Just wondering, guys, how do you do your speed technique. Let's say you got a new piece of sonata or whatever. You play it slowly and after that how do you develope the speed to reach its original speed of the piece? Like Chaminade - Concertino.
A lot of pieces like that are based on scales, arpeggios, dom sevenths, etc. If you can play those really fast, when you see them in real life music it should help. Also time helps. The longer you know a piece and it really gets in your fingers, the best and faster you can probably play it. Some sonatas, concertos, etc. are pretty big pieces, so don't be suprised if it takes months, or even up to a year, to get it up to performance standard.
I do a fast->slow->normal process. First I try to run through the piece at the highest tempo I can without losing the time, sight reading if possible. Then I do it again at a slow tempo and work on precision for fingering and tone. Then I do it at the normal tempo and try to bring everything together. Usually by the time I get to working at the normal tempo, it's much easier than it would have been if I didn't do fast and slow first because by that time I've tried it at a much faster pace and I've taken the time to work the fingering slowly.
Aleinna: Ohh ok, I thought I'm the only one with that problem. )) I thought I am not that good :D
Also I try the piece to play fast, and slower and normal speed. :DDD That's how I did too. But sometimes I make mistakes with fingerings and it is not really professional. Well at practise it's OK:D
Yes, Practice your tone. your scales and arpeggios -of course.
While you move your fingers, pay attention to the ones that you lift. Raise them quickly. This does NOT mean to play a faster tempo.
On pieces and studies, practice small sections even if they are two or three notes.....many times. Think of it as an exercise workout like an athlete but only with small muscle groups and with focused coordination.
Pay attention to every one and all of your notes and try to not accept any of your playing as "good enough" or as "later, next time I will get it". Make it outstanding to your ears now.
Always strive to make everything sound as you think that it should sound.
I usually play slow, until I can get all the notes right; I add the speed later and do it gradually; for example, if the required tempo is 120, I start out at 80 (depends on the difficulty of the piece, really), play until I get everything right, then set the tempo to 85 etc. I do not try to play as fast as possible (I have tried it, though), as for me it results in sloppy playing and getting many notes wrong. In addition, I do not play as fast as possible even when I have learned the piece; I go for "almost" maximum speed instead, as I have noticed that it makes me focus on the technique more than just playing as fast as possible.
Simple as Patrick just said.
I add only that as you speed up, identify the harder passages of the music and practice them more and repeatedly, so you can join them together in an easier manner.
The key of a hard passage is not to speed up until it's perfectly clean.
Patience, patience and more patience...
I would add, to daily practice:
Trevor Wye's daily scale excercises. Get out the metronome. Play the progression EVERY day, at a speed that you can keep all of the notes (5 at a time, never the whole scale at once) even. Pay attention to how your fingers feel on the keys, these excercises will point out to you where your technique is weak because you will a)miss or get uneven with the metronome or b)create a 'death grip' on the flute when trying to play unfamiliar high or low note fingerings at speed.
After about a week of doing these scale excercise daily, you should notice an improvement in evenness and speed during scale passages in your other music. After a month, the improvement will be even more.