How dancers learn their steps: Music, muscle memory and mystery
In the article, ballerina Jenifer Ringer describes her relationship to the music she is dancing, and the learning process the dancers must embrace in order to learn all the choreography effectively.
Piano students have a lot to learn from Ringer! I think the most important idea is that she learns a ballet in chunks, working forward bit by bit through one section, then moving on to the next, and then going back to link the two together. This type of working process is the absolute best way for piano students to learn and practice their music at home.
But it gets better! Ringers says that if she forms a relationship with the music, getting to know the notes, rhythms, and emotional ideas in it, something really magical happens...
When the music begins, not only will her body naturally fall into the choreography it has learned, but it will also open her up to the emotions and ideas contained within that choreography and the music.
This is exactly why it is so important for young pianists to learn how to practice slowly and in chunks! It gives their young fingers, minds, and hearts time to embrace all the facets of the music, not just the technical but the emotional as well.