Music Video Lesson: Why You Must Practice Perfectly 3 Times in a Row

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I'm Robert Estrin with such an interesting subject that can be important in your practice, which is why you must practice perfectly three times in a row.

Now, there's a little bit more to it than that, so stay watching this because this is really important for any of you who want to develop consistency in your playing.

Now, so often I have students and they start, you know, I'm working with them and they come to a thorny passage and they're having trouble with it and they play it a few times and they're having issues with it and finally they get it right, they go, shoo, and then they go on. And I'm thinking to myself, are you kidding? I don't say that of course, but I say, hold on a minute, think about this.

You played it and you missed it about five or six times and you got it right once.

What are the odds you're going to get it right again? One in six, right? You want to put the odds in your favor.

Three times in a row is the absolute bare minimum where you finally get any sense that the odds are in your favor at all. Why? Because you miss it once and get it, you got a 50 -50 chance. You get it, miss it, then get it twice. Well, now maybe this is a one in three chance you'll get it the next time. You get it three times in a row, now you've got, you know, a better than 50 % chance of getting it. But it's not enough just to be able to play it three times in a row perfectly. You must get it three times in a row perfectly with absolute relaxation and security. If you're getting it by just, oh, I got it.

And you do it again and you just eke it out and you get it one more time, you go, I'm done. You haven't really gotten any security. You've got to get it where it just comes out without even having to work hard. You've got to get it where it's almost, your fingers almost have an automatic response. The motor memory is there. It's just in your hand and you don't have to have tension to get it. So when I say three times in a row, I don't mean just getting it to sound right three times in a row. It's got to feel right three times in a row. And you know, three times in a row is the bare minimum because you want to have security in your playing. So remember, get the odds in your favor and don't just get it three times in a row. Get it to the point where you're relaxed and it just comes out in a fluid manner without working hard three times in a row.

And then of course you can challenge yourself playing it louder, softer, faster, slower, all different things if you want to really gain security. But don't go on in your practice unless you get something at least three times in a row perfectly.

Now when you're first initially learning something, you might not be able to get it three times in a, more than three times in a row with really relaxation. And you want to practice to the point of diminishing returns. If you get something three times in a row perfectly, but you're just on the edge of your seat, just barely getting it, but you could spend the next two hours trying to gain a little bit more security, leave it for the next day. But even then, at least three times in a row at some point really is important. All right? I hope this is valuable for you. How many of you are already doing this in your practice? And how many of you know you should be doing this, but don't do it? Leave it here in the comments at livingpianos.com. We are your online piano resource. Subscribe and you get articles and videos regularly about piano playing and pianos. I think you'll enjoy it if you like the piano. Thanks again. I'm Robert Estrin. We'll see you next time.

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