Playing piano in the right rhythm and tempo is one of the most important things when it comes to practising effectively. One of the most common mistakes I encounter as a teacher is that most of my students often try to play fast even though they do not know the piece well yet. This usually results in making repeated mistakes. In my whole teaching career, I have never met a pupil who was able to play a new piece or technical exercise in tempo without any mistakes straight away; despite this people keep trying to start new pieces at full speed.

Learn to set your own tempo finder

I have noticed that many of the pupils I teach have got so many hobbies that you wonder where they get time to practise as they shuttle from one activity to another. No wonder that person gets distracted easily. Although these children are left with very little or no time to practise, they often to try to play fast in lessons which usually results in making unnecessary mistakes.

I suspect that this endless trying to play faster tempo than we are capable of is related to the modern life we live which we could define as busy and many would also say overwhelming too. I often remind my students that the music world is not same as their school or workplace. The overall tempo and learning process here is different. Even I, as a teacher cannot play new pieces at full tempo unless:

1. The piece/exercise is easy to play
2. I know the piece/exercise really well (if the piece is more difficult),
3. I have played or been teaching the piece/exercise in the past or long enough to know it well

“Slow down” is one of my favourite phrases. I say this over and over again. It’s like a mantra of nowadays. I keep asking every student to slow down until they understand that they won’t build balanced play without getting the basics right.

My favourite metaphor is about learning to drive a car. If you learn to drive, you would not start your first lessons driving 150mph on the motorway. It is same when working with a piece or exercise that is still in process of learning.

You can choose whether you will keep playing fast over and over again hoping that one day you will get it right or you can control your progress fully by building it up step by step. In my experience, students who choose to build it up slowly ended up playing much better. As they say: Slow And Steady Wins The Race.

How the right tempo can eliminate unnecessary mistakes

If you keep making many mistakes while practising then try to slow down a little. You will see how your whole play will change! It will be a less stressful experience and moreover; you will be able to control it better. Unfortunately, there is no hint on how to skip the whole learning process without going through it properly but if you choose the right approach straight from the beginning, it will save you hours of unproductive work.

Once you are confident you have your play under better control, you can go faster. I call this the, “conscious playing,” method through which I encourage in my students. Once they understand what they’re doing they gain the clarity to prevent them making the same mistakes over and over again.

In many cases understanding parts of our lives won’t happen if we do not slow down/stop and observe. Slowing down means we are able to look at things in more detail. With respect to my aforementioned car-driving metaphor; imagine driving a car in a beautiful landscape. If you are driving at 150mph, you won’t see or enjoy it that much. But what if you slow down? You might be able to see things you would not have seen before.

Tempo and rests go hands in hand

Some time ago, I discussed playing of musical phrases with one of my adult pupils. We were discussing the similarity of musical phrases to the meanings in language and texts as it often happens that when you learn how to play, you might just merge a couple of notes without a deeper context.

I always split pieces into smaller parts, and these parts then consist of musical phrases which make sense when played. The point is to be clear when each phrase starts and ends. I asked the pupil not only to slow down a bit but also to do some short pauses between phrases so she could feel and enjoy each phrase in full. When she came into the next lesson, her play improved a lot, and we were delighted at her outcome. 

Then she told me about a big realisation she made when practising the phrases and how similar this technique was to her life. Doing these little pauses made her realise that what she lacked in her personal life was to catch a breath. She found herself hopping from one activity to another without resting. This exercise helped her to review her whole approach to life. Playing and living in phrases enabled her to put things in tempo again in a new and meaningful manner. 

So if you find yourself out of breath and with a feeling that your life is like sand running through your fingers, maybe it’s time to start taking little rests.