The Goal of Practice

The goal of practice is to get us to play a piece of music with

• accurate pitches
• accurate rhythms
• accurate articulation
• accurate dynamics
• accurate tempo

in

• accurate posture
• accurate form
• accurate combination of muscle use and body weight use
• accurate use of appropriate pedals

If we look at the sheet music and process it on the spot, with wrong pitches and rhythms, we are considered to be sight-playing (looking at and playing the sheet music for the first time), which often gets the teachers angry (teachers, you need to specify what you want your students to achieve after practice. Don't just get angry!)