Three Essential Tips to Supercharge Your Music Practice Routine

Hello, students! In this lesson, I am going to share three music practice tips that will get you practicing more frequently AND using your practice time more effectively. If you can master these three essential skills, you will progress much faster and get better results.

Tip #1: The 10-minute rule

Let's be real - sometimes, we seriously lack the motivation to practice. It happens to everyone, even professionals! We can't always rely on just motivation to make sure we practice on a regular basis. This is where discipline comes in. On days where you are unmotivated to practice, tell yourself to commit to just 10 minutes of practice. It's just 10 minutes! Not that long - certainly not an overwhelming amount of time if you usually practice 30-60 minutes per session. You'll often find that after 10 minutes of practicing, your motivation will have returned and you will want to continue. If after 10 minutes, you are REALLY still not feeling it, then okay, no worries. Don't beat yourself up. Just stop and try again the next day. At least you will have done 10 minutes of practice. It's better than nothing at all!

Tip #2: PRIORITIZE

This is something I tell my students ALL THE TIME. Most music students usually have a list of pieces they have to work on between lessons, and sometimes, life can get busy! It is totally understandable if there are certain days or even weeks where you cannot get through the entire list of pieces you have to practice. However, instead of trying to cram all the pieces into really short practice sessions (which means you'll end up just spending 3-5 minutes per piece...) or just not practicing altogether, you can choose one or two pieces to prioritize and try to finish or master for the next lesson. If you only have 15 minutes available on a certain day to squeeze in a little practice session, then JUST work on the piece(s) you have chosen to focus on the most. That way, you'll at least still master something for the next lesson and will be able to move on to something new. You will still have made progress, and you won't feel like you're just stuck in the same place again for another week.

Another scenario in which you might have to prioritize as a professional musician is when you have to learn an entire set list by a specific deadline (for a performance, as an example). Sometimes, the deadline is a lot sooner than ideal, and what you should do is scan through the repertoire and start with the HARDER pieces first. These will require more time to learn and master, and so, you should start them earlier than the easier pieces. In addition to this, you should also start with the hardest sections of each piece instead of just starting from the beginning. This way, you'll ensure that you have enough time to learn and master the pieces properly, instead of panicking as you approach the deadline, because you don't have enough time left for the harder pieces or harder sections of the pieces.

Tip #3: Practice in sections

When practicing, a lot of students tend to just play through pieces from beginning to end a few times, and then call it a day. This isn't the most effective way to practice, because you are not focusing on the areas that need the most work. For each piece that you are working on, you should identify problem areas and practice those first. That way, you will actually specifically be working on the areas that need the most attention. Just playing through from beginning to end passively will not allow you to work on the things that need fixing. Even though it can be tedious, you must focus on the problem areas by themselves first before you try to go through the entire piece again.

Need a more structured method for learning the piano?

Feel free to send me an email and book one-on-one lessons with me, where I can give you PERSONALIZED feedback and advice!