. if you can make them sound alive and graceful, then you really are a great musician.


Actually, it does matter what you practice with. Practice is to build technical skill, strength, musicality, and endurance. Hanon doesn't supply all of that. Maybe if you were to play Hanon, but stress different beats in each measure, play HS and then HT maybe. But it really isn't that excellent as far as fodder goes. I'd much rather start off with Bach's Inventions, WTC, keyboard concertos, Liszt's first set of etudes, some of Mozart's piano concertos, Handel's Messiah (there are a few good versions where the orchestra is transcribed into Organ and Piano). It's not quite as intuitive as we would all like to think.

Also, learning the piano is something you take into your own hands. Not only do you need to listen, but feverishly research everything you can. Just because a person is your teacher, it doesn't necessarily mean he/she is an expert.


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## howlingmadhowie

I'm just saying what you practise is far less important than how you practise it. 

i'm not a big fan of practising stresses in some mere technical exercise. the problem with technical exercises as i see it is that they get relegated to the category "boring necessity", at which point they do more harm than good.

i find it better to give students things they want to play well.


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