In order to master any skill, it takes repetition of that skill to the point where the neural connections are "hard-wired", so to speak. It is that need for repetition that dicourages most people from pursuing many endeavors, such as learning to play a musical instrument.
The vast majority of people will tell you that they like to play their instrument, but they hate practicing. The common view of a practice session is a picture of either mind-numbing repetition, hair-pulling frustration, or both. There is no doubt that repetition is necessary, and the more fine motor skills required to operate an instrument, the more repetition is needed. Instruments such as piano and drum set require more coordination across hemispheres of the brain than the trumpet and flute for several reasons.
First, trumpet involves only three fingers to operate the valves plus the right hand to operate the first and third valve slides at the appropriate times. The flute involves nine fingers, but the patterns required of these fingers are linear for the majority of the instrument's range. The piano involves all ten fingers and at least one foot, often times performing in asymmetrical patterns. Drum set requires independent rhythmic movement in all four limbs. The more independence of movement required, the more complex the brain functioning needed. The more complex the brain functioning is, the more repetition is needed to establish the neural connections to be able to perform the movements.
No matter how complex your chosen instrument is, every instrumentalist must perform many repetitions to master the skills necessary to play. There's no getting around it - you have to repeat. However, you don't have to repeat every aspect of the performance at the same time. Fine motor skills must develop by practicing the same motions over and over again, but those motions do not have to be rhythmically in time.
As long as the muscle movements are in the same order each repetition, the neural pathways are being strengthened. When learning a new piece of music, I often tell my students to work through the fingerings without addressing rhythm at all, or sometimes even without sounding the instrument. Simply reciting the letter names of the line of music in order while performing the fingerings alone can begin to map out the neural connections necessary. As the fingerings come more easily after a few repetitions, the student can then play them slowly in sequence, still without attention to rhythm.
Eventually, of course, rhythm and consistent tempo must be practiced and repeated as well, but these aspects of music performance are conceptual in nature. When applied, they simply make the muscle movements more consistent and measureable in time. One can "hear" the correct rhythms in their mind (an ability known as audiation) long before the muscles are ready to perform them.
Tips for Practicing Difficult Passages
This same concept of removing the rhythmic content can be applied to a situation where the fingerings are preventing the player from performing accurately or with a consistent tempo. In these cases, I have students play the written pitches in order, but group them rhythmically in two's. This allows the brain a little "breathing room" in the midst of the line to keep up and continue to send the correct signals. We then repeat this in groups of three's and four's, as seen in this illustration:
There are two measures each here of two's, three's, and four's. These are used in isolation, however: perform the passages using only two's until you can play them accurately, then three's, then four's. Increasing the tempo can bring additional benefit as your comfort increases.
In order to develop the neuronets needed to perform music, repetition is necessary. That repetition does not have to be incessant verbatim repetition. That kind of repetition usually leads to frustration, inaccuracy, or both. Most people using strict verbatim repetition quit far before it becomes effective or allow themselves to repeat the same inaccuracies over and over.
If you use any of the tips discussed in this blog entry, please tell me about it.
