Practice makes half perfect

I once shared a flat with an amateur pianist. She was good. Plenty of money had been spent on her lessons. Most days she would play - practice would be the wrong word. It was nearly always the same piece, by Brahms. Off she would go at a terrific rate, impressing me with her technique every time. And just as certainly she would always stop at the same bar. It was like a horse refusing a particularly high fence. Round she would go, starting again at the beginning, only for her hands to refuse at the same bar until, like an unseated rider, she would retire hurt.

Well, we've all done it, we amateur musicians. We start at the beginning and play until we get to a difficult bit, stop, start again at the beginning and stop in precisely the same place. It might almost be the definition of an amateur: someone who knows the beginning of many pieces.

Supposing we get to the end of the first section. Well, that's a repeat, isn't it. So off we go again and maybe we reach the end of the first section again without major mishap. Now for the second section. But first, a cup of tea. Or the phone goes. Eventually we go come back to the guitar and what do we do? Just to get up speed, so to speak - and because we like it and it's familiar - we play the first part again. And then, with a bit of luck, we tackle the second section. But this does not have a repeat so if we have more time we go back to the beginning. The result? The first section has been practised many times and eventually we play it quite well. Could this be a piece to add to a small repertoire suitable for playing to friends? Then we start to dream, perhaps of playing at a small concert somewhere or a summer school. Yes, I'll press on with this piece. Get it just right. I'll just play through that first section again, to see If I really have got it down .… and so it goes on and the second part never gets proper practice.

What can be done about this? It is tempting to say: 'Practise the other bit, stupid.' But I know from years of playing that this does not work. We play, first and foremost, for fun, however much we dream.

The blindingly obvious answer is to divide the music into sections. The less obvious one is: start with the second section. In fact, start at the end. It sounds odd, but it works. Take a chunk from the end, from a phrase to a movement, and play it until you get it right. Then take the preceding chunk and work that through, and so on until you arrive at the beginning.Play though the piece once, by all means, to get the overall idea and structure. On second thoughts, don't. Each time you are tempted just to 'play it through', don't (remember the horse that always refuses the same fence). Surprisingly, this approach can make the structure of the piece clearer, too. We recognise the germ of an idea that is developed later, and can then give it full weight.

We play for fun, and if it is not fun we might as well not do it. But it is so much more fun if we make progress.

Do I stick to this? Do I hell. But I try, and it helps.