Mind-Body Piano Practice: Mastering Technical Challenges
Channel: Makiko Hirata
Date: 01/08/2020

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Makiko Hirata, DMA "Dr. Pianist"： https://musicalmakiko.com/en/
平田真希子、ピアニスト：https://musicalmakiko.com/

"How do you practice to get difficult passages up to tempo?" 

I've made this video in response to a question from some of my students. I hope you'll find it helpful, too! This video will be followed by an example of myself practicing the last bit of Gershwin's Prelude No. 1 in respond to a request from Jason!

No. 1 (0:19-) "Still Music" - Don't identify technically challenging section as "the difficult passage" or "the fast section" thereby creating a psychological block. Instead, think of what the composer wanted to achieve through the density of the notes, the speed, the complicated harmonies, the leaps, etc. 

No. 2  (1:00-) "Creative Practicing" - isolate each challenge as specifically as possible. Tackle and solve each technical challenge, breaking it down to manageable chunks. Then, gradually combine different challenges. 

No. 3 (2:48-) "Compliment Yourself" 

No. 4 (2:53-) "Breathe" - We tend to hold our breath in intense focus, but it's not sustainable. It also gets our bodies to tense up. Practice breathing while playing challenging passages. 

No. 5 (3:16-) "Musical Units" - in order to know where/how to breathe we need to clearly understand our musical units: the bars, commas, periods, phrases, cadences, etc.  

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