Continuity

bandnerd · Post by **bandnerd** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:51 pm

Sometimes when I practice something until I get it perfect, then when I go back and practice it again a day or two later, I can't do it anymore and I have to practice it again a bunch of times to get it back. I especially have problems with this on jumps to high notes. Can anyone help me with this problem??

kodalyflutist · Post by **kodalyflutist** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 10:14 pm

Sometimes when I practice something until I get it perfect, then when I go back and practice it again a day or two later, I can't do it anymore and I have to practice it again a bunch of times to get it back. I especially have problems with this on jumps to high notes. Can anyone help me with this problem??

Sometimes this is an indication that your practice wasn't as perfect and effective as you originally thought. Perhaps you were making itty bitty mistakes more frequently than you remember, and you practiced in those itty bitty mistakes. A couple of days later, they rear their ugly head again in the form of bigger mistakes.

Don't be in a hurry to work a problem spot up to a fast speed; give your brain time to process the muscle memory from short-term to long-term memory. When you practice a problem spot, make sure you repeat it correctly every single time you play it and keep it within a tempo range of 10-20 clicks. It isn't that you can't play it; you are probably going too fast and need to pay more attention to what's happening with your muscles. Any tension that is there will become part of your playing and will be remembered, just as much as correct and effective technique. Bad habits are very hard to break, so don't allow yourself to form them in the first place. I say this as someone who has had to break many bad habits formed during my first 8 years of playing, when I did not have a private teacher.

It's easy to think "oh I can play it fast", but if you playit right only 2 times out of 3, the probability of playing it correctly on a performance is still only 66%. You want to get up in the 99%-100% range of correct performance when you practice, with many repetitions. This will stick with you much better!

Best wishes!