Practice: What To Do!

This blog entry is really intended for true beginners, but the lessons here apply to all students. It's always good to have a refresher when it comes to good practice habits!

Structure the Practice Session

The practice session should be divided into roughly thirds: one-third for warm-up and review, one-third for new material, and one-third for polish. My own kids love to use Alexa for this: "Alexa, set a timer for ten minutes!"

Determine the Content of the Practice Session

For the 1st section (warm-up and review): If the student has scales, arpeggios, or technique books (Hanon, etc.), now is the time to work through those. If not, students should find songs they've recently "passed," and use them to reacclimate themselves to proper technique and good posture. Now is a great time to pay attention to hand/finger/wrist position, spinal alignment, distance from keyboard, position of the bench, etc.

For the 2nd section (new material): Students will know which of their assigned pieces are "new." Now is the time to check important things like time signature, key signature, and hand position (where on the keyboard their fingers begin). Students should take care to play slowly, watching out for difficult intervals (jumps) and tricky timing. When there are challenges (and there will be), students should stop, isolate the difficulty, and give a great deal of time and repetition to the trouble area. It might mean clapping or speaking a rhythm without even playing it. It might mean taking out a pencil and jotting notes in the margin. It also might mean your student feels frustrated. Time to take a deep breath and realize that it's more important to accomplish less overall material, but do it accurately (rather than plow through a larger section with multiple errors).

For the 3nd section (polish): Students will also know which of their assigned pieces are ready for polishing. You've likely heard them play these pieces over the course of at least a few weeks. In this section of the practice session, attention should be paid to dynamics (loud and soft), articulation (staccato, legato, etc.), and issues of timing and tempo. Now is the time to be creative and try things a few different ways! It's time for your student to add their interpretive "signature" to the piece. This is the fun part!

Flexibility is Key

It's best not to take a rigid approach to the practice framework. True beginners may spend the bulk of their practice time in that second category, working hard on new pieces. Some students may need more time in the first category, perfecting finger placement or remedying posture issues. More advanced students will hopefully spend a good deal of their time in the third category, really diving into the expressive elements of their pieces. Whatever the case, it is important that students go into the practice session with a plan in place. It is helpful if you know the plan as well - that way, when you hear them play the same piece 73 times, you can ask, "Is this a technical exercise? A new piece? Are you polishing this one?" And your student is likely to say, "Okay, okay...I'll move on now..."