Movement Exercises Study 1, Ex. 2
Hi David,
I've been learning Movement Exercises Study 1, Ex. 2 and my question is how fast is fast enough to move on to the next excercise. Even after almost 3 months of daily practice, I can play the pattern only at the speed of 104 bpm at most, but my performance vary a lot day by day -- one day I can't play it faster than 70-80 bpm, another day I get to 100 bpm easily. I can hit all the notes correctly at any speed, but my rythm is not consistent at higher speed.
I practice this excercise about 5 minutes a day, it's fun and I have no problem to continue, but I'm curious, if it is still useful to make it faster, or I should rather move to the next examples of the Movement Exercises Study 1. And if I should, should I still practice both this excercise and the new ones in the same time?
Thank you,
Marek
That sounds like a great advice, David. Thank you.
Marek
Hello Marek. Speed will happen over time (especially as your skills progress while working on other material in your studies). If you are actively working on developing speed (sounds like you are), then I would find the speed you're capable of playing at, and playing it, maybe five times, at that speed every day and then move on to the next exercise. Each week go one click of your metronome faster. You'll struggle with that speed for a bit, but after a while, it will become easier. The next week, even if it's not perfect at that speed, still move the metronome one click faster. The struggle it takes to play in time will increase your speed. When performing the lick (actually applying it to music), then perform the speed only as fast as you can play it accurately (it needs to sound good for performance).
Have you heard of the book "Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything"? There's a section in there where he talks about developing speed. It's a great book, and fun read.