What is the most effective way of learning new material? I've been beginning to feel lately that I'm getting slow to pick things up accurately, and I'm scared that if I don't make much progress, I'll mess up the performance elements of my degree, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. How do you all learn new pieces and improve the ones you play at the moment?

I do a sight-read through, then start to break it up into sections. Do separate hand work, and maybe build up exercises around tricky parts. I'm on a memorizing roll at the moment, so I try to build up the memorizing from the start.

To improve current pieces, I try to memorize them. I find this improves them no end, but find I need to go back to the music quite regularly to check it's still accurate.

I recommend that you start by playing the piece through just to get an idea; OK, this is sight-reading, and it might be a disaster, but at least you've felt your way right through the work. Secondly, I'd identify anything interesting about the structure: do any sections/bars repeat, are there variations on a particular section etc. Obviously if bars and sections repeat, you should identify these so that you don't end up learning things twice. Obviously identify the key signature, time signature and tempo etc. You may want to play the scales and arpeggios which belong to that key as well if you know them.

After that, I would divide the piece into manageable sections - maybe 4 or 8 bars at a time - labelling these section A, B etc. is a good idea - if you have repeated sections then label them with the same letter. Sometimes it is worth taking the music away from the piano to do this - a bit like working out how you solve a maths problem, before actually doing it.

They key then is to try to accomplish the individual sections - don't necessarily start with section A - look to see which is the simplest first, then after that decide whether you will build the piece up using sections which get harder or whether you will mix learning easy and harder sections together.

Some people find it very difficult to focus only on small sections. Sometimes, covering up the rest of the music is a good idea so that you are only focussing on that section at a time. If you come up against a particular difficulty, then focus in very closely on what it is which is causing the problem. Simply playing the section or the bar over and over again is unlikely to solve the problem; quite often doing that you simply keep practising the mistake. Sometimes finding or building an exercise around the problem is useful.

When you begin to accomplish sections individually, start joining them together, and as you build the piece up, start to play from different places. For example, try beginning in bar 3 instead of bar 1; play through to the end and then go straight back to bars 1 and 2 to finish. I know this sounds daft, but it helps you a lot if you go wrong in a piece: if you only learn the piece from beginning to end, always starting and ending in the same place, what happens if you go wrong in the middle? Can you pick it up from there if you've only ever started from the beginning.

Obviously, there are lots of methods, and it will depend on the individual piece.

David

This is for piano. There is nothing original here. It is been known for hundreds of years. I have simply discovered, belatedly, that it works. I am in danger of becoming very boring - as I repeat the same advice!

There are many stories of immensely able musicians that can hear a piece once, play it immediately, and remember it forever. I haven't met one yet. I think it would be safe to bet that few readers of this post fall into that group.

The method below is not revolutionary. It is not exciting - except insofar that something that works is exciting, and it needs patience, discipline, and faith:

1. Study the score to get an idea of the structure of the music, the key, the modulations, the time signature, the rhythms, the motifs and melodies, the harmonic movements ... Also consider when it was written, so what was the style of the time, how were tempo markings interpreted, how were ornaments realized. THese also varied from country to country, between composers, and even with the same composer at different periods.

2. Ideally get an idea of what it sounds like from reading the score. Alternatively listen to a recording or visit a concert (but don't be too influenced by one particular interpretation). If you absolutely must play through it then do so, but don't play through it twice - that is just practicing a semi-random fingering and an interpretation that has not been thought through.

3. Next pick a section to start work on. It does not have to be the beginning. Sometimes learning the finish and working backwards is good. Sometimes it is good to crack the technically hardest part first (especially if you have a performance deadline). Other times some central part will be the most meaningful part of the piece.

4. Now serious work begins. Divide the part you have decided to work on into short sections - short enough that after playing one of these shorter bits half a dozen times you'll be able to do the next couple of repeats without looking at the score. Make the sections overlap slightly, so that continuity is not a problem later. Then set to work. Your aim is to play each small section absolutely note perfect. Go as slowly as you have to to make this possible. Mark in your score any changes you need to make to the fingering. When the fingering is tied down and you have the notes repeat the section a few times. Then move on to the next one. And continue until you have completed your alloted work, or until you find you have lost concentration.

