Variety and Learning

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Every pianist has done it. We're caught up in a passage that just doesn't quite work for us. We practice and practice and it just doesn't seem to get any better. What can one do? 
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1. Vary the tempo. If you've spent a lot of time with it slow, speed it up a little. Even if you don't have all the notes quite right at that tempo, speeding it up a bit helps us to think groups of notes rather than individual notes. You begin to understand the relationship between notes in a passage. Play it a few times slow and then once or twice faster. The mental change helps us learn quicker.
2. Vary the rhythms. There is nothing more monotonous than playing the same phrase over and over. If your housemates, roommates, or person in the next practice room are complaining, you REALLY need to add some variety to your practice because your brain is saying the same thing. Make it fresh and make it different. Again, it is the mental change that helps you learn quicker.
3. Move on. Practice the section in shorter sessions rather than marathon sessions. Practice a trouble spot for fifteen minutes, then move to something completely different--even a different piece. Then go back again for another fifteen. Four shorter sessions broken up by something different is usually far more productive than spending an hour on the same thing going over and over.
4. Take a break. No, don't go play video games. Get up from the piano and take a walk to get a drink. Even just standing up. Your brain will still be processing the passage. Your body needs physical change. Crouching over a keyboard playing the same passage again and again doesn't let your body get the refreshing change it desires and we learn slower.
5. Call it a day. Sometimes, the most beneficial thing one can do on a troublesome passage is to "sleep on it." Your brain will continue to process the passage and you get necessary rest and refreshment. It seems counter-productive, but sometimes, stopping practice is much more productive than continuing practice.

These are five things I've found very helpful in working through tricky technical passages. Give them a try and see if they might help you to learn music faster and achieving the enjoyment conquering a tough passage brings.