Playing through the song, not stopping for mistakes is 30% of practice. This is performing, keeping the macro-rhythm constant. It's like Chuck Norris in a Vietnam rescue movie, we've got to get these people from point A to point B and whatever we lose to get there is just going to have to be OK. If you make a mistake, miss a measure, it's like the character who gets hit and says, "Go on without me, Jim. You've got to get those kids to safety". Keep playing, keep moving, rescue the performance.
Ho-Ho-HoHo. Well, it's Christmas time as far as I'm concerned and for all you Grinches out there, the next 6 weeks songs will be Christmas ones. So here an amazingly JOLLY song,Must be Santa, sung by Mitch Miller's Gang. We used to sit around as little kids and Sing along with Mitch each week – a whole show of people around the nation singing karaoke, following a bouncing ball over the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. How fun. For those of you old enough to remember, I bet you didn't know that Mitch Miller was a classically trained oboist with a degree from the Eastman School of Music and he played under Stokowski in the CBS Symphony. Kinda like me (except for the Eastman, CBS, and Stokowski part).
Think about the ½ note (2 beats) to slow down, when you're rushing, when you feel harassed, or to smooth the song out.