Day 225: Break it down
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
225 — Break it down
14-March-1972
(Montag–Mon.)
TRANSCRIPT
Same as above, except did a good amount of piano
practicing. Teacher Miss A. taught me yesterday how
to practice—slow, short passages or motives,
repetitive. Somehow, I always knew this but never
quite did it.
El. Musik. Only spent 4 hours but was getting a lot
done.
REFLECTIONS
Piano
practice. Yesterday
I had a new piano teacher, perhaps a graduate
student. She teaches me something. The key to true
practice—break down the difficult passages to short
segments, play them slowly, and repeat until the
fingers start to know the notes. Sometimes you know
this but are not actually doing it correctly. That’s
what live teachers are for, they see, and remind you
how to practice and play correctly.
El.
Musik. Only four
hours? In 1972, four hours compared to eight hours is
“only.” In 2009, I’m thinking four hours is a lot of
time.
John
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