5 Poor Piano Practicing Habits and How to Change Them: a guest post by Doug Hanvey
It’s always an honor when a fine teacher or writer agrees to contribute a guest post to No Dead Guys. In this article, pianist and piano instructor Doug Hanvey offers practical real world advice for identifying and changing common practicing problems that afflict pianists of all ages and and abilities. Thank you, Doug for these timeless tips.
By Doug Hanvey
In my experience as an online piano teacher for adults, I’ve found that the most common obstacle that students face in their quest to become better players is practicing poorly. Fortunately, unlike many other things in life generally, changing these habits is entirely possible and within our control. Here are five of the most common poor practicing habits, and recommendations for changing them:
Irregular Practicing
It goes without saying that there isn’t much point in taking piano lessons if you don’t practice regularly. It’s best to practice every day, at least for a few minutes, if possible. If you need to skip a day every once in a while, it won’t be the end of the world. But if you regularly skip several days of practicing in a row, there’s a chance you will lose your momentum and enthusiasm.
As a great piano virtuoso once put it, rather dramatically: “If I miss one day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it.”
If you’re a hobbyist player like most adult piano students, you probably don’t have to worry about the critics or audience. This quote could then be reworded: “If I miss one day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, my teacher notices it. If I miss three days…well, I better not!”
Practicing Too Fast
In my experience, practicing too fast is the most frequent challenge for adult piano students. Why do most students practice too fast? I think it’s because most of us think we should be able to play a piece faster than we actually can. Or we are simply impatient to do so. But the best practice tempo for a piece is the one that allows you to play it accurately and beautifully. Will you make mistakes sometimes? Of course. But practicing slowly enough to maximize your accuracy – which also helps you bring attention to things like technique and tone production – will actually help you master a piece sooner. Practicing too fast leads to playing (and learning) mistakes that then must be unlearned. The best pianists spend much of their practice time playing slowly, sometimes excruciatingly slowly.
Not Clarifying Fingering
It is important to know exactly what finger will play each note in a piece. Some beginning adult piano players assume that fingering is similar to painting by numbers – it’s only for beginners. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the harder a piano piece is, the more important the fingering. Marked fingering enables you to play a piece the same way each time, which is the only way you will develop the muscle memory to play it at the highest level possible. If you aren’t sure that you understand all the fingering for a new piece, discuss it with your teacher before practicing it.
Not Taking (and Observing) Notes
As a piano teacher, I especially admire and am appreciative of adult students who take their lessons seriously enough to keep notes on my suggestions for how to practice and improve. Most such notes should be made on the music itself. Many hobbyist players might be surprised to know that the sheet music of virtuosos is often chock-full of notes and reminders. Other, more general notes can be kept in a separate notebook.
But taking notes is only half the battle. You also need to observe them while practicing between lessons. If you do so consistently it will be sure to pay off in better results, not to mention a happier piano teacher!
Not Focusing on the Most Challenging Parts
One of the most tempting things for most students is to practice a piece by playing it over and over. Doing so is satisfying – even if you continue to struggle with the most challenging parts of the piece. But a much better approach is to spend most of your time on the most challenging parts, and minimize how often you play through the whole piece. Say there are four sections in a piece, and you currently perform them as follows:
Section 1: Good
Section 2: OK
Section 3: Terrible (it’s hard!)
Section 4: OK
Obviously the best approach would be to spend most of your practice time on Section 3, bringing it up to the “OK” level of Sections 2 and 4. At that point, you could then focus on Sections 2-4, bringing them up to the “good” level of Section 1. And so on.
There are many other facets of effective piano practicing. But starting by getting these five practicing fundamentals down will take you a long way towards becoming the best piano player you can possibly be.
Doug Hanvey is the founder of Creative Keyboardist. He studied music and education at Indiana University and holds a Master’s in Adult Education.