How to practice?

[jfrojas]

Hi

I've been playing piano for one and a half year, but I've never had a practice routine.
To be honest I don't know how to practice and I think this is way I don't see any progress.

I've recently bought a couple of books that I think may be useful but I want to know your opinions.

The first book is the "Elementary instruction book for the pianoforte" by Ferdinand Beyer (https://www.amazon.com/Elementary-Instruction-Pianoforte-William-Scharfenberg/dp/0793552885/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250272321&sr=1-1), which I think is really useful to practice sight reading and some other skills.

The second is "The complete book of scales, chords, arpeggios & cadences" (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Scales-Chords-Arpeggios-Cadences/dp/0739003682), I bought this one because I've never practice scales.
 
Both books seem to be really useful, but I think I must practice other things too.
I would like to know if possible your practice routines, how much time you practice,..etc.

I usually practice one or two hours a day, but some days I don't practice at all. I'm trying to practice at least one hour per day, ¿Is that enough?.

I want to take lessons but I don't know how to choose the teacher, I've heard of some teachers that don't play piano (How is this possible?  ).

What skills should the teacher have?

I really need some help.

Thank you in advance.

[jtc]

Some Suggested Practice Techniques:

https://www.serve.com/marbeth/practice_techniques.html

Using Rhythms:

https://www.serve.com/marbeth/using_rhythms.html

A few Words on Efficient Practice:

https://www.serve.com/marbeth/efficient_practice.html


There's a lot of useful information on the rest of the site as well, if you care to have a look.  The main index page is:  https://www.serve.com/marbeth/piano.html

You'll find a lot of good stuff under the 'Piano Pedagogy' section:

https://www.serve.com/marbeth/pedagogy.html

... and, of course, in the Student section:

https://www.serve.com/marbeth/consumer.html

[bestpianosoftware]

You may want to check out web-based tutorials and assess if this method will work for you.  You may also opt for piano lesson DVDs and software.  Everyone has his own way of learning, yours may not be learning through private lessons.   

[xiaomai]

Hi there.

As a beginner I think a book on scales and arpeggios is perhaps not appropriate at this level. only a couple of basic scales need to be learned at the moment.

If you teach yourself then you wont know for sure if your technique is correct. there are many issues about correct sitting posture, avoiding various tensions etc. although a book or a dvd can teach a certain technique and you may think that you're doing it correctly but in fact you're not. One thing that teachers do is they constantly guide you to playing with correct technique, and correcting bad technique.

I think 1 hour per day is fine, of course the more the better. It's better to practice 30 minutes each day rather than 4 hours one day per week, however if you don't have a teacher then I can guarantee that you'll get into bad habits and then you'll be practicing the wrong way 1 hour a day. my advice is if you are serious, get a teacher otherwise you'll regret it later.

a piano teacher must be able to play the piano to teach the piano properly. listen to them play first if you're not sure.


when i was learning the piano my practice schedule for a 1 hour practice session each day might be something like this:

5 minutes sight reading
5 minutes scales and arpeggios
the rest on learning pieces


https://www.youtube.com/user/mmpianist

[jgallag]

As xiaomai said, you're not going to really need to "work" out of your second book (I'll call it your theory book). The purpose of theory books is to become familiar with theory, so you can easily identify the figures in the music you're playing. There is no need to practice them out of context (save for scales and arpeggios, but you're not there yet).

You want books, start with the downloadable by Chuan C. Chang at www.pianofundamentals.org. I believe he even has a section in there on choosing a teacher. They've said to look at the teacher's playing, but don't forget to look at their students! Go to a recital, and when you see consistent quality performance, that's the teacher you want. Also, ask if you can have a trial lesson. Of course, you'll be paying for it, so I don't see why they wouldn't give you one. Your teacher should be able to make obvious improvement in your skills at every lesson (after all, what are you paying them for?). Understand that these skills may not always be physical, but you should walk out of a lesson on most days feeling you understand the instrument better. A teacher should be able to show you the proper motions for a passage, they should be able to give you basic instruction in analysis, they should be able to diagnose your deficiencies and give you a solution, and they should be constantly working towards getting you to the point where you can practice without their help, so they can work on musical issues with you. They should give you practice tools, advice, and overall guidance. That is what a teacher is. Someone who knows more than the student and can effectively impart such knowledge to the student.

How much do I practice? Around two hours a day, but that's because I've been slacking off. Sunday I'll be back to college and then it's at least three hours a day, hopefully four with the repertoire I have to learn. The first half hour of practice is spent on technique, and, trust me, you don't want to know my routine. Other than that, there's really no more "routine" to it. It depends on where you are with the piece, what your goals are, and what you've done on the previous days.

I looked at the articles by marbeth, and I would advise you to exercise caution. The article on metronomes is particularly mortifying. She advocates the number one abuse of the device, gradually increasing speed. This is a no-no, and more than adequately explained in the Chang book. I agree with her love of rhythms, but there are eight variations, not four, and she doesn't seem to understand their true purpose, which is development of evenness in playing. (By the way, the variations are: dotted-eighth -- sixteenth, sixteenth -- dotted-eighth, eighth -- triplet sixteenths, triplet sixteenths -- eighth, sixteenth -- sixteenth -- eighth -- eighth, eighth -- sixteenth -- sixteenth -- eighth, eighth -- eighth -- sixteenth -- sixteenth, and, of course, straight. These are all the variations for quadruplets, it changes for triplets. Use your logic to figure those out. ) I'm also not fond of her fingering article, either. Apologies, jtc.

To answer your other questions: for you, one hour a day is fine. I would think you'd be able to work on three to four different pieces during that hour (15-20 min on a piece) and get much done. Feel free to split your work throughout the day. In fact, that's encouraged. You should try and practice daily, as your memory will fade fast without maintenance (in the beginning, at least).

Bottom line, read the Chang book (the part on practice, you don't need to read the math or tuning stuff) at least twice. Make sure to keep practicing as you do, though, you don't need to take a break to absorb his writings. Try them out immediately upon reading them, and read the sections that interest you (of course, you'll read the whole thing, but it doesn't have to be in order). He's onto it, and you might as well benefit from his research.

[donnxavier]

OK - - I'll try to help. I've been a teacher on and off over the last 63 years. Here's my practice routine; I try to do it every day.

Start with scales. Pick one of the 12 keys, keep in that key for two days. Do the major and both relative and parallel minors. Do scales for at least 1/2 hour. Then do arpeggios in the major, hands separate only.

Then do technicals; some Czerney Etudes, do some of his "Schule der Geschwindigkeit" Etudes.

Then go to my Repertoire; mostly Chopin - -- either Opus 10/25 Etudes of the Opus 28 Preludes.

Work some "Popular Music" in here and there. When I perform in public, that is what the audience always asks for.

Total practice time is between 2 and 4 hours per day. That's what I've been doing for the last 63 years. I play all over central Florida and am always in demand. I never take any money; it is almost always offered.

Hope that helps you get started.


donnxavier

[loonbohol]

I usually practice 2 staffs at a time.

[dan101]

The best advice that I ever received with respect to practicing involves minimizing your mistakes in a practice session. Playing with no mistakes reinforces touch memory.

Try practicing when you are not tired.

Good luck.