Improvement through…

[Lo-E]

I always start slow and work the speed gradually up.

 

[dmt]

I’ll admit, if learning a part exactly, I like to get a feel for how the whole thing goes first, even if sloppily, before working on individual sections (including taking them slowly). From reading other posts in this thread, that clearly doesn’t appear to be the approved method, but… I guess that’s a… well, a part of my limitations. But, that is what I actually do.

The above "seeing how the whole thing goes first" isn’t necessarily at full speed, though it could be. It’s more just playing at whatever speed I’m comfortable with (I’ll work on the specific tempo later). Ever since I was a little kid in band class, I’d work on the notes first, then after that, hone in on figuring out the exact timing of standard notation written music and/or details like written comments and/or notation in the score regarding expression. I do it kind of similarly these days learning something by ear or tab. For better or for worse : )

 

[mambo4]

I would actually agree with "seeing how the whole thing goes first"
scrutinizing problematic parts must include scrutiny of the transition into and out of the part
playing with relaxed accuracy then speeding up, for me, means playing the whole thing thusly.