MS. CAROLINA EXPLAINS PRACTICING

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.

READ ARTICLES LIKE: http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/

ABOVE ALL ELSE – Maintain communication with your teacher about your practice goals and habits :)