Piano Practice Tips

Practicing Tips

1. Practice slowly.  Give your brain a chance to think.  It's a muscle and it needs to be trained  like a computer, or when you work out- endurance and with accuracy.
2. Play right hand alone, then left hand alone- slowly of course.  Then, you can put hands together.
3. Playing perfectly is hard, but it's easier than going back and fixing mistakes.
4. Play one line at a time.  Do it 3-4 times over and over again.  Then go back and play the whole song.  This will help with your muscle memory.
5. Sometimes, it's good to start at the end of the song and play one measure at a time.  In essence, you are playing the song backwards. This is like brain-twister.
6. Exercise your body.  This helps your whole posture be correct when you play.  Always sit up straight and play with curved fingers, relaxed wrists, and fingertips on the keys.  " Wrists like butter, fingertips like iron".
7. Think positive thoughts about a difficult song.  You can learn it!  There are only 7 notes in the musical alphabet- you know them well.  Those 7 notes have been used over and over, and in different forms, to make a song.
8. Have discipline!  Your performance and playing ability will improve if you actually practice well and 30-45 min a day.  It's proven that to form a habit it takes 28 days.
9. Sing the melody while you practice.  It will help you strengthen your muscle memory of the piece and know where the notes flow in the pattern in the song.
10. Fingering is crucial.  Don't skip this step.  Fingering is key for muscle memory, correct flow of the song, and playing ability.