Do the same at your next session. You won't need as many repetitions, and you'll be better able to control the touch and dynamics. When you have a solid grasp you can start to play longer sections.

If you encounter something that is simply too difficult you may need to seek out a study that focuses on that skill, or technical exercises, or devise your own.

5. Proceed in this way until you have learned the entire piece. Continue to work on the musical meaning and the interpretation that you want to give.


I know that this all can seem tediously slow. It is very tempting, especially if you are a good sight reader, to simply play over the whole piece a few times a day until it becomes fluent. But doing things that way you never ever make the piece totally secure for performance, and you never penetrate into its inner secrets.


The slow and methodical method turns out to be the faster way to build secure, performable, and if you want it - memorized, repertoire. It also allows you to successfully tackle pieces that, if you have never worked this way before, appear to be far too difficult for your present level of ability.

hi soph

now, i'm learning traumerei by schumann

my way of learning new piece is start with phrasing and fingering
then i practise it with hands separately first
at first i really don't mention any dynamics and composer's notes (p,f,cresc,decresc,etc)
after i play the new piece fluently, then i'll take attention to interpretation

good luck!

I second dcm and mad tom's advice 100%. The only problem is sticking to it, always!

Print out Mad Tom's note 4 in bold and large print and stick it where you'll look at it every time.
Even then, I am often tempted to delude myself that I really know the short section; testing myself against a steadily ticking metronome generally reveals the horrible truth. Or playing a game like "7 stages of misery" from Philip Johnstone"s The Practice Revolution book (or look at his lovely website).

I feel I am a very slow learner ...!

I find that for pieces like fugues, it is best for me to work back from the end, usually in chunks of one or two bars. This way, you are working on something new, improving something you've just learnt and playing something that, by that time, you can play easily.

As well as that, I think it's helpful if you're trying to tackle a difficult bar, that once you've got over it you go straight into something you already know and it gets easier and easier.

Works for me anyway

Yup, this can be a useful technique!

I'm sure the method you outline is great for what you want to do - but as a good sightreader the whole point of music to me is to be able to sit down and play - which I do probably quite badly but with great enjoyment, by playing right through the whole piece. If there are shakey bits then I'll sort out the fingerings and mark them on for next time, maybe even practice a little. But then I don't dream of being good - to me it's more like exploring a box of chocolates by having a nibble at each. I get through heaps of music and look for those melting moments.

I understand what you are saying. I call it "pretending to play the piano" and it can be loads of fun, especially when plowing through books looking for gems. Unfortunately, it also turns out to be good training for turning your own inner ear off to all the non-rhythmical, unmusical sounds being produced in the process and for making early errors permanent. Instead of listening to the actual sound you are producing, you risk listening to your imagination or memory.

One key difference is that Mad Tom's style of practicing is absolutely maddening for those forced to listen to it, but his performances are probably quite secure, enjoyable and polished. Your practicing/reading might perhaps be less objectionable for those who have to hear it, but your performances would almost certainly not be so.

Kind of like opening the nice box of bon bons and seeing that someone selfish has taken a nibble off of each one and put them back in the box ruining both the box of chocolates and your own potential enjoyment. Arrgh!

sorry - that was me - I couldn't resist - and they tasted sooo much nicer because I knew it was wrong. (I left you the caramel).

You know what you want (the enjoyment of playing - mainly for yourself), you know how to achieve it (sight read with extra attention to difficult bits) and you are fully aware of both the strengths and weaknesses of what you are doing. There is nothing to criticize.

Few things in life are as maddening as suffering through the sound of a pianist practicing this way. That is why I do a lot of my practice at music practice rooms in an arts centre, and at home I do alot of the repetitive stuff on an electric piano on the earphones. My wife only is only subjected to abit of the repetitive stuff, but does get to hear the full speed, straight through rehearsals of entire pieces.


If only!

Having glanced at this topic, I'd like to enthusiastically endorse Mad Tom's advice. There's no secret to pianistic proficiency other than hard, focused work to absorb the fundamentals and polish the nuances of the music.

Give dcmbarton some credit too. His contribution to this thread shows that he thought carefully about what to say and how to present it. We are recommending much the same general approach, but express ourselves a little differently - and he emphasizes a lot of important detail that I don't even mention.

