One of my adult students was asking tonight for some help planning his practice time. He is preparing for his Grade 8 piano exam. He is an engineer, a spreadsheet kind of guy. I'm sympathetic. Here is what we discussed. 
 
Warmup with sight reading. Use a metronome! Get into the zone.
 
Now start practicing
 
Technique with a 2-minute timer. Switch activities every 2 minutes = 15 minutes

• 1 scale
• 1 tonic chord played solid and broken
• V7 chord solid and broken
• I and V7 arpeggio

Practice one short section to perfection =15 minutes

Theory =10 minutes

Ear Training = 10 minutes

Review completed piece or pieces 10 minutes 

BOOM! one hour of accomplishment

This may work for you. 
​
David

I practice piano and drums daily, except Sundays when I rest. This summer I'm practicing bass. My student Barb asked me, "how do you practice?" This is what I said. 

1. I prepare to practice. My music and instruments are at hand and ready to go. As is my metronome, recordings, recorder, and pencils.
2. I listen to the reference recording before commencing if the piece is new.
3. I plan out how I will play the piece. I consider fingering, dynamics, articulations, and the appropriate motions required to realise this vision.
4. I warm up and stretch.
5. I use a metronome most of the time. All the time if I’m on the drum kit.
6. I record myself section by section. And, then listen back and adjust as required before moving on.
7. I practice piano technique and drum rudiments.
8. I listen attentively to music. No distractions. I ask myself, “what’s going on here?” I often write out what I hear. To date of transcribed 100+ drum pieces alone. And, countless piano excerpts. 
9. I practice slowly with the all the dynamics and articulations in order. I don’t add this later.
10. I’m patient. That being said, if you follow the 9 steps above, you may not need to test your patience. 

Have Fun. 
​
David Story

4 hours of practice: No Grinding.

Top 5 tips for practicing any musical instrument
​

1. Have everything organized before you begin. Materials ready at hand. 
2. Listen to the music you are learning to play. Mark your scores.
3. Record yourself as you go along. Always know why you are repeating a passage in practice.
4. Warm-up
5. Auxiliary studies hold the keys to your eventual success: ear training, theory, sight-reading, score analysis. 
6. Bonus tip: Find a supportive enthusiastic group of fellow students to hang with, either in person or on-line. 

Playing

• Repertoire retention: Review a piece each practice from your list.
• Lesson assignments

Listening to Jazz 

• Form analysis: Who, what, when questions.
• Instrumentation: What, what, when questions
• “What’s going on here?”
• Watch Youtube videos of Jazz Transcriptions
• Suggested materials: How to Listen to Jazz by Ted Gioia

Ear training

• Transcribing licks. A lick a day transposed into different keys.
• Transposing exercise
• C jam blues in 12 keys
• Autumn leaves learn it in another key. Try in the key of F. By ear, or by writing it out.
• Suggested materials: Perfect ear App or Music Theory Pro

Jazz History

• Reading jazz history and checking out the recordings on YouTube. Each month study a different decade of jazz. Research a jazz history outline online and head for YouTube. See also Jazz History by Ted Gioia.
• Watch Youtube videos of Jazz Transcriptions

General and Jazz Specific Theory

• Key signatures, intervals, transposition, scale/chord construction.
• Suggested materials: Music Theory Pro for drills, Alfred’s essential music theory is good as are the RCM theory books. But it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.

Jazz Sight reading

• Piano music: play simple stuff, use a slow metronome.
• Lead sheets
• Chording
• Suggested materials: Your fake book: open and play. Or RCM sight reading books. Again, it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.

 Piano Technique

• Major scales
• Bebop scales
• Broken 7th chords: Major 7, dominant 7, minor 7, minor 7b5, diminished 7th in 12 keys. Play a maximum of 2 keys a day. SLOW IS FINE.
• I play classical piano music to keep my hands in some kind of shape. You might benefit from this as well. Or, you could play written jazz arrangements for piano. The idea is to keep the hands alive, as jazz piano study is brutal on piano techniques because we spend so much time play single note lines and left hand chords. 

If you would like some help, call me. 

​David
​

Classical piano Grades 1-2

Is it possible to make progress in 10 minutes? Of course. At some point longer practice sessions will be required, but with planning and focus you can accomplish a lot in a shorter time. Remember playing an instrument is fun when we succeed at it. And can clearly see our progress over time.

What practice is:

Learning through thoughtful repetition how to play our instrument so that over time we progress towards our goal however modest or lofty that may be. The goal is to accomplish a micro step forward each time we sit to practice. The size of this micro step varies on the time available.

