When practicing the piano, it’s important to develop good practice habits in order to find and remove rough spots. Your goal should be to achieve perfection in order to get the most out of your piano studies.

In the Part One of her series, Piano Practice That Pays, Dr. Lory Peters provided a variety of concepts to help piano students achieve piano perfection:

  • Practicing is made up of — perfect — repetitions of rough spots.
  • Pull out rough spots in digestible portions.
  • Find patterns and then block them.
  • Jackhammer rough spots into muscle memory.
  • Use long and short rhythms to smooth out the passage.
  • Test for perfection by playing perfectly — three times — in-a-row.
  • Insert back into context and test again.

In Part Two, Dr. Lory used different articulations to help find and fix practice rough spots:

  • Legato – connected
  • Staccato – detached
  • Two-note slur – connected, then released
  • Accent – attack with louder volume

In Part Three, Dr. Lory says that when little or no progress is being made on a rough spot even with correct practice, you might be:

  • Practicing too fast,
  • The length of your practice section is too large, or
  • Your fingerings aren’t the best choice for you.