How to practice and work on specific songs

[JerryPH]

It is interesting to see that several of you mention the "why" as a key point, and it has made me think.

What I aim for is to play a song without having to do the thinking part. Just like driving a car, I want my body to play it automatically, so that I can shift my focus from "hitting the right notes", to conveying them in the way I want to.

That only happens not after you have learned the piece, but MEMORIZED it, and that is another process altogether. "auto-pilot" a song that you have not learned to play without mistakes and not taken the time to memorize means playing that piece with more mistakes... and that's a slippery slope.

 

[JerryPH]

I'm curious since it hasn't come up yet -- at what point in learning a song are folks thinking about dynamics, articulation, and bellows direction?

For me I am passively aware of the markings at the beginnings. Bellows direction is natural for me and I practically never think about it unless it is the first couple of times I play a phrase. Dynamics? After I've reached about 80% of the progress of a song.

Articulation? Never crosses my mind, that is more or less automatic. I never play a song exactly the same way twice, there are always minor differences after I've learned the basics of the song and can play it without much effort or thought.

 

[EuroFolker]

My routine so far (unless it's a simple / easy learner's piece such as from Palmer-Hughes)

- Listen to the melody, or listen to the familiar melody again, maybe a few alternate performances, and internalize
- Write out the notes in MuseScore / Dorico (or when possible, scan a piece, convert to MusicXML and edit to remove conversion errors)
- Determine the fingering separately, using an electronic keyboard, and add the fingering to the notation software
- Print out the "working version" of the sheet music, try playing with the accordion and confirm / make changes to the treble fingering
- Figure out the bass fingering, write on the printed sheets, later add to the notation software
- Keep attempting to play. Start rough, then refine.
- When it starts to resemble a listenable melody, REALLY go crazy and practice with a metronome so it all comes together