Chaining Backwards and Forwards

Your brain needs a goal to get you moving. Just strolling around your neighborhood with no goal in mind has a very different feel to running to catch someone when playing tag. Identifying the goal of the phrase when you are playing or singing can coordinate your body and mind, making difficult passages fly. Imagine a difficult chromatic scale going up to a high note, then dropping down in an arpeggio to where it began. Take the high note as the goal of this phrase. Play the note LONG until is easy, familiar and becomes “home” to you. Then go on to try backward and forward chaining.
Backward chaining means playing the high note first, then adding a few notes before it, then a few more, until it becomes clear that the whole scale leads easily to the high note.
Forward chaining is starting at the high note, then adding a few notes of the arpeggio after it, then a few more, etc. Until the whole movement down from the high note to the low feels effortless. It is good to stop there, and take a break to let it all sink in!

Thanks to Dr. Ben van Cranenburgh, neurologist, for this tip.