This is a really fun exercise I use to speed up short passages. The payoff is nearly immediate, and it gives a great boost to my confidence. I first discovered this practice exercise in Jonathan Harnum’s excellent book, The Practice of Practice, so I’m giving credit to him.

1. Choose your passage; keep it relatively short. Be sure you have fingerings and bowings
2. Turn the metronome on at half tempo.
3. Play the passage at half tempo. If it’s correct, go on to step 4. If it’s not correct, you may not be ready for this exercise.
4. Play the passage at full tempo, keeping the metronome at half tempo, i.e. if the metronome is beating quarter-notes for step 3, it will be beating half notes during step 4.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 5x. Remember not to move on to step 4 unless the passage is perfect in step 3.

EXAMPLES

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Suite for Viola and Orchestra, 1936
Group II: Moto Perpetuo

Rebecca Clarke: Sonata for Viola and Piano, 1919
First Movement: Impetuoso