Practicing Tips

Some of my piano students consistently practice every day; others don't.

Here are a few practicing tips:

1. Perhaps the most important hint of all is to be consistent. Set a certain time that you will be practice. Set how long you will practice. It's much better to practice 30 minutes a day than to practice 2 hours one day and none for the rest of the week.

2. Do some relaxing exercises before you begin practice. Take some deep breaths. Wiggle your fingers. Rotate your shoulders. Clear your mind of the concerns of the day.

3. Have a positive attitude.

4. Set some simple goals of what you will accomplish for that practice session.

5. Always do some warm-up exercises--scales, Hanon, chord progressions, etc.

6. Attack the difficult passages of the piece. Work out tricky fingering, rhythm, note patterns, etc. separate hands. Then put them together. Mark with a pencil those areas that need help.

7. If you are making mistakes, slow down!

8. Counting out loud and using the metronome are good ways of improving your rhythm.

9. Using good posture and hand position not only improves your technique but also helps you not to get so tired.

10. Jot down questions you have for your piano teacher; otherwise, you're likely to forget them.

11. End your practice session with a piece that you've mastered and that you love playing.