Slow practice has a bad reputation. Most students hear “play it slowly” and immediately translate it as you’re not ready, you did something wrong, or this is going to be boring. I get it. I’ve thought the same thing myself more than once—after many years at the piano.
Here’s the truth: even on days when I love playing, there are passages I still practice slowly. Not because I can’t play them, but because slow practice is where things actually settle.
When you play fast, the hands tend to slide over small issues. A finger arrives a little late, another one compensates, and everything keeps moving. It sounds fine—until one day it doesn’t. Then people assume something “broke,” when in reality it was never fully clear to begin with.
Playing slowly forces honesty. You suddenly notice things you were skipping over: fingers that aren’t really prepared, notes that don’t connect the way you thought, tension that sneaks in during transitions. None of this is dramatic. It’s just information. Useful information.
Slow practice isn’t about dragging the tempo endlessly. It’s about giving your brain enough time to actually tell your hands what to do. At a comfortable slow speed, you can feel where the weight goes, where it releases, where the hand needs a moment to organize itself. You start making choices instead of hoping muscle memory will take care of everything.
And no—slow practice isn’t relaxing in the way people imagine. Good slow practice takes focus. You have to listen, stay present, and sometimes stop before something goes wrong instead of fixing it afterward. That part is uncomfortable, which is probably why people avoid it.
But here’s the upside: once something feels truly clear at a slow tempo, speeding it up is usually much easier than expected. The hands feel calmer. The music feels more stable. You’re no longer pushing—it’s just there.
So if I ever ask you to slow down, it’s not a punishment. It’s not a step backward. It’s simply the most direct way to move forward without wasting time.
Speed comes back.
Clarity is what stays.