Kinds of Practice

4. Performing Time:
“. . . playing the entire piece without stopping . . . . The goal is to concentrate on the act of musical performance itself.”

a. This stage should only be used for pieces that can be played almost perfectly. With the ratio in mind of up to twenty slow run-through's rewarded with one run-through at full tempo, we see that few of us adequately prepare our performances.

b. When we perform, we have only one chance. So, no matter what happens, keep going to the end of the piece! We do not have the luxury of five warm-ups in front of an audience. When you finish, you can go back to the “building” stage to fix sections that may have been weak, but do not “perform” it again for at least thirty minutes.