I’ve been taking piano lessons for nearly two years after a long hiatus. It’s been a joy and a challenge that I may have written about before. Since I have a lesson on Monday, it’s on my mind again tonight.

I’ve always struggled to play fast passages. My teacher is so skilled in pedagogy and performance. She has taught me techniques and strategies that have helped me tremendously, but speed is still an obstacle for me. I wish I knew more of the brain science related to fast fingers. What does finger fluency look like? In reading, we called fluency work building to automaticity. How is that the same or different for playing the piano?

For now, I’m sticking with the old adage (attributed to the Navy Seals) that “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” Slow practice allows me to attend to accuracy, posture, relaxation, fingering, touch, dynamics, form, and structure. It also lets me try different solutions to problematic passages.

The other principle I’m trying to remember is that “it takes as long as it takes.” If it takes me until I’m 80 to play Chopin’s Prelude No. 3 at tempo or if I don’t ever achieve that goal, the joy is in the effort.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory”. 

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