These are good questions; the answer is to avoid making or forcing yourself (or your child) to play the piano; rather you should encourage.

Set up your environment so you can incorporate the piano as an activity you do everyday: a discipline done over a long period of time. You (or your child) should enjoy playing the piano. Don't focus too much about whether you are playing "good" or "bad"; don't worry too much about getting every note correctly. And, especially for beginners, don't think of piano playing as a competition or a talent which you must execute perfectly.

Here's some conditions that may make practicing the piano fun and thereby effective.

1. The Piano: You should have easy access to a piano (or keyboard). Don't rely on a friend or family member to let you use the piano at their house. You should have a piano or keyboard in your own house so you can play it whenever you feel like it. You can buy or rent a piano.

The piano should be placed in a prominent location that is easy to get to. Don't put the piano in the garage, in the basement, or in the back room. The piano should be in the middle of the living space so you don't need to make a special effort to get to it. Encouraging a child to practice the piano is easier if the piano was right there and they didn't have to go to the back room to find it.

2. The Room: The room should be well lit, be relatively quiet, and have minimal distractions. This means that there should be no people talking in the room; there should be no people walking through the room. The television should be off and the telephone and/or cell phone should be off as well. If there is an answering machine, it should be set on silent mode, or it should be placed in a location where you cannot hear the incoming calls.

   Other conditions may help you practice better:
     ♪ a clean, uncluttered room (conducive to clear thinking);
     ♪ a piano that is well tuned (sounds pleasant, let's play longer);
     ♪ keys that work well (not sticky),
     ♪ piano bench that is at the proper height, and
     ♪ music sheets that are legible.

3. Your Mood: Ideally, you should practice the piano when you are in a good mood. There should be no pressure or stress involved. If you force yourself (or your child) to play the piano when you're in a bad mood, your attitude will poison the music and the act of playing. Condemning yourself to practice the piano when you are really not in the mood will lead you to despise the piano and subsequently quit.

   Tired, hungry and thirsty people are often in a bad mood. Practice the piano after you've had some food and drink. Avoid putting piano as the last item to do after a long day of work & chores. Similarly, your child may play piano better if s/he had a moment to unwind after school before piano practice.

   Be aware that "lazy" and "bad mood" are not the same thing. If a child doesn't want to practice because he/she is lazy then you can encourage him/her by sitting with them at the piano bench. "Be there" for them and consider learning to play the piano at the same time so it becomes a fun activity you do together.

4. The Frequency & Duration: A very important concept about piano playing is to emphasize practicing as many days as possible; this is in contrast to emphasizing how long (minutes) to play. Students who spend even as little as 15-30 minutes a day, every day, accomplish more than those who practice for hours but only once or twice a week.

   Music is a language combined with physical dexterity. Anyone who has learned a language, or a sport, knows that regular practice is more important than spending an excruciating amount of time done all at once. Assuming that you are making a genuine effort at every sitting, how often you practice is more important than how long you practice.

5. The Music:
   Amount of Music: Try to accomplish a reasonable amount of music at one time. It is more productive to work on a small piece (or a portion of a larger piece of music) than to slog through an entire piece just so you can say that you did it.

   When you are working on a piece of music that is a bit too challenging, don't get frustrated. Instead use one of these strategies:

   ♬	Just practice one hand at a time before playing with both hands. Separating the two parts may make it more manageable.
   ♬	Identify the trouble areas of the music and practice that part a few times over and over again. Focus on the trouble spots so you can overcome them.
   ♬	Concentrate on the notes and don't worry about the timing yet. Once you've figured out the notes, then go back and incorporate the timing and dynamics.
   ♬	Practice a portion of the song and do that part well before adding more.

   The bottom line is this: your practice will be more effective if you break it down to manageable-sized chunks of information.

   
   Type of Music: Ideally, you should play the type of music that interest you. In the beginning, you may not have much of a choice since beginners must all start at the beginning. It is always good to sample the different genre of music in today's world, but you will likely play best when it is music that you love.

Summary:
To practice the piano effectively, you should have a piano or keyboard placed in an easy-to-get-to location which is well lit and devoid of obvious distractions. You should be in a good mood and try to accomplish reasonably-sized chunks of music. You need not practice for long durations, but you should practice as frequently as possible. Keep it fun because the more you enjoy it, the more you will do it, then the better you will get.

And if you miss a week (or weeks) of practice? Don't waste your time and energy feeling guilty; learn to forgive yourself and move forward. Read more about procrastination forgiveness here.

---> go to top of Practice the Piano Effectively page
---> go to Home Page
---> go to Site Map