Whats your approach to...

[dmc]

..analyzing a new (for yourself) piece of music before sitting down at the piano to tackle it ?

Mine is fairly basic.  I try to establish the various "A", "B",'C" etc sections and then break down the phrases within each.  Whether its a piece with many notes (for example the Chopin Winter Wind Etude) or a big chords, I try to establish the pattern it follows.

Maybe this isn't that different from how you do it.  But the reason I'm asking is to maybe pick up a trick or two from some of the more accomplished players (or the lesser ones as well...  ) with the aim of speeding my learning curve as I go forward.

Disclaimer - The only time I play the Winter Wind Etude is in my dreams.  I just wanted to refer to something that most of you were familiar with.   

[richard black]

I don't even turn beyond page 1, usually, I just sit down and see how it goes.

[dmc]

I should clarify.  If the piece is short I don't spend much time doing this.   If the piece is longer I might fiddle with it somewhat just to see how it feels and I only break down the first couple pages.  I'm just trying to get a feel for how other people approach this.

[amelialw]

I look through the piece, read the notes and listen to it inside of my head, then play through it and identify spots that will need more work, highlight those and then start practising.

[pianochick93]

I generally look at it, and hear it playing in my head from looking at the music. If I can't do that, then I get a recording of it, and listen to that while following the music, so I can see how things go. I then sit down at the piano, and if it is a piece with mostly a right hand melody, I sit down and work that out. Once I have that done I add the left hand in, sight reading that as my fingers naturally find the right hand notes.

[simon73]

I skim read the pages (if more than 1) then i hear it in my head, and try play it. I also look out for hard sections and try that out after i done the easy part. Usually i practice it in sections and break it down.

[kard]

This one teacher I had (...for one lesson  )  made me sight read and sing every single phrase.. left hand, right hand, against each other etc.. 
It reeally helped. It's been my major method of study now as far as memorization goes. (been 2 months approximately)

[invictious]

Scan through the score, listen to the music in my head, in a silent room of course.

Listen to a recording of it, and listen to minute details missed out from my silent listening.

Sightread through the whole thing once or twice.

Bring score back to table, and study it, i.e. writing instructions, techniques, dynamics, whatever

Draw out the hard sections

Break it into several sections, like exposition, development, recapitulation, then further break them down into smaller bits.