Found an old piano lesson clip the other night, random channel I don’t even remember subscribing to. The teacher kept saying not to play through the whole piece every time you sit down, just work the four bars that keep tripping you up.
I’d been doing the opposite for weeks. Running the whole thing start to finish and hitting the same wall at the same spot every single time, then getting annoyed and quitting for the night.
Tried it properly this week. 3 sessions, about 10 minutes each, just the one phrase in the second line where my left hand always falls apart. By the third try it actually held together.
I guess I figured shorter practice meant less progress, like you had to sit through the whole piece for it to count. Turns out the opposite was what kept slowing me down.
Still slow going on the rest of it. But that one spot doesn’t make me wince when I get to it anymore…