What practice is not:

Messing around playing stuff we know is not practicing, it is playing. This is not a negative, but the reason we practice in the first place. In conclusion don’t feel guilty messing around, just don’t confuse it with practicing. Fool around without guilt. Have fun.

Session 1

• Turn audio recorder on
• One scale and chord set, metronome at a slow tempo you can comfortably manage, playing one note per click, listen back
• One short section of a piece
  • Listen first to the professional recording that comes with your book
  • One hand, then the other counting aloud, listen back
• Play a bit from a favourite piece if time permits

Session 2

• Turn audio recorder on
• One scale and chord set, metronome at a slow tempo you can comfortably manage, playing one note be click, listen back
• One short section of a piece
  • Listen first to the professional recording that comes with your book
  • One hand, then the other counting aloud, listen back
• Do all or part of a section from the sight-reading book.

Session 3

• Turn audio recorder on
• One scale and chord set, metronome at a slow tempo you can comfortably manage, playing one note be click, listen back
• One section of a piece
  • Listen first
  • One hand, then the other counting aloud, listen back
• Sing your assigned intervals

 
Have fun. 


David

The "breakfast piano minutes" are usually created in about 10 minutes 1st thing in the morning. 

1. Try to finish level 6 theory, it will really help us to communicate as musicians and build your understanding of the music you play.  
2. Summer is a good time to explore music history. A good introduction for classical piano students is found on Audible.ca https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-23-greatest-solo-piano-works.html check www.audible.com I found it there for a really fair price.  
3. YouTube score watching; paying attention to one element at a time: articulations , dynamics, tempo
4. General piano skills

• Technique
• Etudes
• Repertoire
• Sight reading

Have fun, see you in September. 

David

1. Put your phone on airplane mode. Concentration during “me time” is crucial.
2. Watch a renowned professional pianist perform on YouTube. This will direct your attention to the beauty of the music you play. Be grateful you have the privilege to play and study such music.
3. Plan your practice and how much time to direct to each area.
   1. Theory, knowing what you are doing makes everything easier.
   2. Scales, chords, arpeggios, a chance to practice playing beautifully.
   3. Etudes focus developing specific technical challenges in piano playing.
   4. Repertoire, the music you are currently learning.
   5. Repertoire maintenance, which is review of your favourite pieces.
   6. Ear training really helps us to memorise music, internally hear it, and expand our capacity to hear nuance in our performances and the performances of others.
   7. Sight reading. Good sight readers just enjoy playing music. And, learn music much quicker.
   8. Score study is the activity of marking up a score to record the nuances we hear in a professional performance. Remember the given notation is just a start.
4. Prepare to practice
   1. Get a sharp pencil to make notes in the scores.
   2. Your audio recorder to get feedback on your playing.
   3. Your books all in order and ready at hand.
   4. Metronome is ready at hand.
5. Time to start
   1. Warmup the muscles with technique or sight reading. If you start with technique, start slowly the muscles are cold. Breathe. Use a metronome for some of your technique to maintain the slow tempi.
   2. Now to the rest of it.
6. Take a 5-minute break every 20-30 minutes.
7. Three, thirty minutes sessions spaced in a day, counts too. 
   

​If I can help you, please call and reserve a future spot. I am now taking reservations of summer 2020 and fall 2020.
 
David

“How good do you want to be?” Start with this question followed with: “how should I spend my time?” 

Success will depend on the depth and breathe of your practice. My most successful students have made peace with time and possibility. Yes, time counts, but patience and realistic expectations count for more.

Learning has piano follows a well trodden path. You just must follow it to succeed. There is no secret. Just time and hard work. We must be realistic with the fact that course correction will be needed regularly. Life is messy.

So:

1. Make some time
2. Find a teacher
3. Allocate your resources of time and money
4. Organize your practice space
5. Attend some concerts
6. Become a music student

Call me, I can help.
 
David

I've got happy students who practice more than an hour a day, others who practice an hour a week. Because their time matches their realistic expectations, they are happy. Could they all practice more? Of course. I could too. 

A quick coffee video on practicing from pianist magazine. 

Expert musicians know what they are doing. With patience and methodical practice we can all realize our potential. 

Skilled musicians have worked on and mastered, to various degrees, the following four quadrants of piano study.

