LESSON #3:

The Mozart Piece, Violin Sonata in A Major

1/23/2025

In Lesson #2, we focused our attention on Changing Our Tempo regularly, frequently even, (heavens to Mergatroid!) instead of fooling ourselves into thinking we are simply speeding up the song for a performance.

I wish to tell you a little story that will support that very point. It is the story about the month that I spent with a Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major. This happened so long ago that I am hard-pressed to remember how the piece sounded. The fact that Mozart wrote many such pieces adds to the confusion. However, how I rehearsed it, the discipline it tested, and the surprising results are indelibly written into my memory. The story is one I emphatically tell nearly all of my students.

A friend called me one afternoon asking me if I would accompany her on the piano for her final recital as a violin major. It would be the culmination of a four year study of Classical Violin. Her performance would, of course, seal her college degree and bring her closer to her goal of being an accredited performer and teacher of music. I was honored and felt a bit nervous by her request. This would give me the opportunity to conclusively test what I had been teaching for several years: Perfect Practice is the key to a Perfect Performance. AND…We are not speeding up a piece of music, we are simply changing tempo.

I told my friend I would require no less than 30 days to rehearse the piece in preparation for the recital. She delivered the piano accompaniment manuscript 31 days before we were to play a Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano; six pages of music at a tempo of 160 beats per minute.

I had limited experience playing classical music, she paid me a fair price for my efforts, and I would make time to practice the piece in the midst of a busy performance schedule playing jazz gigs and other shows in a variety of styles. My personal goal was to test the idea of “Perfect practice makes Perfect Performance”.

Day 1

I read through the entire piece. I wrote chord symbols, noted repetitive parts, looked for common chord progressions, variations and key changes, one time cadences, and departures from established patterns. Then I did a read through, making sure that I played each section creating a fingering that I was certain would work from that day forward.

Day 2

I began practicing phrases, parts, sections of music with slow precision. I repeated parts, changing the tempo slightly each and every time I played it. If I saw that I might make a mistake, I would stop before it happened.

Day 3 – 30

Some days I would begin at the ends of phrases and work my way backwards to the beginning of the phrase. I would do this repeatedly, changing tempo every time. Slower, slower, than faster again. If I was having a good session, I pushed the speed further. If not, I would slow the tempo to guarantee my success.

The idea was to play the piece at different tempos every day, regardless of the other elements of music I was working on. The goal was never to play faster and faster, but to get used to changing tempos, so that I could perform the piece well at any tempo. In 30 days of practicing, I never made a mistake. In 30 days of practicing, I never played the piece faster than 80 bpm.

I simply would not risk teaching my hands another option, a mistake.

I relied on muscle memory. I taught my hands and arms to remain relaxed. If I felt any tension building, I simply stopped playing and relaxed my arms before I continued. I taught my hands nothing other than the perfect execution of the song, and that any tempo was possible. My body was learning to adjust accordingly. I would have to play this Sonata at twice the tempo I had practiced: 160 bpm. I had never played it wrong.

The Day of the Performance

I knew that I would have to accompany my friend during the most important performance of her college career at 160 bpm, twice as fast as I had ever practiced the piece. The amazing reality on the day of the recital, was that my hands knew only one option: the perfect execution of one of Mozart’s Violin Sonatas in A Major. My goal all along was to play the song at any tempo; perfectly. The tempo we played that day was not an issue. I had not practiced it fast with mistakes. I played it at a varied tempo without the risk of making mistakes. My hands were taught to remain relaxed. My mind was certain of my ability to play it flawlessly at any tempo.

We had a terrific time playing a beautiful piece of music. I love it when it works!

I was nervous…but that is a lesson for another day.