Prioritizing your time at the piano

 Successful practice will mean different things on different days.

1. Having fun messing around.
   • There is joy in fooling around without focus or intent. Furthermore, fooling around helps to mitigate associating our instruments with drudgery and guilt. Afterall, chances are good that you started this instrument or returned to it to add joy to your life, not create another reluctant obligation.
2. Fixing a passage.       
   • There is satisfaction in fixing trouble spots. Trouble spots often cause us to engage in avoidance behaviours which impedes progress and fosters guilt. As adults, we understand that guilt is the enemy of fun.
3. Mastering a scale.
   • Mastering technique, appropriate to your level, will help set you free. As you know, I started drum set at age 50 in response to a challenge from an adult student. Over the past 15 years I’ve learned that technical facility is the key. I now play at the level I played piano after college. (It took 7 years from the time I started playing piano and graduating from Berklee College of Music, this time it took 15 years of drum lessons, and I don’t believe I’d pass the audition today because standards have risen.) When my percussion practice is limited, I practice technique and leave the playing to band practice.
4. Preparing the lesson from the teacher’s notes.          
   • When preparing for the lesson, practice one thing at a time and check it off as completed and move on. At the next practice session review what you did previously and proceed to the next activity.
   • The first step is being clear on what you will practice because no one can do everything in a single practice session. Priorities must be set. Professional tip: I start the week with the most difficult things 1st. That way I’ve six days of review ahead of me.
5. Maintaining your repertoire.
   • Students should keep a visible list of completed pieces at the piano. Systematically rotate through the list, one piece per practice. Keep in mind that over time you will add and drop pieces.
6. Improvising.
   • Aka noodling
   • For jazz musicians this encompasses numerous activities.
7. Sight reading.
   • Strong sight readers learn pieces quicker.
   • As a teenager I learned to sight read early in my development which led to the following outcomes.
     1. I could learn pieces on my own without the teacher. Good
     2. I could avoid learning how to practice! Or even practice itself. Not so good. Teachers used to fire me!
     3. For half a century I’ve made a career and a good living as a professional sight-reader. As a teacher I still do. Good. (However, since then I’ve learned to practice with positive results, please see my biography.)
8. Singing intervals.
   • All students need to practice this. See this blog for more information.
9. Transcribing a passage of jazz or classical music.
   • Transcribing leads to deep listening. Deep listening leads to an intuitive understanding of musical interpretation. Understanding musical interpretation leads to playing beautifully. See this blog for more information.
10. Exploring new repertoire.
    • Dream of playing Chopin when you are a jazz student or vice versa? Tell me. I play both, so can you.
      
      

Please share your comments below.
 
David
Revised 2025