Make No Mistakes

Make no mistakes
This tip sounds obvious: why would we practice mistakes? Yet, if you walk through the hallway of any conservatory, you will hear repeated mistakes streaming out of the practice rooms to the right and left of you. Whatever your practice, you will keep. It takes some thought to practice in a way that you can teach your body and brain only what you want it to learn. There are some tactics that you may already know that you can use much more often.

Make it simple: take a section of a piece, or one voice of a polyphonic part, and play it clearly in a tempo that you can process it both mentally and physically. Only then go on to another part or voice. In order to make no mistakes you may have to simplify the phrase or cut the phrase in smaller sections. Learn them one by one then take a break to let it sink in.

You can look at the music in different ways as well.
Change your viewpoint: Play or sing the notes in a different order than they are on the page. Find the patterns or sequences and play then at different pitches.

Play the context: If there is an accompaniment, play the chord or pattern under your note, and find out how the note fits in to the harmony. You will notice that the note changes in feeling and character when harmonies change under it.

Mainly remember that if you pay attention to what you are doing it works much better! Less is more here: play less if you need to, but use your attention, and take frequent breaks!

Above all do not immediately “test” what you are learning by playing it through fast and complex right away. After you have played what you can without mistakes, leave it to another day. Sleeping on it makes what you learned sink in.

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