Performance and Feedback
Practice the moment you will play for others.
Baseline Recording
- Goal
- Capture where your playing is today.
- Level
- Beginner
Steps
- Record a two-minute excerpt in one take.
- Do not stop or edit.
- How to check it
- Timestamp one pitch issue, one rhythm issue and one interpretive choice.
- Next
- Practice the issue that matters most.
Sorting Errors
- Goal
- Identify the kind of problem before fixing it.
- Level
- Intermediate
Steps
- Review a recording.
- Label each problem pitch, rhythm, technique, memory or expression.
- How to check it
- Leave a problem unlabeled when the evidence is unclear.
- Next
- Create one fix for each of the top two issues.
Consecutive Clean Repetitions
- Goal
- Make a hard spot reliable.
- Level
- Beginner
Steps
- Choose a difficult two-bar segment.
- Practice until three repetitions in a row are accurate.
- How to check it
- Restart the count after any real error. Keep the same standard throughout.
- Next
- Extend to the surrounding four bars.
Tempo Ladder
- Goal
- Raise tempo only as fast as control allows.
- Level
- Beginner
Steps
- Start at 60 bpm.
- Add 4 bpm after three accurate repetitions.
- How to check it
- Stop at the first tempo where control slips.
- Next
- Next day, resume just below that tempo.
Memory Checkpoints
- Goal
- Be able to start from several places.
- Level
- Intermediate
Steps
- Find the openings of four phrases.
- Start from each one without the music before it.
- How to check it
- You recall the music from every checkpoint.
- Next
- Start from a checkpoint chosen at random.
Simulated Entrance
- Goal
- Rehearse walking on and starting.
- Level
- Intermediate
Steps
- Walk to the instrument.
- Take a quiet moment.
- Play the prepared excerpt once.
- How to check it
- Judge the first phrase and whether nerves changed your tempo.
- Next
- Repeat after a short break, not straight away.
Single-Take Discipline
- Goal
- Keep going through a full performance.
- Level
- Advanced
Steps
- Choose an audition-length selection.
- Record it in one take without stopping.
- How to check it
- Note how you recovered from mistakes and whether you kept the form.
- Next
- Practice the weakest transition separately.
Before and After
- Goal
- Hear what focused practice changed.
- Level
- Beginner
Steps
- Record a four-bar passage.
- Practice it with a clear goal for ten minutes.
- Record it again.
- How to check it
- Compare the two at the same tempo and against the same criteria.
- Next
- Keep the recording that shows the improvement best.
Feedback Conference
- Goal
- Get feedback you can act on.
- Level
- Intermediate
Steps
- Ask a teacher or peer for one specific strength.
- Ask for two specific corrections.
- How to check it
- Each correction points to a place in the music and a change to make.
- Next
- Play the corrected passage for them.
Next-Day Check
- Goal
- Find out whether yesterday's fix lasted.
- Level
- Beginner
Steps
- Return to yesterday's corrected passage.
- Play it without warming up on that passage first.
- How to check it
- The improvement held without repetition beforehand.
- Next
- If not, practice a shorter section and review it again tomorrow.
Other chapters: Pulse and Rhythm · Pitch and Intonation · Ear Training and Listening · Technique and Coordination · Phrasing and Expression · Sight-Reading · Harmony and Improvisation · Ensemble and Accompaniment · Composition and Creativity
Sing in a comfortable octave, rest between repetitions, and stop if anything hurts.
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