Five Key Practice Tips for Playing the Piano or Keyboard

-- End Ad Box --->major and minor. Newer students can play one octave
A tourist in New York City asked a local residentscales ascending and descending.
“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The-1-
passerby answered, “practice, practice, practice”.This should be done using each hand separately. Once
Have you ever watched someone playing the pianothat is achieved, the student should begin working to
with incredible skill and wondered how they do it? Theplay the scales with both hands at the same time. A
answer is simple — P R A C T I C E.more advanced student can play the scales in multiple
Learning to play the piano is the same as learning anyoctaves (3 or 4) with both hands together, ascending
skill. After acquiring the necessary knowledge, it thenand descending. There are many piano exercise
becomes a matter of practice, using repetition to gainbooks available that can also be used as warm-ups.
the skill required to be successful. I often ask myKEY #3: SPEED KILLS. One of the mistakes that
students “How is a great basketball player able tomany piano students make is to practice at too fast a
shoot the ball with incredible accuracy?” Thetempo. As you begin work on a selection, remember
obvious answer is that he spends countless hoursthat slower is better. You can begin to gradually
working on the skill of shooting the ball. Over and overincrease the speed at which you practice as you
again he practices shooting the basketball. That appliesbecome more familiar and comfortable with the piece.
to learning to play the piano or keyboard as well. TheSlower practice makes for better accuracy and
skill of playing the piano will develop after the repetitionsmoother playing.
of quality practice.KEY #4: SMALL BITES. Someone once asked,
I have compiled this list of the Five Key Practice Tips“How do you eat an elephant?” The answer was
for Playing the Piano or Keyboard as a tool to help“One bite at a time”. I have often seen students
you get the most out of your practice time.plow their way through a piece of music from the
Let’s look at these keys.beginning to the end, all the while making numerous
KEY #1: BEFORE YOU BEGIN: Practice must bemistakes along the way. I recommend that optimum
INTENTIONAL and CONSISTENT. In order topractice should consist of perfecting a small bite
maximize your efforts, it is important to set a regular(measure or phrase) and then moving to the next bite.
practice schedule that works for you. I have found thatAfter getting the second bite perfected, go back and
those students who set a regular time each day tocombine the two. Then move to the third bite. You will
practice the piano have the most success. How muchfind by layering the entire piece a bite at a time, you will
time and how often should you practice? Thatachieve the results you want.
depends on your goals for learning the piano. If you areKEY #5: 70 % - 30%. The final key to maximizing your
just wanting to learn for your own enjoyment and dopractice is to use the 70-30 rule. You should use 70%
not have intentions of “performing” then 30of your practice time working on new material. The
— 45 minutes a day should be sufficient. If youlast 30% of your practice time should be spent
have a loftier goal than that, then you obviously needreviewing and playing selections already mastered.
to practice much more each day. Professional pianistsThis review time each day, helps you to develop
practice several hours a day.better musicianship and touch in your playing. It also
KEY #2: WARM-UP: Begin each practice session withgives you a sense of accomplishment and confidence
a WARM-UP time. Just as an athlete will stretch andin your playing ability.
slowly build up to the full effort, one should develop aConsider the tips in this report as you practice playing
warm-up routine before each practice. One excellentthe piano. I am confident that you will achieve success.
way of warming up, is to play various scales, both