Dealing with a Tricky Piece/ Passage

 Hi everyone,

In this post I'm going to be talking about how to deal with a tricky piece/ passage.

There's loads of different reasons that musicians and people who are learning a musical instrument struggle with difficult pieces/ passages. It could be that you are just starting out on your journey into learning a musical instrument, or that you have been a hard piece to learn with lots of tricky spots and you are little unsure on how tackle them.

I'm going to give you a few tips that I have picked up throughout my own musical journey.

Identify the Tricky Areas before you Start to Practice

What I mean by this is going through the piece and using brackets to identify all of the tricky spots using a pencil. Also, you can also go through and identify any tricky fingers placements or any other areas that my give you a bit of trouble. 

Break the Passage Up

Once you have figured out all of your tricky spots then choose one to focus on. It could be just a bar or it could go over multiple bars depending how long the passage is that you have identified as being tricky. If it's just a bar or two focus on that, and take your time with it. Practice it slowly using just legato, and see how you get on. Once it becomes a little easier you can then start to add in the articulation and any directions. If the passage is over multiple bars you might find it more manageable to divide the passage up into smaller chunks to make it easier to go in. Just work through the bars slowly using legato, and then slowly start adding a bar at a time. If it's still proving difficult to figure you might to go back and re-identify the really tricky spots that you may not have noticed the first time around.

Slow Legato Practice

When working through either a tricky piece/ passage it's important to not only break the piece/ passage up into more manageable chunks, but to also practice the piece/ passage slowly and using only legato. This will help you get used to what you're hearing, and you can also figure out what your fingers are doing. Also, by practicing slowly you can pick up anything mistakes early on.

Take Your Time

It's important that you take your working through any tricky passages/ pieces, as you will then spot any areas that will need improving further down the line. You can also slowly figure out any articulation and directions once you feel comfortable that you have got the tricky piece/ passage in a place where you are happy.