Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How do you usually speed up a piece?

Get the entire piece at one specific speed under tempo and speed the entire thing from there

or

Speed up individual sections until all sections are at performance tempo

brump

It's not something I specifically try to do.

I find that pieces naturally rise to the correct level over time, even fast ones, like a thermometer seeking the right level. I keep a metronome handy in case I'm interested how fast my current natural level has become, but I never use it to set a tempo.

The one time I decided before-hand that a piece had to go at a certain speed, and I used the metronome to gradually force me into that speed, it didn't really take (last movement of Mozart K.283).

-Jason

Individual sections with a metronome.

1) I practice individual sections that I know I'm struggling on.
2) Play it through slow (no stops).
3) Play it through at the speed I want it too and don't listen/criticize what I'm doing-just get used to speed.
4) And repeat!

Generally I find step 2 gets faster and faster...

This sounds very useful. I might give it a go. My teacher forbade me to play at performance speed unless I can play note perfect. I guess its time to throw that rule out the window and go experimental!

I am with Jason on this one. I also find that the speed of pieces increases "naturally" with time.
One thing that should absolutely be avoided IMHO is to rush pieces without going through the "slow" phase - because then you will have speed, but the piece won't "speak" or communicate anything (it will have weird rhythms, phrasings etc.).

I always aim to practice slow, but without a metronome, and always engage my ears. Before I know it, I'm at performance tempo. It's like magic.

A combination of both. A few run throughs at tempo with the metronome always reveals something new to me.

tap tempo?

difficult sections:
use metronome. find a speed you can kinda play the passage. cut the speed in half (or less depending.) play with metronome loud mechanical and forceful. move metronome up one notch at a time. move the speed up even if you miss a few notes cause once you get it up to speed you move back down. do this several times over several practice sessions if necessary.

You should always listen, ALWAYS.

Always.

I totally agree!

Piano playing is - besides many other things - the art of coordinating many various elements: text - correct notes, fingering, rhythm, dynamics, character, articulation marks etc.; arm/wrist relaxation; a quality sound; proper phrasing; pedaling; bringing out convincingly the character and meaning of the piece; etc. and so on.

By practicing slowly at first and then gradually increasing the tempo, we allow our mind and our arms/hands/fingers to assimilate the new material naturally, on a deep level, and to coordinate properly all the above-mentioned elements.

If we speed up the tempo too soon, we risk playing superficially, in a tensed manner, paying attention only to the correct notes and not having 'mental space' for thinking about a beautiful sound, phrasing and other important aspects of musical expression.

No matter how good is our finger velocity, we still need time (and slow practice) for mastering all the facets of a piano piece.

That's why I use this method and I also recommend it to my students: slow practice at first, section after section, until everything (and not only the technical difficulties!) feels comfortable.

Then I gradually increase the tempo - again, section after section. I don't speed up a certain section and then take the following one from scratch. This practice method is not logical. Yes, I practice one section at a time, but I try to play ALL the sections each day, gradually increasing the tempo in all the fragments of the piece. It all happens naturally, without specific goals like: today I practice slowly and tomorrow I will set my metronome to that particular tempo. It doesn't work this way for me . I simply practice with awareness, always trying to engage my ears (just like jeffreyjones mentioned) and then I discover that it's comfortable to play in the proper tempo!

Learn the piece by slow practice in strict time and allow it to increase speed naturally. Never force the tempo.

It often just happens. Then it takes more discipline to keep it slow and steady!

working on third movement appassionata. "slow and steady" does not seem too apropos!

Mingusmonk, here's another thought on this. Sometimes it's useful to practice a piece up to tempo immediately.

Obviously, slow practice can be extremely useful, but not always. And that's because in certain passages, you might be using motions and fingerings that work perfectly in slow motion, but can hold you back when playing faster.

To practice up to tempo right away, you might start by playing just a single beat, then add another, and so on.

It also helps to memorize the music before you begin to practice it.

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Bruce
The Top Three Myths About Learning to Play the Piano
DoctorKeys.com

Bruce, wondering how that would work with something like the second movement of the Ginastera first piano sonata or the last movement of the appassionata? If you can play those up to tempo immediately then you are a far more accomplished pianist than me! I find that my fingerings do change - rarely but occasionally - as I bring a passage up to tempo. The slow practice absolutely does make for more solid technique for performance - at least for me. Thanks! Eric.

Eric, sorry for the delay in getting back. To be honest, I don't know if up-to-tempo practice would be helpful to you in those pieces. But here are some situations where it was immensely useful to me and my students.

1. As a teenager (a long time ago), I practiced scales in octaves by starting with just C up to C#. After a few minutes, I got to the point where I could play those two in succession really fast. (By keeping my wrist loose and sort of throwing my hand at the keys.)

Then I added D and stayed with that til it was perfectly smooth and consistent and lightning fast. And I just kept adding one more note at a time. I was ecstatic to see that I could soon play a full octave, from C up to C, faster and more even than I had dreamed possible. That was fun!

2. I once had a student who hated to practice slowly. So I said, "OK, let's work on this piece up to tempo." (The Robert Vandall Jazz Sonatina.) We started with just a few notes, and he repeated them until they sounded awesome. Then we added another beat, then another. He ended up playing that the best of any pieces we worked on, and I didn't have to keep reminding him to play slowly.

3. An adult student of mine was recently working on the Bach Little Prelude in C minor. She was having trouble getting it up to tempo. So we started with the first phrase, and she played it up to tempo by playing only the notes ON the main beats. In other words, we left out the 8th notes and 16th notes.

After that was easy for her, we gradually we added in those faster notes, never moving past her ability to play with complete control. It worked great.

So those are some examples. I hope this gives you some ideas you can use!
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Bruce
The Top Three Myths About Learning to Play the Piano

i increase the tempo. and wink at the crowd which is a wall.