1. They've built a repertoire of music they can play. Wise students review this repertoire on a regular basis to build their confidence to perform and also to remind themselves they really can play something. 
2. They've learned to sight read. Thus, they can play for "fun" and secondly learn new pieces in a much shorter timeframe. 
3. They understand theory. They have learned to see the patterns in the music. Music is not constructed randomly. And, through extensive ear training they can hear and understand the structures of what they are playing. This really makes playing music easier. 
4. They have learned to really enjoy building their technique: Scales, chords, arpeggios. Far from drudgery it's an activity they look forward to.

​Call now for the fall of 2018. Most days are now sold out. 

Best,

David Story 

Who has all the time in the world? 

• Organization is the way 
  
• Patience is the key 
  

1. Warm up with some sight reading and technical practice. For piano that is easy. Fire up your tablet, go on line and head over to musicnotes.com. First pages are view-able for free. For technique consult your teacher's directions and get busy. Use about 25% of your time on these two activities. 
   
2. Now to the main pieces assigned. Three suggestions. First, listen to a professional recording of the piece while reading the score. An artistic impression of what the notation should sound like is very important; it will save you a lot of time and bother. You want to be able to answer the question: "how do I get that sound out of these notes?" Not, "what the heck should this sound like?" Second, follow the fingering. Many a wise student writes the fingering in on every note. Thirdly, practice in chunks, small bits, starting with the most difficult bit first. Remember the next lesson is coming soon ready or not. Be as ready as you can. Use about 50% of your time on this activity. 
   
3. Review old pieces favorites or not. This ends the session with some positive feedback. 25% of the time spent. 
   
   

Other effective practice routines can be created for different needs. Finally, listen regularly to the music you want to learn. Classical piano students listen to classical piano, Jazz piano students to jazz. 

Cheers, 


David Story

Getting ready for a new year of practicing? Me too. 

·         The key to musical happiness is regular practice and having clear easily articulated goals.  As business and time management Guru Brian Tracy says, “Clarity is the key”. To which I’d add: plan your life around your practice schedule.
·         Write down your goals. Do they align with time available? Are the people you live with onside?
·         Motivation problems can often be assuaged with a concert trip to hear a world class musician perform.
·         Get the piano tuned.
·         Try a good cardio workout to inspire, think clearer, and focus well.
·         Have a written practice plan for each session.

Books I’ve found helpful in the last year

·         “Time Power” by Brian Tracy, I read and reread this book at least twice a year. The ideas really work, if you implement them.
·         “The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life” by Timothy Ferris, an inspiring book on adult learning, hilarious too.
·         “International Piano” magazine, a monthly magazine from the UK on learning the piano.

Books I plan to read shortly

·         “Practice Perfect” by Doug Lemov
·         “Famous Pianists and Their Technique” by Reginald R. Gerig

All books available on-line from your favourite reseller.

Cheers,

David Story

www.davidstory.ca

The idea is to conect technique and drills with the music at hand.





.............
Practice techniques
1. Use a metronome.  
2. Practice in small chunks.
3. Play your scales , chords and arpeggios in a focused musical fashion by varying the rhythm, dynamics, articulations and balance between the hands. 
4. The greatest shortcut is "Bench time". In other words, more practicing.
5. Never ignore correct fingering.
6. Posture and hand position are important. 
7. Be aware of your breathing.
8. Listening to music away from the piano. Try to identify the form, dynamics, articulations in professional performances. It really will help you to play more musically.
9. Record your practicing.
10. Enjoy the journey.
...............
Most neglected and overlooked by students
1. Fingering
2. Dynamics
3. Chunking
4. Connecting theory with the music
5. Slow practice
................
My top four activities in practicing
1. Ear training
2. Slow practice
3. Bench time
3. Technique

Cheers,

David Story
www.davidstory.ca

Dorthy Delay asked parents of prospective students, "who is going to be your child's practice partner?"

If child prodigies are supervised during practice what about your child? 

I encourage parents to attend lessons and take notes. Then they can help the child complete their assignments during the week. Prepared students are happy students. Prepared students are happy because they play well quickly and efficiently. 

Cheers, 

David Story

An ideal student knows exactly what they want and why they want it. They have set time and resources aside to accomplish it.

An ideal student has read and respects studio policies.