I read the reply given by D C M Barton and I would agree with him 100%. DCMB gives some very good advice here, and this is one regime that I have used countless times to great success. I would recommend that you follow DCMB's methodology, you will not be sorry and will be amazed at the progress you make. Others here have also given advice, some of which being loosely plagiarized from DCMB's method, but resist the temptation to try and utilise a mixture of methods. Adopt one and stick to it, and IMHO that should be DCMB's. Good Luck!!

Just thought I'd pick this up to see what other people think about this? I think about dynamics/articulation/interpretation right from the word 'go', rather than wait till the notes and timing are secure. Both things develop side by side, and I think I'd find it impossible to work any other way. The music is only music when this sort of thing is part of it, and surely if you don't allow it to emerge as you go along, you'll get very used to hearing the piece in your head as something very dull? Expression in music is not something we put in; it's something we allow to come out - and to hold this back till notes and timing are fluent, I think, is to deliberately hold back instinct. Maybe it's just too easy to get any sort of sound out of the piano; a good singer would struggle to sing a rising phrase without rising, as would a violinist - but young pianists need to think about this a little more - as they go along - as it's all too easy, on a piano, in the early stages, to play notes without thinking about the sound produced, and I think it's a teacher's job not to allow this to happen. A listener should be able to hear musicality even in a stumbling practice session.

I think it depends on the person, their stage of development, the piece, and the reason why you are learning it. Sometimes it is better to learn the notes, rhythms, fingering, and basic method of producing the sound (mainly fingers, wrist movement, weight transfer, forearms etc.) by playing quite strongly (to avoid notes failing to sound) without too much concern for details touch, phrasing, dynamics. Other times the opposite approach is needed - a fully musical rendition right from the start.

You just have to make a fresh judgement each time you start to learn a new piece.

Thanks so much for all your advice. I'm determined to really focus on this to try and make my playing more accurate!

i just want to play a piece fluently first (not stop in the middle of piece) then i won't let it dull
i'll consent on musicality and expression after that
by the way, thanks for the comment dulciana

Hey i think you shud enjoy while you're practice.Sometimes I feel like that too(FEELS LIKE NO PROGRESS).Im 1st grader violinist AND IM 14 and although sometimes I play crappy,at least I enjoy what Im playing.I know you want to practice perfectly but sometimes it makes you feel more frustrated and you may give up.Furthermore,I think you shud make your own timetable.Dont spend your most time on playing music.Everyday I play violin for 30 minutes to 1 hour or something like that cos you dont have to practice for long cos it will make you feel tired and bored of it.and try to listen to the song you want to play cos that will help.I always listen to Canon in D cos i want to play that song although im in grade 1 practical and guess what? I can play Canon in D like any other players but there are some parts I cant play LOL[/color]

So much of what's been said on this thread is good advice, especially mad Tom's post and dcmbartons, yet so much of what passes for 'practice' is really not practicing at all, but 'playing for pleasure'!

I am as guilty as the next person at claiming to be practicing, when in fact all I am doing is Alicia Oceans' 'chocolate box nibbling', at whatever I happen to find that looks interesting. But even this can have it's value - it certainly improves my sight-reading ability, and so long as I don't stop to correct every mistake, it also provides useful experienece at 'keeping going' - a skill vital in an exam sight-reading situation.

I always try to include all performance directions at the first attempt - dynamics, articulation, phrasing etc. Personally I find that if I overlook something the first time, and the second, this becomes a habit and I become 'blind' to the detail - the result is they get missd every time I play through that section in future.

Practice should be enjoyable certainly, but if it is to be of any benefit, it must also involve a degree of hard work and application to the task. So that's why I try to combine a bit of 'choc-box nibbling' with some serious practice at each session. Which probably explains why my practice sessions tend to go on for hour after hour...

The matter of dynamics, phrasing and articulation proably depends on whether you are trying to memorise the piece while you learn it. In the midst of learning a workable fingering and security of notes, we should be looking for landmarks in the piece to help in the memorisation process and these aspects can help especially if there are a number of repeated sections.

I'm throwing this into the mix more as a personal aspiration than because I do it; I'm reading around this topic at the moment and gaining a few insights from 'Practicing Perfection' by Chaffin, Imreh and Crawford.

Some useful insights on this thread, however.

Mel