Practice
A few words and tips on practice
A student’s habit to practice regularly is the most important factor in acquiring this priceless skill for life -- to play music.
Parents can help the child build this habit by writing down a practice schedule and help implementing it. Discuss together with your child what specific times and days will be best for scheduling piano practice. A day or two with no practice for the week is okay, and actually is good -- the brain needs a little break for sorting things out.
Sometimes, a student is not prepared for a lesson, despite that she or he practiced during the week. The reason usually is that in their "practice" they played songs that were already learned in the past, or, tried to invent a new tune, but did not work on the assigned material. We try to explain early to each student the difference between playing and practice. Practice is when the student works on specific details, on improving a piece. Both playing and practice are important, and practice is a little less fun than playing, but it has to happen regularly.
The quantity of daily practice depends on the student's level. For elementary level students -- about 30min., to 45min. for intermediate level students, and an hour for the more advanced ones.
Here are some suggestions that we believe make a difference in the quality of practice:
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Practice in the days after the lesson while your memory of the details is still fresh
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Practice small sections of the piece, repeat 5-6 times. It doesn't have to be perfect by the final repeat. Tomorrow you will do it again and it will be getting better gradually
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Don't be afraid of mistakes. You are working toward the end result. If your playing sounds messy, but you persist and get that difficult spot in the piece sound eventually nice and smooth, that's quality practice
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You don't have to go all the time through all of the assigned material. If you feel like playing one thing over another, that is fine. Advance in that one piece for the day
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Young students like to sit and practice in short sessions, more than once a day, and that works well as well
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Getting young beginning students to practice every day might be tricky. Neither forcing them, or completely letting them decide when to do it, seems to work. Instead, show the child that you expect them to do it on their own, and they can play the video game after they have done the work, or, that the next Disneyland trip would depend on their regularity of piano practice, etc.