Rough Draft

When I used to learn excerpts, I would start very very slow. At sixteenth note = 60, I would tune every note, practice every shift, and nail every bowing articulation. Then I would begin speeding it up, metronome click by metronome click, until I could play the passage at my goal tempo.

I figured that if I could play the excerpt perfectly at a slow tempo, then I would eventually be able play it perfectly at a fast tempo. Yay! And although this process kind of worked, the musical product always seemed to fall a bit short.

You see, everything I had been working on seemed to break down after a certain tempo, and I often got stuck a few clicks below my goal. Plus, my playing was superboring, and I emoted very little because I was so worried about technique.

Here’s what I think was going on:

1. Playing slowly requires different technical and muscle use than playing fast - different strokes, different fingerings. It’s like expecting to nail the 100 yard dash by jogging a leisurely 5 miles per day.

2. Your brain can focus on a finite number of things, so if you’re primarily engaged with operating your instrument, it’s going to be hard to also communicate your musical story.

So, I changed my process and started creating “Rough Drafts.” After figuring out my bowings and fingerings (my “Outline”), I learn, as quickly as possible, to play each excerpt at tempo, intonation errors, messy bow strokes, and all.

Then, through a process of recording and listening, I diagnose specific problems and use slow practice (or another practice technique) to address each problem. I integrate the solution back into a my second draft, and repeat until I feel like my final draft has emerged.

This process is based on the Whole-Part-Whole learning model, where you start with a big picture, get specific, and then integrate your new learning to create a new, bigger, big picture.

Following my Rough Draft process allows me to focus on music-making and storytelling, rather than just technique. It gives me time and space to listen to and diagnose what’s really coming out of my instrument.

And quite simply, it get results. You will find that playing excerpts is way more effective (and way more fun) when you emerge from the technical trees, orient your focus to your true goal of music-making, throw caution to the wind, and play the stuffing out of some excerpts.