private musical studio instruction

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Tips for those tricky passages:

- Never Faster than Perfect! It's easier to learn something right way the first time than to have to unlearn the wrong way.

- Approach the passage hands separately, in chunks. Slowly add the chunks together until the entire passage can be played perfectly at tempo by the hands individually. Go back to chunks with hands together, slowly. Again, start adding more and more until you have mastered the entire processes.

- Check your fingering. Avoid black note placement of the thumb in scales, always.

- Refer to Bastien's Scales and Arpeggios book. Find the root of the scale or chord, then practice that scale meticulously from the scales, chords, and arpeggios book.

- Don't play the same passage for too long. Move on to another piece, take a break, then come back. Let your nerves and your brain take time to rest and absorb.

- Analyze the piece theoretically. What chord progression are you playing? Where are you going? It's easier to memorize when you understand underlying architectural features.

- Vary the rhythm with long runs. Play them with emphasis on every other note, then switch the emphasis. Then back to as written. Repeat this process to feel the rhythmic divisions in your hands and your ear.

- Pull out your rhythm exercises sheet and practice these.