Practice Makes Perfect

Tips for better practice

Some quick tips to help improve your practice:

1. Schedule a time each day. Like any task, if you schedule a specific time to get it done, you are more likely to actually do it. The time should be one that works for your personality and fits in with your other demands. Before work or school? Right after work or school? Right before bed? Whatever works, stick with it.
2. Parent Involvement. Accountability works wonders towards helping us achieve success. If you are a parent, be sure to be involved with your child’s music lessons. Young students may need you to actually practice with them each day. Older students at least need reminders and encouragement. If you are an adult student, having an accountability partner could be very beneficial to your practice.
3. External Stimuli. Offer rewards for practice. Something as simple as a sticker chart can keep a child focused on daily practice. More complex incentives can motive anyone. Think of ideas such as an outing or reward for practicing a certain number of days or perfecting a song or technique.
4. Warm up. Of course it’s important to warm up with your technical skills (see #5), but why not warm up your whole body? You will be more relaxed and focused if you take a few minutes to do some jumping jacks and stretches.
5. Fundamentals. There is a reason that your technical skills are at the TOP of your assignment sheet. They are essential to effective practice. They are the building blocks to good musicianship. You will find everything easier to do in the long run if you give sufficient attention to your technique.
6. Slow down. Personally, I like to play fast. But I don’t start that way. A good rule of thumb: never play a song faster than you can play it perfectly. That might be painfully slow, but the more you play it perfectly, the better muscle memory you’ll have. You will naturally start to speed it up as you become more adept at the song. In short, you probably need to play everything slower than you’re currently playing.
7. Use the metronome. Don’t just turn it on while you play. Force yourself to actually play with it. It can be very challenging at first, so practice just playing a single note with the metronome ticking. First, practice whole notes, then half notes, then quarter notes. Make sure you play the note at the exact same time as the tick of the metronome. Even try eighth notes (two notes per tick). Then try to play your songs with the metronome. You should be using the metronome every day.
8. Listen. Record yourself playing and then listen to the recording. Analyze what you need to do to improve. Even better, find a professional recording of the song to listen to before you play. It’s also beneficial to listen to professional recordings of any piano music. It will elevate your practice to be familiar with the sounds a pianist can make.
9. Create. Take a few minutes to play around and create your own music. It doesn’t have to be elaborate; just let your creative juices flow. Use the chords and scale patterns you have practiced and combine them in new ways. Use the beginning phrase of one of your assigned pieces as a starting point. Have fun. Speaking of which. . .
10. Have fun. Start and end each practice session with something fun. This could be a previously learned piece that you enjoy, or listening to music that makes you happy, or creating your own music. Make an effort to always do something enjoyable with each practice.