Slow practice

[steveie986]

Let's say I've memorized a piece and it's pretty much perfect. Is it still important to keep practicing it slowly? I want to "maintain" the piece and keep it as smooth and error-free as possible. What kind of balance should I strike between practicing at normal tempo to keep it fresh and practicing slowly so little hiccups don't creep in?

[gruffalo]

different speeds should be employed, not just for maintaining agility and technique, but to maintain the ability to concentrate throughout the piece.

[gyzzzmo]

And dont play the piece too often. When i do that i start messing it up.

[sarahlein]

Also slow practise ( on a memorised piece) will help to ensure that you do not rely on "hand memory" too much.

[gyzzzmo]

'Hand memorising' , nice one

[henrah]

Do slow playing before you go to bed, and right before you leave the piano, and make sure you get every note right and how you want to play it. It'll then ferment in your brain and - especially if you do it before sleeping - when you come back it'll be even better! Just make sure you don't lose concentration when playing it at a slow speed, as I have found that I do that very often and it gets quite annoying when I'm just mindlessly playing a piece at less than half the tempo whilst thinking about chickens, or the existence of God, or something irrelevant to piano or what I was playing at the time.
Henrah

[maryruth]

I also prescribe the slow concentrated practice once right before bed--especially the week going into recitals.  Definitely helps keep us from going into AUTO PILOT while playing

[gruffalo]

'Hand memorising' , nice one

aka muscle memory.

if you havent memorized it well, you will make lots of mistakes playing it slowly, maybe even more than you would at speed, but that can screw up your performance if it hasnt been memorized properly.

[jlh]

I like the 2:1 ratio for slow practice.  That is, for every time you attempt to the piece at the intended performance speed, you should play through it twice slowly.