Practice Backwards

While at my last NYCO sectional, a fellow contra-bassist suggested we practice some of the difficult passages backwards. Not it in the literal sense of going backwards via note-by-note, but breaking phrases up in sections and starting from the end first. I have found this practice technique quite useful and extremely practical. When attempting to learn a piece of music, most people begin from the beginning of a piece and plough on through until they get to the very end. What ends up happening, at least in my case, is that I get quite familiar with the opening sequences of a piece of music because of all the starts and stops that come about. Eventually, when I'm at the middle of a piece, I begin to lose interest and when I finally reach the end, I am completely disenchanted, that is if I ever reach the end. What eventually happens with this latter method is that I will start a piece of music strong, but then I will fade in technique and energy by the time I hit the finale. To paraphrase Joseph Conrad "In with a bang, out with a whimper." Now, this inferior technique also applies to the micro level of difficult runs, passages, bop heads, memorization, etc. By first learning the end, one can set theirself up for continual growth. The way I see it, "end-first" is kind of like building blocks. First you learn the last note, then you stack on a couple of other notes that lead into that last note. After that has been mastered, add a couple more notes to that phrase, and so on. This isn't revolutionary but it does make sense. We, as musicians are essentially trying to communicate. The notes and phrases we try to employ in our craft are our sentences and simplifying the language is the best way to get our point accross, or at least for us to understand our own thoughts or the thoughts of the composer. It can be as simple as "See spot. See spot run. Run Spot run."