The Hard Truth About Practicing
Let’s be honest… practicing is not a whole lot of fun. It can be tedious work and requires discipline and attention. Sometimes, you hear it in your head, but you’re waiting for your hands to catch up to play it flawlessly. Sometimes it feels like there is no goal in sight and it’s hard to get motivated. Sometimes it feels like you’ll never get better at that hard part.
Before you read further, are you simply just practicing the piece from beginning to end? Do you make mistakes but keep trucking on to the end anyways?
If so, STOP! Remember: THIS IS NOT AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO PRACTICING.
The key to practicing is singling out what you need to work on, and work on random practicing. Don’t waste your time practicing what you already know how to play!
10 Minutes A Day
Instead of struggling through the entire piece over and over again, circle the areas that you need to work on. Time yourself playing that section 4 times in a row. The total time it takes is probably around 1 minute. Then move on to the next section you need to work on. Pick 3-4 sections per day to work on.
Here’s a sample practice session:
Section 1 (4 times)- 1 minute
Section 2 (4 times)- 1 minute
Section 3 (4 times)- 1 minute
Section 2 (4 times)-1 minute
Section 1 (4 times)-1 minute
Section 3 (4 times)-1 minute
Section 2 (4 times)-1 minute
Section 1 (4 times)-1 minute
Whole Piece ( 2 times)- 2 minutes
Total Practice Time: 10 minutes
That’s all you need per day to improve lots in your piano lessons! Your teacher will be much more impressed by your progress than practicing half an hour for 3 days of the week.
Remember, piano lessons only will not help you become a great musician without the right practicing methods. Use your time wisely, so we can enjoy the music with less stress. It does not need to be so much work!
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Eric Ng (B.Mus, A.R.C.T , ECE ) is a piano teacher based in Richmond, B.C. Mr. Eric has taught in a variety of early childhood education styles, including Reggio-inspired, Montessori, Play-based, and Outdoor-based settings. Along with his formal classical music training from the RCM curriculum and the University of Victoria, Mr. Eric brings a unique perspective to teaching music to young children today.