How to Get the Most Out of Piano Practice

​Just as with everything in life, sometimes it’s easy to go through the motions of piano practice without putting much thought into it. And while repetition is a key ingredient when you want to learn piano, there are certain things you can do to get more out of your practice.  Here are some tips on how to practice well.

Just as with everything in life, sometimes it’s easy to go through the motions of piano practice without putting much thought into it.  And while repetition is a key ingredient when you want to learn piano, there are certain things you can do to get more out of your practice.  Here are some tips on how to practice well.


1. Use a Notebook To Set Short and Long Term Goals, and Keep Track of Practice.


These goals can be as small as, “Learn one line from a new song today”.  Or, “Memorize a song in two weeks.”  It’s up to you to figure out goals that are challenging but achievable.  For longer term goals, you can aim to “Learn twenty songs in a year”, or “Be able to sight read at an intermediate level in a year”.  Everybody’s different, but the better you get at setting small achievable goals for your practice, more more you will get out of your time.  Our video lessons can help you get started learning today.




2. Take Breaks


Piano is an exercise of some of the smallest muscles in your body, especially your hands.  Because these muscles are small, it’s important not to overwork them.  Some teachers advocate practicing for six or seven hours a day.  That’s nonsense.  Not only is it counterproductive, because our focus inevitably wanes after an hour or two, but it’s also a dangerous practice that can end up causing injury.  My advice is to practice thirty-minutes to an hour every day.  Sure, every now and then you can have some longer sessions, but thirty minutes of hyper-focused practice wins over three hours of unfocused practice every time.  


3. Record Yourself


Listening to a recording of your own practice and performances is a great way of getting another perspective on your playing.  When you’re in the moment, practicing, you may be too busy to notice some issues because you are so in the moment when you listen to a recording, you can focus only on the sound of the performance.  I’ve noticed that when I listen to recordings of myself playing piano, I can hear things that I like and things that need to improved very clearly.  


4. Write Down Fingering You’re Unsure Of


When we play piano, we rely on “muscle memory” to help us anticipate where to put our fingers.  This allows us to play lots of notes without missing a beat.  One of the biggest mistakes people make is to try to guess which finger to use on a given note, without really knowing if it’s the correct one.  


However, using improper fingering can lead to serious mistakes both in expression and in technique.  That’s why you should always keep a pencil at your piano to write in fingering you’re unsure of.  You don’t have to write down the fingering for every note, but you should be consciously aware of the fingers you're using.


5. Don’t Allow Yourself The Luxury of Making Mistakes


There was a study done of professional pianists to see who could learn the most music the fastest at a high quality.  The study demonstrated that, while all the pianists made mistakes practicing, the ones who addressed the mistakes from the beginning were able to learn the most music the fastest.  This is why, when you practice, you should be keenly aware of any hitches in the rhythm, notes, or fingering.  If you make a mistake, stop and go back a bar.  Repeat the difficult passage slowly and with one hand.  Once you can play the passage at least four or five times in a row without error, then go back and play it all the way through.  If you make a mistake more than once, it will start to become a bad habit.  Our goal is to avoid bad habits, and instead develop good habits from the get-go.




6. Don’t Always Practice from the Beginning.  Start at the Difficult Section of the Piece.


Often, we have the impulse to practice a piece from the beginning every time.  This is understandable, since we recognize that the piece should be performed and understood as a whole.  However, if you always play from the beginning, you can end up wasting a lot of time repeating sections you are already good at, and neglecting sections that need work. That’s why you should highlight difficult passages in your music with a pencil, and focus on just practicing those passages.  Even if it’s one note or two notes somewhere in the middle of the piece, it’s better to play through those few difficult notes a few times correctly, and then put it together.  


Do you have any tips for effective piano practice?  If so feel free to share them in the comments below.
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