REPEATED NOTE GROUP PRACTICE METHOD

From Pianostreet.com 
REPEATED NOTE GROUP PRACTICE METHOD
From pianostreet.com

1. When working in small sections the most important consideration that overrides everything else is overlapping (this is another thing that for some weird reason people seem not to want to do). So rather than bars 1- 4 bars 5 – 8 and bars 9-12, one should do bars 1 – 4, bars 4 –8 and bars 8 – 12 (say).

2. Unless this was counterpoint, I would try to complete bars 1-4 HS and HT in the same session. 2nd session bars 4 – 8 HS and HT, 3rd session bars 1 – 8 HT (no HS – it should not be necessary) 4th session bars 8 – 12 HS and 5th session bars 1 – 12 HT. My aim is actually to play the piece as written as soon as possible and do all the minutiae only on the very basic, shortest sections. As soon as I get to larger sections (like the 3rd and 5th session above) the “technical” aspects (things like fingering, speed, movement) should have been mastered and I will then concentrate on the more musical aspects (which really consist of only dynamics and agogics – in the piano there is nothing else you can do).

3. However you seem to have grasped the general ideas, and now you are worried about the minutiae of the process. These I cannot specify much more. Even If I knew the piece, you may be able to learn it in a slightly different way from me. I might be able to get away with certain shortcuts you may not and vice versa. So the best way – as I said many times – to settle the matter once and for all is to work on two pieces of similar difficulty using both alternative ways of practising. Keep a journal (pretty much like a scientist would) and compare results after a couple of weeks. The results may show that it makes a huge difference or that it does not make that much difference. It may also be that at the level you are comparing now that one person may have excellent results while another has poor results with the same approach. But who really cares how the approach works for other people? It is you who has to play the piano, so only your results matter.

4. 12 bars may be a small section – it depends on the piece. For instance even a complete beginner should be able to learn the first 12 bars of Satie’s gymnopedie in one session (15 – 20 minutes). Then again, 4 bars may be impossibly large – for instance the prelude of Bach’s partita no. 1 I would start with half a bar per session. Then it also depends on the level of the person. Someone who has mastered the basic advanced repertory (Chopin Etudes, Beethoven sonatas, Bach WTC) should be able to learn the whole of Satie’s Gymnopedie in 10 minutes probably without any practice tricks whatsoever, just by reading the piece from beginning to end. In fact I would expect such a person to sit down away from the piano, read the score, and memorise the whole piece from the score, and then go to the piano and play the whole thing from memory, and the whole process should not take more then 15 – 20 minutes. S/he may or may not be able to pull the same trick with a Bach fugue though…


If I number the notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

You can do these groups:

1 2
2 3
3 4
4 5
5 6
6 7
7 8
8 9
9 10
10 11
11 12
13 14
14 15

1 2 3
2 3 4
4 5 6
6 7 8
7 8 9
8 9 10
9 10 11
10 11 12
11 12 13
12 13 14
13 14 15

1 2 3 4
2 3 4 5
3 4 5 6
4 5 6 7
5 6 7 8
6 7 8 9
7 8 9 10
8 9 10 11
9 10 11 12
10 11 12 13
11 12 13 14
12 13 14 15

1 2 3 4 5
2 3 4 5 6
3 4 5 6 7
4 5 6 7 8
5 6 7 8 9
6 7 8 9 10
7 8 9 10 11
8 9 10 11 12
9 10 11 12 13
10 11 12 13 14
11 12 13 14 15

1 2 3 4 5 6
2 3 4 5 6 7
3 4 5 6 7 8
4 5 6 7 8 9
5 6 7 8 9 10
6 7 8 9 10 11
7 8 9 10 11 12
8 9 10 11 12 13
9 10 11 12 13 14
10 11 12 13 14 15


see how that breaks down? Then, for each group (that is, each line above) you use the various techniques to play through them, repeating the number of times necessary to master it.

So you can see how it could take so long to get through the entire "set" of groups, so make sure you have time before you start, because you have to make it through the entire set in one sitting. (Be sure to alternate hands and use any possible time savers for your particular passage)
From Pianostreet.com