Happy Student + Happy Teacher = Success

1. Communicate with your teacher your goals and aspirations.
2. Do your homework, consider that the so called boring bits are the important bits. I know, I take drum lessons. The new teacher is trying to get me to play quarter notes properly with the good tone and arm motion. This is requiring hours of concentrated effort. But, the musicians I play with can hear the difference already.
3. Participate in recitals. Everyone needs positive, self esteem building events.
4. Explore music outside of lessons: Sight read, attend concerts, listen to music, buy a music magazine, watch Youtube videos, attend a summer camp. (I'm going to Louisville Kentucky and Oxford England this summer for music training in both drumming and classical music).
5. Read Time Power by Brian Tracy. The best book on time management I know. Amy Chua's books are an interesting read for both parents and mature music students.
6. Remember musicians live to practice, performance is just the icing on the cake. 

Cheers,

David Story
Piano Teacher and drumming enthusiast.

On Sunday January 18 we had a lovely student recital at Port Nelson United Church. The kids played well, the piano was in tune, and the concert lasted just the right amount of time. A success.

Our next concert will be the annual duet concert. A heap of family fun. Parents and kids performing together!

I was reflecting on the joy that was on display. The students who played wanted to play; they were a happy group of keeners.

A good part of their success is a result of their preparations. They had practiced, they were ready, and they knew it. 

I was told, "piano is fun if you practice, drudgery if you don't?' So protect your practice time, it is the source of your musical joy.

Cheers,

David  

Setting realistic goals for music study? Great idea. Not thought about it? Why not? One of the best reasons is that it gives you a track to run on. One of the best warnings on goal setting? "You can't ride more than one horse at a time" 

Here are a few additional thoughts. 

For Parents 

1. Whatever goals you set for your children consider the time and personal effort you will have to give to the project? Remember hockey clubs have coaches, kids don't practice on their own. Even Tiger Woods has Sean Foley present when he practices for feedback and instruction. 
   

For Adults 

1. What are you going to give up to make room for music study? 
   

Project Planning 

Here is a personal example. I study jazz drumming. I'm planning on attending a jazz camp for adults next summer. When I arrive there I will have to audition for placement. I want to place as high as possible. :-) 
so, 

1. Each day I practice on the pads for a few minutes, with my metronome, my rudiments and other sticking patterns. I listen carefully for steadiness of rhythm and evenness of tone. 
2. I've engaged drum teachers in January. One for kit, another just for snare work in the concert band. 
3. I listen to jazz drumming daily in the car.
4. I practice on the kit nearly every day for one to two hours. Either alone or with the jazz quartet on Monday mornings and the Hamilton Concert Band on Wednesday nights.
5. I read drum magazines and watch instructional videos for motivation and inspiration. 
6. I'm focusing on the core competencies of drumming: Time, feel, balance, and endurance. I tape many practices for feedback.
7. Special emphasis on the bass drum in the next while and basic Latin grooves. 

This is a sub goal of my drumming aspirations. My larger goal is to be able to play in the finest amateur groups in the GTA and work each summer at the finest audition only jazz camps for adults in the world. My next sub goal after the summer is to bring up my snare work in concert band and to start working on the other percussion  instruments: melodic and pitched. A little OCD perhaps? But, this is how musicians approach their work. 

For yourself 

Goal: Recreational player 
Strategy: Two hours of playing and practice a week 
Tactics: Ditch the TV and web surfing by 2 hours. Tell your kids to go outside and play. Give a list of pieces to your teacher you would like to learn. 

Cheers. 

David

It depends on how good you want to be is the short answer. A thoughtful answer takes a little longer.

1. What are your goals?
2. Are they realistic with the time and resources available to you?
3. How detailed are these goals?
4. Are these goals your own or someone's else?
5. Do you know how to practice?

Let's break it down.

Realistic Goals: Are your goals in tune with the rest of your life? What would you give up to reach them? Piano takes time, lots of it. For example to complete my ARCT in 2007, I started Grade 10 in 2003. Five thousand hours later I graduated! (This 5,000 hours included my theory studies as well as my piano lessons.) I gave up the music business to do this.

If you goals are more modest, aim for 2 hours a week of practice to start. Without practice, piano is no fun! The caveat is this. If you are a recreational piano student with the goals of learning some tunes and having some fun, skipping practice is no big deal. We can do it together at lessons, I will supervise.

Whatever the depth of your ambition, I suggest strongly that you schedule piano practice into your schedule.

On the subject of practice, another blog post for that.

Cheers,

David Story

This fall I've resumed my piano coaching sessions with Leon Karan. We are doing great work together. Weekly lessons are a motivation to practice and stay sharp. 

My progress is slow and steady. Maybe too slow though. Leon suggested gently that I practice more this week than last. Ouch!

