PRACTICE TIPS
Practicing piano is like practicing a sport, it takes regular practice to make the most improvements. I recommend students practice at least five times a week. I understand everyone has busy schedule, if practicing can only be done two or three times a week, then those practice session will need to be longer.
Practice time varies based on age and level of students. If you have questions about how much your child should practice, please ask me.
Assuming practice is done five time a week, this is my general recommendation for practice--
Elementary level students--10 to 20 minutes
Intermediate level students--25-35 minutes
Advance level students--40-50 minutes
Parents should schedule a regular practice time when their child will have no distractions. A child should not have to compete with the television set. It is the parents' responsibility to keep elementary school age students on a regular practice schedule. By intermediate school age, the responsibility of regular practice should begin to shift to the student, with help from parents. By high school age, the students should be in charge of his/her own practice schedule.
Most important of all, communicate to your child your interest in music and support for his or her effort. It is not realistic to expect a young child to be eager to practice unless a parent is willing to sit down at the piano and help out. With parent's assistance the child will develop effective practice habits from the beginning which will help him or her become independent later on.
How to Practice Effectively
1. When practicing, make sure the environment is free of distraction and noise.
2. Set up a regular practice time. You cannot cram practice, like you cannot be a marathon runner in a day.
3. Read your assignment book. The specific assignments and practice suggestions are intended to assist in practice. Check item after you worked on it.
4. Practice the whole piece from beginning to end for smooth transition.
EACH PRACTICE MUST ALSO INCLUDE ---
5. Hands separate practice is not only for initial learning of a new piece. Practicing hands separately for
--- Balance between the hands (voice the melody hand louder than the hand that play chords)
--- shaping the melody with < and >
--- work out technically trouble spots
6. Work in sections. "If you can't sorrow a whole piece of steak at one time, cut it up and eat it a small piece at a time." For example, practice a section until you can do it without mistakes three times through (or at least better). Then move on to the next section.
7. Don't simply repeat mistakes. Use practice to work out mistakes, not to reinforce them by continually repeating them. When you repeat mistakes, they are just that much more difficult to get rid of later.
8. For technically difficult passage or unclean runs--- practice the passage Staccato, Long-Short, Short-Long. It may be confusing, but it always work.