I have been asking all my pupils to try this one this week.

1. Record yourself playing the piece you have learnt

2. Play back the recording with the music in front of you, and mark with a pencil all the places you stumble, stop, rush, drag, bump or whatever other bad habits you have

3. Record yourself again

4. Follow the music, with your markngs from the first recording. See if the same things are happening in the same places. If they are, there you have some specific points to deal with.

Better than just "keep on trying" which is the best that some of mine can come up with when I ask them how they're going to improve their playing.

You're not my teacher but I've done this anyway every day this week. It really works for me.

I picked up this tip when I was doing my Being An Effective Teacher Course earlier this year.

Most of my students have taken up the challenge, and have found it helps...others "never have time...."

I record myself too.

It's the part about recording yourself twice which is important. Just to notice where you made a mistake in that one performance is not as helpful as realising that it seems to be happening every time.