How to Practice Piano for Fast Progress

If you play keyboard or piano, don't waste your valuable practice time. Whether you practice only 30 minutes a day or a lot more, good practice habits will help you make fast progress. Shake up your old routines, and you can make your work at the piano more productive.

Instructions

1. 

   Plan your practice time.

   Plan your practice thoroughly. Pick out a time of day and be consistent. Charles Cooke, author of "Playing the Piano for Pleasure," suggests dividing each day's practice into sections. For example, plan a set amount of time for sight-reading, technique, new repertoire, memorizing and review. Even five or 10 minutes a day of work on scales or memorizing will yield results. Balancing your practice sessions will lead to better playing.

2. 

   Practice with your full attention.

   Practice mindfully and with concentration. In the book "Piano Technique," concert pianist Walter Gieseking and his teacher Karl Leimer warn that practicing with poor attention wastes time. Treat piano practice as mental work, not as finger gymnastics. Read the music and hear it in your mind before you play. Analyze the structure and harmony to make it easier to memorize. Then practice with full attention. When you start to tire, take a break and do something else. Return to practice when you are fresh again. Multiple short sessions are more effective than one long session if your mind tends to wander.

3. 

   Mark your sheet music.

   Divide new music into shorter units for practice. Charles Cooke suggests marking difficult passages and playing many repetitions until they are second nature. Don't just play straight through from beginning to end. Spend most of your time on the passages that need work to get the most from your practice period.

4. 

   Enjoy your music more.

   Practice accurately. Most teachers recommend slow practice when you are learning a new piece, but it is easy to speed up unwittingly. Force yourself to slow down by playing with a metronome at a slow tempo. Practice hands separately at first so you can play the right notes. Then play with hands together, and gradually increase the speed. If you practice mindfully and efficiently at the keyboard or piano, your playing will improve faster, and you will enjoy music a lot more.

References

• "Piano Technique"; Walter Gieseking and Karl Leimer; 1972
• "Playing the Piano for Pleasure"; Charles Cooke; 1960