Secret Enemy of the Pianist - Do You Know What It Is?

You've been practicing your recital piece, and you know it really well. You love playing it over and over again. You realize that you are able to play it really fast! You must be amazing at it to be able to go so fast! Every time you walk by the piano, you quickly play your recital piece. Really fast! It's so fun to play it fast like that!

STOP!

NOOOOO!

DON'T DO IT!!

What do I mean, stop?

I mean, STOPPP! Don't play your piece fast!! It's the worst thing you can do before a recital, and I can prove it.

Try going to the piano and playing your piece slowly after you've been whipping out lots of fast run-throughs. Go ahead and try! Notice anything?

I will GUARANTEE you that you will make lots of mistakes and say something like, "I can't play it slow. I need to go fast." If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that, I would be able to buy a second home on the beach.

Why does this happen? Aren't you better at a piece if you can play it fast? Why does it matter that you can't play it slowly?

Your fingers and arms have muscle memory. This muscle memory was developed when you were playing your piece slowly. Now you can fly through your piece because of muscle memory. But when you slow it down in performance, and you feel nervous, this WILL NOT WORK. Your muscle memory is not reliable when you are nervous...especially if you've been confusing it by playing fast all the time.

If you really want to play your recital piece fast and wow all of your friends and relatives, wait until AFTER the recital to do it. Before the recital, you need to make yourself play slowly and carefully. Pay attention to what you're doing instead of mindlessly running through your piece. You'll be SO GLAD you did when you are able to play well in the recital. 

Trust me on this. 

Here's an article on another blog about this very thing: Is Slow Practice Really Necessary?