The BEST practice method for speed! 

Havent watched yet but i just wanted to comment

My personal (not independently tested) theory is that rhythmic variations work just because it's deliberate variation, which just engages your brain and gives you a more plastic command of the notes. I think other kinds of variation work, like variations in dynamics or articulation. Play a passage very soft, very loud, and ranges in between. Play staccato (soft and loud). Play combination legato and staccato (e.g., two notes legato and two staccato, or four notes legato and four staccato). I think loud staccato and then soft staccato is very powerful. I find these variations fun, too, which perhaps makes it effective, at least in part.

I can't thank you enough for teaching me this exercise!!!! Thank you so much from Firenze Italia!!!!!

Another method is to focus on smaller groupings (ex. 4 notes) at fast tempo, but start on a different beat each time (4 notes = 4 possible starting beats). This way, you get used to all the different subsections & it's easier to isolate weaker spots.

When i get out of school and get a job i will probably donate

This is a game changer for Chopin op 25. no 12.!! One of the best technique tips i've gotten online!!

Thank you for the video! The way my mind explains it is that sometimes one just has to play fast because different muscles are used in playing fast (just like running is not the same as walking fast, so practicing from slow to fast doesn't always work). However, one cannot just play the whole section fast in the beginning, so one needs to "break" it into slow and fast sub-sections. But if one only plays it one way it might cause a mini pause in the sections, so one has to play the reverse too. The host of Yunchan Lim during the Cliburn competition said Lim practiced some sections like that too, and the host was perplexed by it (sounds like the host is a music lover but not necessarily a piano player).

This absolutely transforms and requires perfect focus; very grateful for your keen insight and helpfulness.

I commented on this post when it first came out, but there was a typo in my comment, which completely miscommunicated the idea. Anyway, I'm deleting that one and creating a new one. I'm familiar with the dotted rhythm technique and have used it and - - as I have learned from watching this video a second time - - I have probably over used it, because my playing does indeed get nervous/high strung and I have gotten muscular tension issues at times so that warning is the most valuable point for me. I'm not as familiar with the Stephen Hough technique, but it makes sense, and if I may abstract from the two techniques - the key is to formulate a pattern of under tempo on some notes and a tempo (or faster) on others. The challenge has been to apply this to non-uniform passages but I believe I have succeeded in doing so to some extent, for example in Chopin Scherzo 2, which poses the challenge of playing difficult jumps with chords/octaves and finger work at fast tempo.

The dotted rhythm thing seems to be common to most instruments - I've heard it a number of times as a trombonist.

Thanks for sharing. I have used these techniques since I was a student. And I share with my own students. I'm relearning Chopin Preludes and use this technique a lot, especially with No.16!

Wonderful!!! Thank you!!!

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing this technique.

Thank you for your tips & suggestions, especially the suggestion to not 'overpractice' wtih the technique you demonstrated or in general as I have the tendency to do so often.

Thank you!!!

Very helpful

very cool

Great. Tried the dotted rhythms and it worked out a bit. But also saw another pianist talking about chopin revolutionary. He played the dotted rhythms but said to make sure the next finger about to play had to touch the next note it was about to play? In other words make sure the hand wrist and forearm configuration is such that it's perfectly aligned with the next note I haven't read Houghs blog but I admire him. Immensely I enjoyed your November concert BTW 🎉

Thank you! I've just found your channel and each minute is worth watching. I have found another quite interesting method, which I've heard of some weeks ago and which works quite well for me: Practicing fast passages in a moderate tempo, but as soft as possible or even without sound at all. This means that the fingers are moving very differently and I was really surprised how effective this is if you play it then again in normal speed and for example mf or f. Maybe this technique does not work for professional pianist, but for me as an "intermediate" player it helps a lot. Do you know this technique and do you have an opinion about it? Thank you! Danke!

I've been struggling with that last page of the Kapustin sonata, so this video came at the perfect time 😂

I also find this works better than dotted rhythms. I’ve never found dotted rhythms to be helpful for breaking into new speeds. Dotted rhythms seems helpful when you’re first working on a piece but I don’t find them helping for solving speed issues.

Thank you for sharing this technique with your customary interesting insights. Now in my late 60s, I can only say that the best way to manage passages that require playing at speed . . . is not to grow old, as mastery becomes ever more elusive and a rather more definitive terminal point seems to be the only thing now approaching with increasing speed! 🤣

Could you do a video on the b minor sonata (Liszt)

I wonder whether if you have a run of triplets like in Schuberts Impromptu in E flat major, whether alternating between triplets at full speed and triplets at 1/3 speed would be good? It's just more straightforward when using a metronome! Thank you for all your invaluable advice.

I might try this with BWV 661...

I think the dotted rhythm practice works better if you already know the passage well, and you just want the notes to be more even

Interesting! So one time with one group of 4, and then one more time with the opposite group of 4?

This videos blowing up