Learning to practice well is learning to work on your own -- thoroughly and efficiently. And isn't that helpful in so many other areas of life?
Keep your practice time religiously. It is an appointment that can't be broken. Practicing in the morning is preferable to the evenings.
Turn off the TV. Brothers and sisters should not talk to the person trying to practice. And -- even if the cutest boy or girl calls you on the phone -- DON'T get off that bench!
When you leave your piano lesson each week, you and I will talk about what you will do at home. Be very certain that you understand what to do. If you get home and aren't sure, call me!
Each day that you practice, decide what your goal is for that day -- learn the rhythm, learn the notes, add the dynamics, shape phrases, memorize.
| Away from the piano: | Look at the time signature and clap the rhythm at least twice. Look at the key signature. Does the piece change keys anywhere? Look for patterns: repeated sections, repeated phrases, scale and chord passages. Look at the title, tempo and dynamics markings as clues to the "personality" of the piece. |
Intermediate and advanced students, try these techniques:
Popcorn: play the passage slowly "popping" your fingers in the air like popcorn.
Backup: starting at the end of the piece, learn the last line, then the next-to-last line, then the line before that, etc. until you have worked back to the beginning. Then play the whole piece from the beginning to the end.
5-4-3-2-1: Is it hard to move from one section to the next? Play the measure before the hard "jump." Take five seconds to place your hands on the next beat. Do it agin but take four seconds, then three, then two, then one. Bravo! You've done it!
Radio: YOU are the radio, but you are going to turn on and off. Play one measure, then think the next measure. You can also do this alternating phrases. Be sure to come in on the next beat.
Move it/Play it: Having trouble shaping the phrase like the way you want it to go? Away from the piano, sing the phrase while creating it's shape in the air with your body or arms. Now think the phrase and do the same thing. Now play it thinking that shape in your mind.
Tic Tac Toe. Find a partner. Draw up a tic tac toe board on a piece of paper. Play your paggage once. If it's perfect, you get to put a piece on the board. If it's not, your partner plays. If they mess up, it goes back to you, if not, then THEY get to put a piece on the board. Continue until someone gets three perfect repetitions in a row.
Invisible Teacher. Imagine a teacher is sitting next to you as you play. After you play, imagine the teacher giving you a thumbs up or a thumbs down. It doesn't matter how many ups or downs you get. What matters is the difference. So if you pay three times correctly and three times incorrectly, your difference is zero. You want a difference of three or more!
The Lap. Close your eyes and pick any measure. Star playing there. Play to the end and then go back to the beginning and play to the place where you started. You've played a "lap." Now! How many errors di you make? One? None? Five? Play it again in the same way, but reduce the number of erros by one. Keep working down until you have played it perfectly!
Hangman. You need a partner. Your partner thinks of a word and puts the blanks on the board. You play a passage. IF you played it perfectly, you partner has to TELL you the letter. If you didn't, YOU have to guess it. Good luck guessing the word!
Twenty-Minute Consequence. At the end of your practice session, get your mom, dad, brother, sister, or friend. Perform your target seciton once only. If you played it perfectly, you are done! If not, you have to practice for twenty more minutes! (This works great when there's something that you want to finish practicing for! :) )
* Thanks to Martha Smith, Nancy Breth, and Cathy Bennett. Also Phillip Johnston's "The Practice Revolution" and William Westney's "The Perfect Wrong Note."
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