Why Shouldn’t You Always Practise from the Beginning?

Always beginning at bar one often produces something other than balanced command of the whole piece: a fixed action chain in which one phrase automatically triggers the next. When an adult learner makes a mistake in the middle and returns to the opening, the opening becomes increasingly secure while the weak spot receives very little practice. A more revealing test is whether you can begin directly at a nominated phrase after first hearing its tempo and harmony internally and placing both hands. If you cannot, apparent fluency may depend on momentum supplied by the preceding actions.

Research on musical memory describes performance cues: structural, expressive or motor landmarks that help a performer retrieve what comes next. Much of this evidence comes from memorised performance and case studies, so it does not prove that every adult must use one method. It does support a practical judgement, however. Establishing several entry points at phrases, sections or clear harmonic turns is more useful than cutting the score into arbitrary bars.

Choose three or four structurally clear entry points. Before touching the keys, identify the tonality, pulse, first fingering pattern and musical direction, then play only to the next entry point. If the start repeatedly requires trial and error, the hand position or inner hearing may not yet be prepared; the problem is not simply “poor memory”. Multiple entry points are not meant to fragment the music. They allow each section to start independently and then reconnect with the whole.

https://musiclab.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/290/2021/02/chaffinetal_recoveryfrommemoryfailure_Music_Perception_2009.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4500290/

If you already use <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scoreflow/id6796205656">ScoreFlow</a&gt; to organise daily practice, rotate these structural entry points through the day’s work so that bar one does not remain the automatic restart.