We all have them: the “skyscraper” passages. The imposing technical passages that seem inscrutable, and maybe impossible. From the sidewalk in front of an actual skyscraper, it seems dizzyingly high. How could someone even build something so high?! And staring at a tricky passage on the page, it can be hard to even imagine how something so difficult could ever be performed. But with the right approach, there’s always a way.

In the case of the skyscraper, there’s lots about the engineering I don’t understand. But there’s one part I understand quite well: it’s built one brick or beam at a time. And many bricks or beams form one floor ... then another, and another until the building is complete.

And in the case of an imposing musical passage, it’s the same idea. However hard, every passage is made of individual notes that fit together into beats, which form bars, which form phrases. But why do so many of us act as if we can bring the entire “skyscraper” of a passage into existence all at once, when we haven’t built up the “bricks” of notes, bars, and phrases?

So let’s look at one simple – but very effective – way of building up a passage:

Divide
Reassemble

In other words, divide the passage into “bricks” – small pieces that you can easily and quickly learn; then reassemble the “bricks” together into bars, phrases, and eventually the full passage

I’ll admit, from one perspective it’s a slow way to work on a passage. But the work you do like this WILL stick. You’ll make steady progress toward your goal, and when you reach it you’ll be a literal expert on it. You’ll be able to play it inside and out, forwards and backwards, in good moods and bad. On the other hand, it IS faster to just bash through it and hope it improves … but it won’t teach you any more than just how to bash through it.

Remember the tale of the tortoise and the hare? I’m happy to practice like the tortoise any day!

But first, a bit of encouragement

No matter how daunting the passage: if others have played it before, then you know it’s at least humanly possible. Even more, you can take inspiration from their accomplishment. If there’s a recording you like, you can keep the sound of that performance in mind as a goal.

And the beauty of working up a passage one “brick” at a time is that you can feel victorious after each step along the way. You don’t need to wait until the whole passage is finished to have a mini-celebration for a small step well done. 🎉

Divide

If it’s really a “skyscraper” passage for you, then your starting point is likely to be quite far from your goal. So that means starting with “bricks” that are very small in relation to the whole passage. (Think of the size of the Empire State Building compared to the size of a single brick. Yet that minuscule brick, in the company of about 10 million others, is what makes up the impressive building.)

I’ve recently been refreshing the Tchaikovsky concerto. It’s a fun piece, but it has an especially nasty development section in the first movement. It’s a “skyscraper” passage for me – especially the 2nd half of the development.

excerpt of the development section from Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

My starting point: Since I learned it back in music school, I was able to bash through the section slightly under tempo. (And I do mean “bash.”) Not a performance I’d be proud to share ... but it could be a lot worse.

My plan: I started with one beat at a time, plus one more note so there was always a connection to the next beat. Just five 16th notes. It seemed like something I could easily accomplish right away. If my starting point had been further from my goal, I’d probably still have started with one beat at a time, but at half tempo or so.

Execution: For this post, I’ll just focus on how I worked on the first bar:

You’ll definitely get the idea from there.

I practiced the individual “bricks” like this:

For each one, I was careful to work it up to the standard I’d want in a performance – especially in terms of sound quality, intonation, and articulation. But since they’re such small bits, it wasn’t too daunting.

Reassemble

If I had stopped there, I would have had a small pile of musical “bricks.” Not much use like that. So the next step was to put them together. First, two-beat groups:

And finally all four beats of the measure back together:

After building up another bar like that, I put the two together. Then I kept working until I had the first 4 bars. After that, it was time for a big celebration 🎉🎉🎉 ... and a break! Then back to work, until over the course of several days the whole section was built up, brick by brick.

Now for a little inspiration break — this amazing performance by Julia Fischer with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. The Development section starts around 7’40” … but why not watch & listen to the entire thing!

The Secret

The only secret – if there’s a secret – is to keep yourself going through the process methodically. If you catch your patience waning, that’s probably a sign that it’s time to take a break. Come back with fresh energy, and continue where you left off.

And keep rewarding yourself for each victory (each finished “brick” or assembly of bricks). I’ve found that just saying “yes” out loud is enough for me – it’s just enough to mark the moment. Maybe it’s something different for you.

Have you tried any of this out? Do you have a different favorite practice technique? Let me know about it in the comments below!

I’m a violinist and private teacher in the Chicago area, and in a previous musical life I was in a professional string quartet. Teaching violin and chamber music are dear to my heart. Send me a note or leave a comment on a post — I’d love to hear from you.