How do I practice more?

[chongjasmine]

I struggle, to practice.
I can only practice 10 minutes a day.
How do I find the way to practice more?
How to make practicing more enjoyable?

[sucom]

The first thing I would ask is, why are you struggling to practice?  Is the room you are playing in cold?  Does the piano not sound very nice?  Are you uncomfortable where you are practising? Is someone forcing you to practice when you don’t want to?  Why are you struggling to practice?  More information is needed here.

The second thing I would ask is, why can you only practice 10 minutes a day? Can you literally not find more than 10 minutes out of your day to sit at the piano?  The very best way to practice for longer periods is to make practice a priority in your day, putting it above some other things that are less important to you.  It’s all a matter of priority.

‘How do I find the way to practice more?’  Well, where’s there’s a will, there’s a way.  It’s really that simple.  Put the piano somewhere that you have to pass frequently or make it easier to get to, or leave your music on the piano so you can just sit down and practice a little bit here and there.  Instead of thinking that you have to sit at the piano for a longer period than feels comfortable to you, practice tiny sections for a minute or two and then go off and do something else but do this frequently.

‘How to make practising more enjoyable?’   Do you not enjoy the piano?  If so, why are you trying to learn how to play it?  Are you not enjoying the music you are being given?  Do you have the belief that you would love to play the piano but don’t actually like the practice?  If so, find another hobby because playing the piano and practising the piano are one and the same thing.  If you don’t like practice, you will never really enjoy playing the piano. 

Perhaps a little more information about you would make an answer slightly easier to give.  How old are you?  Why are you learning the piano?  Have you got a nice piano?  What motivated you to begin learning?  All these things will allow others to answer your questions in a more helpful manner because I have to say, my first reaction to your post was, ‘Why are they learning the piano at all if they feel this way about practice?’

For now, I am mostly believing that either someone is forcing you to learn when you really would prefer not to, or you have unrealistic expectations about what piano playing involves.  Definitely need more info to answer your questions.

[bronnestam]

I also found practicing boring once, which was somehow mysterious as I really loved to play the piano. Or so I told myself.

I think one major reason why you find yourself in that situation is that your practice is not effective; you don't make much progress and who likes to do that kind of work if it does not pay off? I really tried but the results were not what I wanted. I also had lessons 20 minutes every week and that was not a satisfying arrangement, especially when the demands from school increased and I had to prioritize. It was definitely no fun showing up on yet another lesson, saying "sorry, I have not practiced much this week" and then my teacher also got frustrated.

But actually I never learned how to practice effectively. NOW, 40 years later, I know how to do, and now I really love to practice. Every session is valuable to me, every session pays off. I also choose my own music.

How to practice effectively? In short: be patient, be detailed. Let EVERY mistake, no matter how small, be your guide and your teacher, work with them until they disappear. Do not spend much time playing through pieces, especially not if you do it too fast and too sloppy.

[adodd81802]

The better question is how to improve the quality of your practice, because if you found it enjoyable, you'd be able to practice for longer.

If you can't find the motivation to practice, understand what it is you do not like. Maybe it's the piano itself, in which case... quit!

Otherwise if there is anything you have to practice specifically that you don't enjoy, find ways to break it down even further and setup regular and small practice sessions, rather than try and power through something and get even more frustrated.

[keypeg]

I struggle, to practice.
I can only practice 10 minutes a day.
How do I find the way to practice more?
How to make practicing more enjoyable?

The problem with "only 10 minutes a day" is: If this has to do with your lifestyle (hours of school & homework if you're a student: work, commuting, household chores, if you're an adult) - then we can't help since we don't know your life.  If you can only do 10 minutes because more than that drives you batty, that's a different matter again.  Can you tell us more?
Why is it not enjoyable,btw?

[chongjasmine]

I keep practising scales as I do not know what else to practise, being a beginner.
After 10 minutes, I got bored.

[dogperson]

Since you are s beginner who has a teacher, ask at your lesson what you should be practicing and how you should be doing the practicing.  Let your teacher know you are bored.

[keypeg]

I keep practising scales as I do not know what else to practise, being a beginner.
After 10 minutes, I got bored.

This is a start.

