Practicing Tips

I'm sure I don't need to tell everyone reading this my thoughts on the importance of practicing at home.  I do, after all, encourage practicing to the point of giving rewards for completed practice records.  Still, many are not aware at just how important practice is for a piano student.  As long as a student is taking lessons and practicing on occasion, they should improve consistently, right?

Actually, it is much harder to improve if there is little to no practice outside lesson time, especially as the student progresses in piano.  That is why I recommend more practice time, not less, as the student increases in proficiency.  The songs naturally become more difficult and complex and students will find it very difficult to pass off songs if they do not practice at home.  It is not plausible for a student to progress if they merely go to a piano lesson for 30-45 minutes a week.  There has to be outside work or the student may be working on the same songs for weeks or months at a time.

Piano teachers can tell the students who are practicing at home as opposed to those who aren't.  It is frustrating to have students continually come to lessons unprepared and I sometimes feel anxious that the students have lost a lot of momentum due to poor practice habits.

Here are a few tips for helping your student to practice at home:

1.  Make it part of a routine.  If students know they are expected to practice every day (or close to every day) at a certain time of the day, it is much easier to stick to it than finding random practice time here and there.  Some parents like their children to practice before school, others may find it is better suited for after school.  Other parents may find that breaking up the practicing to a little before school, a little after school, and even a little in the evening works best.  Whatever works for your student and your family is fine.

2.  Practice with them.  This doesn't mean you need to play their songs with or for them, but it is a good idea to regularly see exactly what your student should be practicing and ensure that they are practicing the correct things.  Look through their notebook to see what specific things may be listed for them to work on.  Make sure they don't forget to do their Theory.  Keep them motivated and encouraged.  This also helps them to have a bit of accountability.  Of course, it is not necessary to practice with them every time, and more advanced students should not need supervision or help as much as beginning students, but it is encouraged for parents to at least know what is going on in piano.

3.  Make sure students aren't always just "going through" their songs.  If you can tell there are parts where your student may be uncertain or making a lot of mistakes, encourage them to just practice that line or those measures repeatedly for a day or two until they have the passage learned better.  Quality practicing should include isolating small parts of the song, especially for older students.  Simply going through a song just to get through it can build in mistakes and make it harder to fix them.  In addition, hands separate work is ALWAYS encouraged, as is taking music at a slow pace when learning and perfecting it.  I have told this to my students, and tell this now to you: "I would much rather the song be SLOW and RIGHT than FAST and WRONG."

4.  Praise them for practicing.  It's not easy to learn an instrument.  It takes patience, practice, and a positive attitude.  Keeping things positive about piano will help everyone to have a good experience with lessons.  I LOVE when students come to lessons prepared and have practiced well.  It makes a HUGE difference in the lesson!

Now, this is not to say that students should not come to lessons if they haven't practiced.  We can still do quality work if they haven't practiced for one week.  However, if they are continually skipping practice sessions and not progressing at all in their books, you will need to figure out when they can fit in more practice time in order to make lessons worthwhile.

Hope I didn't scare any of you!  Most students are doing well in practicing and coming prepared to lessons, even if there are a few off weeks.  Thanks for all you do in encouraging your students to keep going in piano!