7 Elements of Effective Piano Practice
When you are learning how to play the piano, consistent practice is super important. But what should that daily practice time consist of? Here are 7 Elements of Effective Piano Practice. These are things that should be a part of your daily practice routine to help you become a well-rounded pianist with a good understanding of music. (And stay tuned after the 7 things for a free download!)
#1: Warm-Up
Technical work is an important aspect of piano practice and is a great way to warm up. Here are some suggestions of things you can do to improve your technique and to warm-up each day: scales, arpeggios, chords, Muscle Builders, Hanon exercises, etudes and other technical studies. Your piano teacher can help teach you proper technique, including curved fingers, firm fingertips, flexible wrists and more. Always remember that all technical work should have a musical purpose!
#2: Sight Read
To sight read is the ability to sit down and play a piece of music that you have never seen or played before. This is something that many people would love to be able to do, and the end goal of many piano students! So how do you learn how to sight read? By sight reading….a lot! Sight reading something every single day is the best way to get good at sight reading. You should do a little sight reading during each practice session.
What should you sight read? Find piano books or other music that is a little bit below your current ability level. Your piano teacher can help you find good sight reading material to use. I also highly recommend Piano Safari Sight Reading Cards, as well as the Note Quest app which has an excellent sight reading section called NoteFit.
#3: At-Level Music
If you are taking piano lessons you probably have some sort of method book that you are working through. It is important to work on repertoire that is not too easy and not too hard. These are pieces that you can learn fairly quickly and that will help you progress and learn.
#4: Challenge Pieces
You should always be working on what I call a “challenge piece.” A challenge piece is a piece which is harder than your method book pieces – something that will stretch your abilities and help you to improve. Your teacher will be able to find some great challenge pieces for you. Challenge pieces can be really fun, exciting and motivating, and they can really pull you up to the next level. Sometimes your challenge piece may be a difficult recital piece you are working on. Or it may be something that you are working on memorizing.
#5: Creative Skills
As you learn to read music and play the piano well, you should be sure to not neglect this important area of music learning: the creative skills! When was the last time you sat down and tried to figure out a piece of music by ear? Or composed your own piece? Or just goofed around on the piano and improvised some music? Piano should be not just something where you only learn to replicate the works of others, but it should also be a creative outlet. Playing lead sheets or fakebooks is another great creative skill – learning all of the chords and creating your own accompaniment to a well-known tune just by following the chord names. Composing, transposing, transcribing, arranging…all of these things will put your piano knowledge to the test and will help you create something that is all yours. Try to work on your creative piano skills a little bit each day.
#6: Theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. Understanding keys, chords, scales and more is paramount to becoming a well-rounded musician. You should find ways to learn about music theory and to consistently work on it. Maybe your teacher will assign you a theory book or other theory worksheets to fill out. There are also a lot of music theory apps that you can get that will teach you music theory in a fun way. Understanding music theory will help you understand the pieces you are playing and will be really important when you try to memorize a piece.
#7: Listening
Something that you may not think of when you think of piano practice is LISTENING. As you work to learn piano and become a musician, listening to great music is more important than ever. You should make sure that you listen to great music at least each week. Learn about composers, learn about different instruments and musical styles. The more you listen the more you will learn, and the more you will grow to love and appreciate great music. As you listen you will learn which composers and which pieces are your favorites. You will find pieces that you just HAVE to learn. If you are serious about learning the piano you do not want to leave this element out of your piano study!
Here are some resources you can go to to find great music to listen to and to learn about composers: listen to your local classical music radio station. Find YouTube videos of pieces you are learning or would like to learn. Learn about great pianists and find their performances on YouTube. Listen to classical music podcasts and read books about composers. Open up your favorite music streaming service and start exploring famous composers, piano music, orchestral music and any other kind of music you would like to learn about. Try out my Shades of Sound listening and coloring books, which teach you about the great composers and then allow you to color while listening to their music. Always be listening to great music!
Download my free Piano Practice Routine Tracker to help you keep track of each of these important areas of piano learning. You can download and print it out and use it as a reference as you practice each day. Or, you may want your teacher to write your weekly assignments in the white spaces of each section. Or you can laminate the tracker and use a clothespin to keep track of which step you are on!
Happy practicing!