Message received. I will be a the piano bright and early tomorrow for 90 minutes. I've booked time on Thursday and Friday as well.

Cheers,

David

A tale of two adult students

Part one:

• Both students start at the same time.
  
• Student 1 practices an hour a day, 5 days a week.
  
• Student 2 practices an hour, once a week.
  
• At the end of year one Student 1 is 4 years ahead, year two 8 years ahead.
  

Part two:

• Student 1 has a vague notion of what they want to accomplish. The have a nagging notion that they should practice a lot. They feel guilty that they cannot practice more. They need a lot of hand-holding.
  
• Student 2 wants to play a few tunes and have fun. They do. They take it as it comes. They fiddle around, jamming, improvising, and occasionally getting to the homework. They are having fun.
  

Cheers,

David Story

Awesome advice. Click on the image or here for the full article.

Cheers

David

“Surrender to the expert”, great advice. Be teachable. 

With that in mind I came up with these thoughts. The take away: your teacher probably knows best. Complete your lessons, then fool around following your own muse. Why?

• A real expert sees the big picture.
  
• A real expert knows the sequential steps to get you there.
  
• A real expert knows the value of patience.
  
• A real expert has been there, done that, survived and returned to tell about it.
  
• A real expert is ready to share insights gained from their experience.
  
• A real expert will keep you on the straight and narrow.
  
• A real expert cannot hear your whining.
  
• A real expert might not be too humble. Deal with it.
  
• A real expert wants you to succeed.
  
• A real expert can see focus, commitment, and effort. The more you work, the more they will willingly give.
  

Cheers,

David 

People want to learn to play an instrument fast. (I included). We dream about performing the Moonlight Sonata, jamming the blues, or playing Christmas carols in just weeks. Two weeks would be ideal to quote Leo Babuata.

Search for “learn piano fast" in Google and you get 418,000 hits. The proprietors make wild claims and promises. Bunk, of course. Let us take a closer look at what it would take to play well.

Focused practice on the right things for a start.

Playing an instrument is primarily an athletic event. Physical skills take time and guidance. Of course, there are people who can guide you more effectively and quicker than others. However, few people can teach themselves past a rudimentary level. It would be like trying to achieve your black belt from watching Youtube.  An absurdity.

Now assuming you have a competent teacher, in person or online, you have to learn effective practice habits. The habits of the pros. (I swear some people spend more time looking for shortcuts than the time it would take to learn properly in the first place)

Before you dive in with plans of practice marathons, I suggest you start slowly and build some good habits, habits that will raise the odds of success.

Step one: Listen to a competent recording of your pieces before starting to play. Then complete the assignment, and afterwards fiddle about.
Step two: Explore the instrument, improvise, and noodle about.
Step three: Add a little time each week to your practice sessions.
Step four: Inspire yourself by reading magazines for students like Keyboard, Pianist, Modern Drummer, Downbeat, etc.
Step five: Have faith in your progress. It is a lot of work to learn to play well. I practiced about 400 hours before I could play drums in an amateur band and not embarrass myself too much. Now I am up over 1000 hours in almost 3 years. If it takes 10,000 hours to reach expert status, at this rate I will be 80 years old. Nevertheless, I will be swinging hard. My goal is to add one extra hour per month to my practice schedule. Now my drum practice is about 6 hours a week. By the end of the year, I hope to have it up to about 12 hours a week. Which will cut the 30 years down considerably?

(In my forties, I studied and obtained my ARCT in piano pedagogy. I put in five thousand hours over 4 years of practice and study. I succeeded at it, and had an excellent finish, but the experience was the most difficult thing I ever did in my life, period. Berklee College of Music was a walk in the park compared to that experience.)

Final thought: Celebrate the small victories because it is the journey that counts. 

These thoughts and acts will help tame the practice monster and give you some inner peace to help you persevere through the difficulties, defeats, and triumphs of learning to play well.

Cheers,

David

Are you learning tunes or concepts? You need a balance of both. Just learning tunes leads one into a cul-de-sac. There is a reason to practice scales, chords, arpeggios, and studies if you are a pianist. There is a reason to practice your rudiments if you are a drummer.

Best advice I got on this topic was, “the people you admire, really know what they are doing”.  Check out Jo Jo Mayer, or Elton John, etc. These musicians are highly trained individuals. They are not fakers. Read any drum magazine. Behind the tattoos and hair are skilled tradesmen and women.

Second best advice I got is, “you got to put in time, if you want to leave the land of make believe”.

Cheers,

David