A practicing Tip, thats helped with music sheet playing

[Anonymous]

If you are learning to play the music sheet of a new song, and the music sheet is very difficult, then a simple procedure is to practice playing it forwards, starting with the 1st bar. You Learn to play the 1st bar first, then learn to play the 2nd bar next and then practice playing the first two bars. Then learn to play the 3rd bar next and then practice playing the first three bars. Etc.. practicing the next new bar and repeating the process until you can play through the whole music sheet.

However, sometimes in the music sheet you can come across a very difficult phrase running across several bars anything up to four bars, played in one breath, with lots of embellishments (Turns, slurs etc inside the whole phrase). Just trying to learn the phrase going forward bar by bar can be a real nightmare, because each time you learn a new bar in the phrase, you hit a mental wall.

Big Tip…

Instead of practicing learning to play the phrase by playing it forwards bar by bar, from the beginning of the phrase.

START AT THE END BAR OF THE PHRASE AND PRACTICE PLAYING IT BACKWARDS BAR BY BAR TO THE END OF THE PHRASE.

EX – say the phrase starts in bar 1 and ends in bar 4.
Start at the end of the phrase, so practice learning to play bar 4 first.
Then learn to play bar 3, when you can do that, then practice playing bars 3 & 4.
Then learn to play bar 2, when you can do that, then practice playing bars 2, 3 & 4.
Then finally learn to play bar 1, when you can do that, then practice playing bars 1, 2, 3 & 4.

You have to try this method to see how much easier it is to master the phrase going backwards bar by bar.

The problem with learning to play the phrase going forwards bar by bar, is at the end of each new bar, you leave the phrase hanging in the air, which creates a mental wall at the end of each new bar.

Whereas by starting with the last bar, you bring the phrase to a natural conclusion of rest (theres no wall, its like a song coming to the end by returning to to root of the scale). Then when you practice the 2nd to last bar of the phrase, you can play the last two bars of the phrase bringing it to normal conclusion (no more walls)
Gradually a mental picture of the whole phrase builds up in your mind.

This tip was passed onto to me this week by my Pro, who discovered it himself early in his career when he came across difficult sections of music.

I was struggling to play a phrase 4 bars in length, played in one breath, with lots of slurred notes, combined with Turns, it was so hard for me learn it bar by bar going forwards, that i gave up – which is when i was showed this tip, and believe it or not,
i could finally play through the whole phrase.

And finally, when you practice using this approach, if you are learning a bar that contains a couple of phrases, learn to play the last phrase in the bar first, and then learn the first phrase in the bar next, so that when you can play the 1st phrase in the bar, you can then follow through playing the last phrase in the bar.

[saxomonica]

Noice, from eggs to apples 🙂
Thank you ever so much for sharing, i shall certainly give it a swing and settle into it; indeed, yours in appreciation.

[Anonymous]

if you find something useful, share it with others,
it’s not the ‘Magic Circle’ where you don’t reveal
anything for fear of others getting better than you.

Small acorns sprout huge oaks.

[Author]

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