Tricky Passages

A student was having a hard time with a particular series of notes in the left hand which included chromatic changes.  He had to pause and think for each change.  We studied the notes and played them all together like a blocked chord, then one after the other, then finally put the phrase together as it was written.  He was able to play it easily without any pauses.  Another student was having a difficult time playing the first the note of her left hand at the beginning of each measure.  We noticed that it started on the same note for 4 measures, then went down a step for 4 measures, then moved down chromatically.  Finding patterns that click can be a quick way to take care of some tricky passages.