How to Slow Down Your Practice For Big Improvements

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I know that when I'm practicing and making mistakes I need to slow down. This is true for music, and it's true for aikido, so for how many other things must it also be true!

But we all know it's not that easy. How much should we slow down? How long should we slow down? When we speed up again, how fast should we go?

Here's a really helpful breakdown related to practicing piano, adapted from instructions from my teacher, the awesomely talented David Leonhardt. I apply the same general principles to my aikido practice.

  1. When you detect a mistake you want to fix, get out your metronome. (You're using it already? Great!)
  2. Break down the problem section into small pieces - a couple of bars, a series of 3-4 chord changes.
  3. Set the metronome at a speed that you think you can play the section comfortably. Comfortably means not frantic, able to think ahead, with good posture and hand position.
  4. If you're still having trouble, you can either slow it down some more, or break it down some more: maybe just one chord change is giving you trouble. Maybe you should focus on one hand.
  5. Play that small section until you're starting to feel relaxed about it. Again: relaxed should mean you don't feel frantic, you're able to be aware of what's coming, and your posture is good - in my case, that means my shoulders aren't creeping up around my ears!
  6. Then start to add things back, one at a time: for example, add back the second hand, or go back to the two-measure phrase. Don't add a new element 'til you're comfortable with the last. Stay focused!
  7. When all is good here, try increasing the tempo. Chances are there will still be things wrong, but many fewer things. Focus in on them. Clear them up in the same way. 
  8. If you have time, focus and energy, try another tempo increase.
A few things to keep in mind:
  1. The hardest part, for me, is admitting that there's a problem. How often do I just flounder on, unwilling to "notice" that I always hesitate, fumble or tense up in the same place? Maybe I just don't want to take the time to fix it, but it's the only way to get better!
  2. Most of us can't stay focused for more than 20 minutes or so at one stretch. If you find you're losing your ability to pay attention, switch to working on something else.
  3. When you're zoomed in on details, it's easy to be disheartened because you're taking such baby steps. Keep reminding yourself that everything you are learning will apply in a hundred other places.
  4. When you come back tomorrow to do the same thing, you'll find you can't play as well as you did at the end of your previous practice session. Practicing is like dying cloth a dark color: you have to put the cloth in the dye bath, and then rinse some of the color out; then put the cloth in a new dye bath, and rinse it out again. That's the best way to get a deep, rich color that won't fade.
I hope this works for you as well as it works for me!

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