Why You Must Practice Perfectly 3 Times in a Row

Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about why you must practice perfectly three times in a row. This is really important for any of you who want to develop consistency in your piano playing. So often, when I’m working with students and they come to a passage they are having trouble with, they play it a few times with issues, then finally, they get it right, and then go on. If you played it and missed it about five or six times, and got it right only once, what are the odds you’re going to get it right again? Only one in six.

You want to put the odds in your favor!

Three times in a row is the absolute bare minimum where you get any sense that the odds are in your favor at all. Why? Well, if you miss it once and then get it, you’ve got a 50/50 chance. By playing it perfectly three times in a row, you have a better than 50% chance of getting it. But it’s not enough just to be able to play it three times in a row perfectly.

You must get it three times in a row, perfectly with absolute relaxation and security.

If you’re just barely getting through a passage three times in a row, you aren’t really getting the security you need. You need to get it where it just comes out without even having to work hard. Your fingers should almost have an automatic response. You want to develop motor memory to the point where it’s just in your hand, and you don’t have to have tension to get it. So when I say three times in a row, I don’t mean just getting it to sound right three times in a row. It has to feel right three times in a row as well.

Three times in a row is the bare minimum.

You want to have security in your playing. So remember, get the odds in your favor! Don’t just get it three times in a row; get it to the point where you’re relaxed and it just comes out in a fluid manner three times in a row. Then, you can challenge yourself by playing it louder, softer, faster, or slower. Try doing different things if you want to really gain security. But don’t go on in your practice unless you get something at least three times in a row perfectly.

When you’re initially learning something, you might not be able to get something three times perfectly.

You want to practice to the point of diminishing returns. If you get something three times in a row perfectly, but you’re just barely getting it, you could spend the next 2 hours trying to gain a little bit more security. Sometimes it’s better to leave it for the next day. But even then, you want to play it perfectly at least three times in a row at some point. It really is important. I hope this is valuable for you! How many of you are already doing this in your practice? How many of you know you should be doing this but don’t do it? Let me know in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.