School Days and Practice Times

School is officially in full swing and our calendars are filled to the brim with sports, music, clubs, homework, not to mention the time spent in the classroom every weekday! How do we find time to practice in the midst of all this? It’s not easy, but we can do it.

Set a time to practice and stick to it.

In a busy schedule, setting aside regular time in your calendar is an essential for making sure you get the practice in you need. Block off 5, 10, 15 minutes in your calendar and mark it for practicing. I like to color-code my Google Calendar so my practice times are always light purple. That way, I can see exactly when they occur during my day.

Use a timer

When things are crazy busy we don’t always have time to just play until we’re tired of it. Also, sometimes we just don’t want to practice and even spending 10 minutes at the keyboard feels like a million years. At the beginning of your practice, set a timer for the duration you’ll need to practice that day. Keep it close to you so you can see how much time you have left. When the time goes off, you’re done and on to the next thing!

Have everything ready at the piano

This might not sound like a great revelation, but ensuring everything is ready for you to practice when you sit down at the piano can be the difference between getting in the practice you need before you rush off to the next activity and spending half that time searching for your Theory book or the pencil you’re SURE you left on the piano last time, or even your actual music.

If you have more than one musician using the instrument in your house, set baskets up for each person. If you have an upright acoustic piano, you can place these on the top of the piano, or if you have a cubby shelf, you can put them next to the piano. If you have a digital keyboard, you can place the baskets on the floor or a shelf near the keyboard.

Know how much time you NEED to practice

This kind of goes with the whole setting aside time and using a timer. I try to remind my students how much time they need to practice during the week on a regular basis, but your goals are yours and you need to determine how much time you want to practice in order to reach those goals. Knowing this ahead of time will keep your expectations reachable and you won’t be regularly disappointed when you fail to meet them week after week.

The school year is a hectic time and I know it’s stressful for EVERYONE, so remember to prioritize the things that are most important to you and do those first. Homework, chores, and self care needs come first before piano practice!