confusion on something bernhard mentioned

[pianobabe56]

I once read somewhere on this forum (it might have been Bernhard, can't quite remember...) that you should always learn the hardest measure of a piece first, because all of the technique required for the piece will be found in that measure.

This confuses me significantly. Would someone care to explain how all necessary technique could be found in a short portion of a piece?

[Bob]

Maybe because if you can do that spot(s), the rest of the piece will seem easy.  That would give the practicer more confidence.

I don't think there is any one spot that has all the technique needed for the piece.

Pick out the hard spots, work on those first and more.  Sounds good.

[ShiroKuro]

Just to add to what Bob said, from what I've read (mainly on these forums and in Chang's book) the reason for starting with the hardest section is not because all the technique you need is in the section. The rationale is that, the sections you begin practicing first are the sections that you need to spend the most time on overall. 

In some hypothetical piece, let's say you start with section C, because that's the hardest part. When you make progress on C, you move on to A, and continue with C. Then you start work on section D, and continue with C and A. Next you work on secion B, and continue with C, A and D. Now the piece is mostly complete, and you have been working on section C from the very first day you started practice.

Normally, the difficult part of a piece is where you would falter in a performance, but you've reduced that possibility greatly by making sure you've got that section down from the earliest possible time and have been playing it longer than any other section.

This is my understanding, I hope someone will correctly me if I'm wrong!

[nomis]

Not all the technique you'll need for a piece will be in the hardest passage. It is a generalisation, but it works quite well because once you've perfected all the difficult sections, it will improve you mentality towards the piece, and you'll have an easy ride learning the rest of it.