Practicing Fast

I’ve always been a firm advocate of slow, deliberate practice. By practicing slowly, we leave a more lasting impression in our minds and are able to recall musical patterns and ideas more easily, thereby helping us to be able to play faster in actual performances. It only makes sense that something that is easier can be played faster. Practicing fast, on the other hand, has less staying power and far fewer benefits than slower, more deliberate practice. People who practice fast tend to have a more difficult time remembering what they practice and are less confident in general. They tend to play sloppy and everything they play is a chore. So all of my life I have avoided practicing fast. 
 

Driving or Walking

Every once in a while, I like to go on really long walks. Some of these walks have been as long as fifteen miles but most of them average between five and seven miles. Usually I have someone drop me off at a place where I normally drive to, then I walk home. In many cases, these walks home covered routes which I had previously driven literally hundreds of times before. It’s amazing how much more you can see when you walk. Without exception, every one of those walks showed me interesting aspects of those routes which I had never noticed before. There are dozens of businesses and restaurants which we now patronize that I never would have known about if not for one of these walks.

The same thing happens when you practice. The slower you practice, the better you remember what you’re practicing. If you take what you’re practicing slow enough for you to concentrate on every note, individually, then you will remember that music much more thoroughly than if you practice it faster. With many repetitions, you become extremely familiar with the music and learn it as if it is part of you. When you play music you’ve learned in this way, the music flows from you with the kind of freedom of expression that most of us want in our playing.
 

Playing Faster Through Familiarity

Recognizing Mistakes

Patience, Restraint and Maturity

Repetition

I think a lot of people misunderstand this approach. When I slow something like this down, it is not for the purpose of "learning" the music. In this case,  I already know this music. The reason for playing it over and over again, at such a slow tempo, is to program the fingering sequences into my mind. By practicing at this tempo, I guarantee a high level of accuracy and by doing so many repetitions I am enforcing that kind of accuracy in a way which will show in my performances of this piece. 

I also do the same thing with complete solos, one week before the performance. If I am performing a solo or a recital, then I usually have all of the music learned by at least a month before the performance. Then, during the time right before the performance, I run through all of the music, over and over again, in it’s entirety, but at a tempo a couple notches beneath the tempo I’ll be performing it at. This helps connect all of the passages and helps me see the entire work as one piece. It also helps me to relax on those pieces. It allows me to be more deliberate in the way I play.
 

Summary