Tech nique Focus

Conscious practice

How ‘awake’ are you when you practise? Do you find your mind switching off and realise you have played a whole page without conscious awareness of it? This can be okay when playing something you know very well but if you are learning a new piece or trying to improve your accuracy then you will benefit from more conscious awareness. Work in manageable (short) sections and consciously think about every aspect of what you are learning; how you feel physically, your posture, hand positions, which fingers you are using in both hands, what chords/harmony you are playing. Face tricky passages head on in a slow, methodical way. Do not practise with mistakes – you will only embed the mistakes further so be patient!