Fast Forwarding

AUG 25, 2012:  This technique is good for knowing where you are with a piece of music you have learned at some point.  It's particularly helpful if you just learned it and are still a little shaky about some of the fingering, the transitions to the different sections, the bass line in one place, and so on.

Sit in a comfortable place without the score of the piano piece you have learned.  Also, make sure you are not too close to a keyboard.  The idea is to check the piece using only your brain.  You don't need perfect pitch to imagine the sound of the music--even if you're at all close to the actual pitch, it will be enough.  Start performing the piece in your head.  Imagine your fingers moving, too---preferably without actually moving them.  As you listen to the piece in your mind and imagine yourself performing it (fingering, hand motions, etc.) you may find that you're pretty familiar with it all.  In which case, you can "fast-forward" the music.  See how fast you can get through a section but still get all the notes. When you come to the passages you're not sure of, slow down. Maybe get it even slower than your chosen tempo.  Way slow if you need it.  If you're not sure what happens in the music at this point, see if you can continue.  Latch on to the nearest scrap of music that will get you back on track----and roll with it for as long as you can.

Go back to the keyboard and work on the passages you forgot.  Then, try it again.  Fast-forward, keep fast-forwarding.  When you get to the troublesome spot, slow down just a little, but maybe not as much as the last time.  Do this a few times until you can fast-forward the troublesome section and get all the notes.

Now go to the keyboard and play it again to check if it "went in" (your brain/finger complex).  If it still didn't, go back again.  After a few times, if it still didn't get in there, go to the troublesome spot and isolate hands, fragment the music, isolate its components, take everything super-slow, and be prepared to try the fast-forward technique yet again.

It may not work equally well for everyone, but it's a quick way to discover where your memory lapses are in a piece of music.  You can also use it to go over your entire repertoire to see how much of it is up and running and how much of it has "gone to sleep".  The great thing about this technique is that you can do it anywhere---sometimes even while other music is playing.