"Practice A Lot"

This week a beginning student said to me, "It's really easy if you practice a lot!"  She was so excited about being able to play her pieces well at her lesson.  She is right.  In order to play piano well, it takes lots of practice.  Practicing with concentration and a purpose, not just playing through pieces once, will ensure lots of progress and quickly.  Practicing piano when you are tired is not the best time to expect progress.  It's better than nothing but the best time is when you are able to concentrate on what you are trying to make your fingers do and listening to the sounds that your fingers are making.  Slow repetitions are best for learning new pieces; however, the repetitions should be in short sections like two or four measures at a time, not the whole piece.  Thinking about how you are pressing the keys on the finger tips with a rounded hand position or relaxing your shoulders, back, and arms as you play or counting outloud or saying letter names outloud will help to keep you focused.  So as my student said, "It's really easy if you practice a lot!"

Happy Practicing!