As a pianist, the author of this paper has previously investigated the listening activities which occur during the preparation and execution of a piano performance. Three stages of listening were established: the first involves basically inner hearing or “listening from the score,” the second consists of consciously monitored practice combining inner hearing and physical hearing, and the final stage, the performance itself, gives evidence of what the performer was able to hear from the score. Reviewed literature involving musical analysis, psychology, perception, and cognition was combined with the results of interviews conducted with selected pianists of international renown, generating suggestions/guidelines for the proposed listening stages. For the present experiment, the author has worked with a graduate student in piano performance during the preparation of Brahms’s Fantasien Op. 116, applying these guidelines as a means to optimize performance preparation. The whole process is hereby described and discussed, exploring the connection between listening parameters and the achievement of coherent execution both during preparation process and final performance.