A lot of students practice slowly because, for some reason, they feel that they have to do it. Everything you do when you practice should build up to a single purpose, to play the piece in the ideal way, this being the image in your head of what a perfect performance of that piece would be like.
Practicing something very slowly has a purpose: it gives you time to remember and react to everything and to process everything that is going on when you are still unfamiliar with the music. It also gives you more control over the actual movements that you are going to use to play a particular passage. Playing the piece very slowly without a mental image of how it must sound in the end is absolutely useless. It is also futile to play the piece slowly if you are using movements and impulses that are different from the ones that will be used when playing the piece in its proper tempo.
Most importantly, there must come a moment when you make the leap from "practicing" to actual playing. This requires some will-power and determination. Playing really slowly is comfortable, and getting out of that routine and actually trying to go for the end result is sometimes disheartening.
A runner won't gain speed by running in slow motion. He does it by pushing himself beyond what he can do. Slow practice is good for analysis and to make sure we are doing everything right. It is another tool in our toolbox to be used to achieve a practical result.
Great argument! It is hard for me to know when I should be playing faster. That was a major problem when I first played in an orchestra because I wanted to play all the notes in perfect intonation. You learn with time that you will eventually be able to play perfect but you should leave room for mistakes without sacrificing the final tempo. Your daily tips are all great! :)
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