Hopefully, students are taking piano lessons because they want to. Hopefully, they are enjoying their music. Hopefully they are motivated to prepare for festivals, competitions, and recitals or simply sharing the music with others——or even, just for their own enjoyment. Hopefully the process is a time of enjoyment, working toward accomplishment. Hopefully it’s a time to focus, escape, relish. I know this doesn’t happen all the time. I know this from my own young student’s point of view many years ago, from a parents viewpoint working with my own children, from a teacher’s viewpoint, and also recently as an adult student once again. But we can strive for those noble practicing goals as we take lessons and practice our instruments!
As the new school year begins and you (and I) are once again making the investment financially and time-wise for music to be a big part of our lives, here are some ideas for getting full value out of music lessons.
Time!
First, set aside time to practice. Prioritize it. Put it on the calendar. Don’t let other things budge into the time. Kids have busy schedules. Sports frequently compete with energy and time for children’s piano practice. Sometimes “life” gets in the way for adults (and kids). When I was in middle school and high school, I would wake up early and complete my practicing before school. That way, it was done (almost without me being aware) before other things required my time. My recommendation for students is 5 times a week for the length of their lesson as a minimum. Students who follow this guideline usually progress well. For example, most students can complete a method book in 6-9 months. Those who practice less take a year or more. Those who work extra hard will finish it in 4 months. The theory books take most students about a year to complete. But, if students don’t do their weekly assignments, it can take a year and a half or more. We spend 5-7 minutes during lessons time to work on the assignment if it wasn’t completed. It’s that important!
Being intentional, deliberate
Some students will sit at the piano for the required time. Box checked. They might play the same piece (often one they have already passed off) multiple times and sound pretty good. They think the box is checked. I often walk to the church (1.9 miles) to practice the organ. During the time, I frequently think, “What will I accomplish today at the organ?” I plan out what I will prioritize, even down to sections. I mark hard spots so I can go directly to them. I plan what I would like to complete or work on for that day.
Learning to be intentional about practice time (or whatever task you have ahead) is such a valuable lesson to learn. It makes much better use of the time and a student can progress much more quickly.
Being creative
I came across this really wonderful article about 40 ways to practice by Carolyn Shaak. I recommend it to all students! Just doing one of these a day would make a big different in lesson preparation!
Record Your Practice
Write down your practice time. I have been diligent about marking my practice time at the organ. I’m coming up to 2000 hours since Fall 2021. Every once in a while, I’ll also record some milestones such as recitals, compliments from my teacher, skills I have developed etc. I also like to record my music and post it on YouTube. It inspires me to work hard and get a piece to a performance level that I’m proud of. Speaking of recording. If you record your music and spend a few minutes listening to it, you might notice things you don’t notice while you’re playing it—-maybe some notes are too loud, or there are pauses where they should be, or stumbles in certain spots that you could work harder on. It is very instructive to record your pieces with video.
I also enjoyed reading “The Musical Brain: What Students, Teachers, and Performers Need to Know” by Lois Svard. Here is my review on GoodReads: Very interesting. I love the summary notes at the end of each chapter. I’m conducting a music discussion group with my local teachers group and this will provide multiple topics for us to discuss. I’ll share with my students to and put some things into practice with my own music endeavors. MusicLink could have been included in the final chapter. It’s an organization that matches teachers with students who have financial need.