MINDSET,
or THE UNFORTUNATE WORD “PRACTICE”
Do
you practice video games? Or do you play them a lot, paying attention
to ways to get better? Or do you sigh and tell your friends, “ugh,
it's time to go practice video games?” I hope not! Piano is like
video games or basketball- play it a lot, with fun, focus and
willingness to work through the tough parts, and you will level up. I
can teach you how to keep practice fun, and how to gain skill even
faster with smart practice and some discipline. Playing the piano is
fun. We do, after all, call it “playing the piano,” not “choring
at the piano” or “drudgery at the piano!”
LESSONS
VS. PRACTICE
Piano
practice (unlike football practice) is done on your own at home. If
you don't practice at home, you turn lesson time into practice time,
which is very inefficient use of our time together. In a lesson, I
expect to hear what you have practiced since your last lesson, check
your theory assignments, answer questions you have, give corrections
and suggestions, and present new ideas and assignments. If we take
lesson time for you to practice parts you skipped at home, or to
finish writing out your theory, we have lost precious time that could
go to exploring new, more advanced things.
WHAT
TO PRACTICE
It
is important that a well-rounded musician practice each of the
following areas every week (even better, in every practice session):
Technique
(posture activities, scales, chords, arpeggios, exercises)
Repertoire
(pieces for performance) & Quick-study pieces (pieces to master
in days/weeks)
Sight-reading
(pieces or exercises you can learn on your own in a few minutes)
Theory
(worksheets, flashcards, apps, games, written composition)
Improv
(making up your own music, may lead to composition)
These
areas are outlined on assignments pages. Even if I don't write a
specific assignment for an area, a smart pianist with more than a few
months of lessons will think of something to do in that area. I make
sure that all students have enough books and tools to more than fill
their time (you can always check out more from the studio library).
As sight-reading improves, this time is extra fun to fill, as you can
learn many different songs and styles in one semester. For instance,
you could divide a 30-minute practice session with about 5 minutes in
each of the 6 areas.
GOAL-ORIENTED
PRACTICE
I'm
about to talk about setting goals for total amount of time to
practice. This is just one kind of goal students can set. More
nuanced and powerful goals can be set, like “practice these
measures until comfortably played at metronome 108” or “master
2-octave scales in keys of A, D, and E.” Less experienced students
will usually have trouble evaluating themselves against these goals during home practice, but I work with students to build this
ability. So the goals we discuss in lessons will vary, and can be
written in assignment pages. I expect students to do their best to
meet the goals we agree on for the week. Using assignment pages as a
guide is essential, and students should log their practice there.
HOW
MUCH SHOULD I PRACTICE?
This
is the question I get the most. The answer is (a) it's up to each
student (b) there's no way to get better at something without
practicing and (c) the more (and the smarter) you practice, the
faster you will get better. One popular theory holds it takes
10,000 hours to achieve true mastery- about how long Bill Gates
practiced programming or Beatles practiced as a band before they
found success (Gladwell, Outliers,
2008). Of course, these hours are spread out across years. Not
every piano student will decide to pursue mastery to the professional
level (it is my hope every student finds something in life they love
enough to master), but you get the idea. You as a student need to
decide what level you want to aim for, and how much time you want to
make in your schedule each week, then set a practice goal that works
for you. If you are lucky enough to have a financial sponsor
(parent), they get a say.
Here's
a chart I have been working on, to help give an idea of possible
practice rates. Maybe my students can have some fun helping me name
the different “tracks!” I am taking terms from music, games,
sports. These times are rough guidelines. A student can switch back
and forth between tracks (I did so myself, during my pre-college
studies). I will work with you at the speed you choose- I have happy
students in every track.
| TRACK |
PRACTICE |
WHAT TO EXPECT |
| Recreational |
5-30 min/week |
Slow progress,
only very basic exposure to music. Popular with retiree and
pre-school-age beginners. |
| Casual |
30-60 min/week |
A little
faster- most beginners can finish a basic lesson and theory book
in a year at this rate, plus 1 or 2 recital songs. After first
year, students can usually succeed at Federated Festival in solo
and theory. |
Basic
|
30
min/day
x 5 days/week |
Daily
attention to technique will yield dexterity, speed, control,
along with increased understanding of keyboard theory. Reading
ability will increase so that a larger variety of literature can
be explored. Potential to enter more events. Can cover MMTA
grade-level syllabus. Creates lifelong skill basis. |
| Competitive |
45+
min/day
x 5 days/week |
The reward for
this rate is true fluency. Reading and technique will
exponentially improve. MMTA syllabus materials can be mastered.
Best preparation for competitive events requires this time. |
| Conservatory |
1-2+
hrs/day
x 6-7
days/week |
Music Majors
at college level are required to do this. Put in this time to
develop your talent, you will get VERY good. |
A
NOTE ABOUT BEGINNERS
Since
everything is new, beginners' practice plans are a bit different.
Often assignments will be worksheet-heavy, to learn the different
notes and symbols. There are also more posture and position warm-ups,
and most songs are short Quick-Study (lesson book pages), to be
practiced 3-4 times a day. It usually takes a few months for a
beginner to be ready to Sight-Read at home.
FREQUENCY
IS IMPORTANT
Say your goal is to practice 2 hours (120 minutes) every week. 20 minutes x 6 days is much better than one 2-hour marathon. By far. Our brains and fingers retain much more with daily attention. Clara Schumann was one of the first superstar concert pianists, and her teacher (and father) only let her practice 5-10 minutes at a time. She did many of these mini-practices, and it added up. I find a lot of students think they have to do a long session, and they start to feel overwhelmed, so they start to dread practice and procrastinate, putting off practice until the day before the next lesson, meaning their brains and fingers have to remember what we did 6 days ago- meaning they likely forget something important, making the practice harder and less fun, and fueling a cycle of dread and procrastination. Spread out your practice- it's easier, better, and more fun!
SMART
PRACTICE
Unless
it is a short piece at a comfortable sight-reading level, the hardest
and slowest way to learn a song is to try and play it
beginning-to-end hands-together over and over. Notice all the
different ways we work on pieces in lesson, and use the same
approaches at home- break longer pieces into logical sections, tap
and count the rhythm of hands-separate (HS), then hands-together
(HT), then play slowly HS, then HT slowly, then HT a little faster,
then a little faster, until you reach the desired tempo (metronomes
are a great tool for this). I call this targeted approach “practice
mode.” Lots of practice should be in practice mode, with only some
of it “performance mode,” in which you play up to tempo through a
selection without stopping to fix any errors, as if you are playing
for an audience. Whatever the mode, be sure to practice details like
dynamics, phrasing, touch, etc.
ABOVE
ALL ELSE – Maintain communication with your teacher about your
practice goals and habits :)
