The metronome ladder and rhythmic variants

The metronome is a wonderful tool and a tyrannical master. Used well, it makes your pulse reliable and lets you raise the tempo in measurable steps. Used badly, it turns music into a military march. This lesson gives you two complementary methods for speeding up a passage: the metronome ladder and rhythmic variants.

The metronome ladder

1. Find your floor tempo: the one at which the passage is easy, clean and relaxed. Write it down (say 60).
2. Play the passage twice perfectly at that tempo.
3. Go up by 4 to 6 beats (66). Two successes? Go up again.
4. At the first slip, go back down two notches and play it perfectly again: you always finish on a success.
5. Write down the tempo you reached. The next day, start a few notches below that record: that's normal, the body needs to warm up.

A very effective variant is the sawtooth ladder: 60, 66, 63, 69, 66, 72… Two steps up, one step down. The passage is played many times just below your limit, which is exactly where mastery is built.

Rhythmic variants

Playing an even run of quavers (eighth notes) in different rhythms forces the hand to organise each pair of notes: one quick note, one long note during which you prepare the next. Each variant moves the difficulty around and exposes weak fingers. Here is a basic passage:

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=72
K:C
CDEF GABc | dcBA GFED | C8 |]

1. Dotted rhythm (long-short)

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=72
K:C
C>D E>F G>A B>c | d>c B>A G>F E>D | C8 |]

2. Reverse dotted rhythm (short-long)

M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=72
K:C
C
3. Stop-and-go: quick bursts and stops
Play four notes very fast, stop on the fifth, relax, and mentally prepare the next group. This is the best method for fast runs: it teaches the hand a grouped gesture.
M:4/4
L:1/16
Q:1/4=60
K:C
CDEF G4 GABc d4 | dcBA G4 GFED C4 |]

4. Shifted groupings
Think of the same passage in groups of 3 (an accent every three notes), then in groups of 4 starting on the 2nd note. The accent moves around, so no finger can "hide".
Common mistakes:

Raising the tempo every day starting from yesterday's record: you tense up and engrave mistakes.
Practising the variants sloppily: the dotted rhythm must be crisp, or it's useless.
Never playing without the metronome: you must also learn to hold the pulse on your own, and to breathe with the music (rubato).

A one-week plan

Day
Content
1
Floor tempo, notes and fingering settled, dotted rhythm
2
Reverse dotted + metronome ladder
3
Stop-and-go, then sawtooth ladder
4
Shifted groupings, ladder
5–7
Ladder up to final tempo, then musical playing without metronome

Apply this method to scales from the technique generator and to a study such as Étude No. 5.