Thoughts · 15 June 2026
The Art of Practising — More Than Repetition
Seven to eight repetitions, not duration. What research in medical rehabilitation and David Oistrakh’s practice scheme have in common.
“There is a difference between playing the violin and practising the violin.” The sentence may sound banal, but it contains one of the most important insights for any musician. Anyone who only plays without practising consciously will make no progress in the long run.
The violinist David Oistrakh structured his practice according to a simple but effective pattern: four slow, two medium and one fast repetition. The scheme rests on a deep insight into how our brain works. Research, particularly in medical rehabilitation, shows that the number of repetitions, not the duration of practice, is decisive for effective learning. The greatest learning effect is reached with seven to eight repetitions of the same movement — precisely what Oistrakh practised.
When we learn a new piece, the brain must enter a state of neuroplasticity. Short-term memory rests on a temporary rise in chemical activity that strengthens synaptic connections; this kind of learning is unsuited to new pieces but essential for warming up before a concert. The second way of learning consists in forming a connection to something already learned.
The sections we repeat should not be too long. As with memorising a Shakespeare sonnet, we learn in small portions. At first, sections should be no longer than twenty seconds, growing gradually as we become familiar with the piece. On the day before a concert we repeat the whole piece seven times.
To speed up learning, we can make practice more demanding than the performance itself. The concept comes from rehabilitation, where patients learning to walk on a treadmill progress faster when weights are added to their feet. We apply it by intensifying both hands during the first four slow repetitions: in the left, we tap the fingers firmly onto the fingerboard so that the tap is audible; moving to a lower finger, we use a left-hand pizzicato. This creates a mental image of chiselling the piece into memory with every tap.
The right hand supports this by dividing each note into three parts: head, body and feet. The head is the attack of the note, which may be accented or soft. The body is its development, defined by dynamics, vibrato and colour. The feet are the slight movement of the bow between notes without producing sound.
Once a piece reaches a satisfactory level, we move from learning to repairing. Repeating passages that already work is inefficient. Instead we identify problem sections through recordings and practise them separately. Intonation problems often arise from the transition between notes. In fast passages we begin at the end and work backwards, adding one note at a time.
Continue