To try to sort this out a bit:  What are you taught in a lesson? Can you describe what you were taught last lesson, or maybe the last few lessons.  For example were you given only scales - were you given a piece?  If you were given a piece, then that is one thing to practise besides the scales.  The next thing is: what kinds of things did your teacher stress or teach about, in this piece.  Did she want you to pay attention to any particular thing?  Did she assign the whole piece or part of the piece?  Are there things that you don't know or are having difficulty with?

The answer to these kinds of questions can start giving shape to your practising.  I agree with Dogperson that you should also ask your teacher about practising.  Often this part is neglected, and yet it is very important.

[compline]

This is a start.

To try to sort this out a bit:  What are you taught in a lesson? Can you describe what you were taught last lesson, or maybe the last few lessons.  For example were you given only scales - were you given a piece?  If you were given a piece, then that is one thing to practise besides the scales.  The next thing is: what kinds of things did your teacher stress or teach about, in this piece.  Did she want you to pay attention to any particular thing?  Did she assign the whole piece or part of the piece?  Are there things that you don't know or are having difficulty with?

The answer to these kinds of questions can start giving shape to your practising.  I agree with Dogperson that you should also ask your teacher about practising.  Often this part is neglected, and yet it is very important.

Keypeg, I don't the the OP has a tutor, I can't see a mention of that.  It looks as though she is struggling on her own, which seems a shame .
 

[compline]

I keep practising scales as I do not know what else to practise, being a beginner.
After 10 minutes, I got bored.

Jasmine, I just want to say, when I was a beginner, I would not be beaten,  (I'm intermediate now) I wouldn't leave the piano until I achieved my goal no matter how small and simple.   Please don't give up after 10 minutes  and leave  the piano feeling  low and disheartened.  Practice until you achieve step by step, whatever it is you are trying to overcome, this will make you feel more positive.   
 I apologise if I am wrong in assuming your are a total beginner , but I would like to enquire if you have a tutor, who would know what pieces of music you should be capable of to get  you started.

[dogperson]

Keypeg, I don't the the OP has a tutor, I can't see a mention of that.  It looks as though she is struggling on her own, which seems a shame .

You addressed this to keypeg but since I mentioned talking to her teacher. I am replying.
She mentioned on another forum that she is a beginner taking monthly lessons from a teacher.

[compline]

You addressed this to keypeg but since I mentioned talking to her teacher. I am replying.
She mentioned on another forum that she is a beginner taking monthly lessons from a teacher.

Ok, thank you, I didn't realise . 

[j_tour]

Well, I would say for me it's just new music, every day, until I find something to hold my interest.

For me it is really only Bach and Debussy, and trying to understand what happened in the middle there.  So, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven fit in there, as do other important composers.

Is there a trick?

Yeah, for me one trick was investing in good-quality scores of the music I liked, rather than using photocopies. 

It makes sight-reading much easier.

And having a nice pencil (I use a Staedtler Mars Technico 780 with B lead) helps, plus plenty of staff paper.

Little things like that — in the computer age (I'm about 40, so I'm not cranky about "kids and their computers), sometimes it's nice to have good tools to use.  Sort of a gift to yourself.

[keypeg]

You addressed this to keypeg but since I mentioned talking to her teacher. I am replying.
She mentioned on another forum that she is a beginner taking monthly lessons from a teacher.

Actually, that's why I included the teacher bit in my post, because of seeing your post on talking to her teacher.

[lostinidlewonder]

I can only practice 10 minutes a day.......
.... I keep practising scales as I do not know what else to practise, being a beginner.
After 10 minutes, I got bored.

Personally I have never come across any beginners who are self taught that just teach themselves scales and then wonder why things are boring, so this all sounds very odd to me. Perhaps if you are learning from online courses they will make you do such things and you may feel you can't move on until you have it worked out, I would avoid such impersonal lessons. In Singapore there are many schools you can attend so I advise you to have a few lessons with a teacher so you can understand what can actually be done. You say you like gospel music in other posts so perhaps you can learn some of this, there are quite easy ones you can work with if you do a google search for your favorite ones, fake books usually have a very easy melodic line you can learn and then add simple chords to.

[keypeg]

Ok, caught up to background.  Teacher found in April (last month), one lesson per month, hour long.  It's May.

Jasmine, answering my questions would still help in bringing this forward.