3 Easy Steps to a Better Practice

1. Set a time/time limit

If you practice regularly at the same time, it will become a habit, like brushing your teeth or checking for your keys before you leave the house. Set an alarm on your phone to help you remember. Also, give yourself a specific amount of time you’re going to commit to practicing. Whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour, set a timer and keep working until it goes off. It’s easy to stop early when you’re not sure when you started and had no specific plan of when to stop.

2. Start and end with something fun

Practice isn’t just about working on that song you’re trying to learn, it’s also about reviewing what you already know and reminding yourself of why you wanted to learn to play that instrument (or that language or that dance move!). Start each practice by playing a song you already know that makes you happy. Then, when you start to work on the harder stuff, you’re already in a good mood.

Also, play another fun song (or the same one) at the end of your practice. It’ll lighten your mood if you struggled during the middle bits and make you more likely to sit down and practice again the next day!

3. Focus on the most important things

When you’re working on a new piece, identify the parts of the piece that need the MOST work. Play through those parts several times first. Then, when you feel like you’ve improved your technique in those sections, go back to the beginning and play through to see if the work stuck. If it didn’t, go back to those parts and play them through a few more times. It’s fun to play the bits of songs we know we can play well, but the more we work on the bits we’re not as confident in, the better the WHOLE song will sound.

If you’re interested in taking lessons, head over to the Noteworthy Piano Studio website for more information or shoot me a message on Messenger!