(22) Slow Play

Slow play can waste a lot of time; if you play twice as fast, you practice twice as often, so why practice something you don't need at full speed? To make slow play pay off, combine many objectives into each slow practice:

(1) Slow play is beneficial to good technique, especially for practicing relaxation and correct keystroke [(11) Basic Key Stroke; Legato, Staccato].

(2) It reinforces memory because there is time for the playing signals to travel from the fingers to the brain and back several times before succeeding notes are played. Always practicing at fast speed will only reinforce hand memory and will not help true memory: slow play is an insurance against blackouts.

(3) Practice thinking ahead of the music you are playing, which provides more control over the performance and can even enable you to anticipate impending flubs. Think at least one bar ahead of the music and practice feeling the keys before playing, to guarantee 100% accuracy [(28) Jumps, PP, FF, Feeling the Keys].

(4) It is one of the best ways to erase bad habits that were picked up during fast practice [(27) Fast Play Degradation, Eliminating Bad Habits].

(5) Practice the ability to detach yourself from the music, and mentally wander around and multi-task, such as looking around or talking to someone.

(6) Always end a practice session with slow play. Repeat: the last run- through of any practice session should be slow, especially when practicing for speed, memory, or performance preparation [(47) Performance Preparation, Videotaping]. Though one of the simplest, this is one of the most important rules of piano practice.

Suppose you are practicing a Parallel Set, speeding it up, having repeated it 20 times, and want to switch hands. Play it once or twice at slow speed before switching. If you just played one of your favorite pieces at full speed and you want to preserve it in perfect condition, play the entire piece slowly before going on to something else. Always play the recital pieces slowly after practicing them, especially during the week before the recital. After a recital, if you need to play the same pieces again soon, play them slowly at least once as soon as possible. Apply this rule all the time, not only before recitals, because its cumulative benefits over years are enormous.

Why this method is so unbelievably effective is not completely understood; some reasons are:

(1) it is free of bad habits (but you must make sure to use the same motions as required at faster speed),

(2) this improves true memory, and reduces hand memory,

(3) it erases the bad habits developed during fast play,

(4) the last run-through during practice has an inordinately strong effect on technique compared to preceding run throughs possibly because each run-through partially erases preceding run-throughs. This means that you should pay special attention to the last run- through, and

(5) this effect is cumulative so that it can build up to enormous benefits after extended periods (years).