FAQ 1: How much time must I practice?
Long enough to succeed (however you define success.)
For some hobbyists, "success" consists of sitting down and playing pieces for fun, regardless of how well or poorly those pieces are played. Frankly, I wouldn't even call this practice, but many folks do. To me, a piano instructor, practice occurs when your purpose is to succeed at improving your general skill level. I suppose some slight improvement does occur from simply playing for fun, but it is minimal and more of a side benefit.
Other piano students, especially those taking lessons, define "success" as mastering their music for that week. Here we can see how impossible it would be to actually specify an amount of time appropriate for each student. After all, their music that week might be hard or easy, plus they will certainly apply vastly different levels of talent to the task. Additionally, each student's idea of mastery is likely to be different.
To further complicate what seemed at first like a simple question, a new piece of music goes through many stages over many days before most pianists consider it mastered. No particular amount of time can be stated for each day's practice, since several or many days work will certainly be required. Perhaps a student will do more on Tuesday than Monday or Wednesday. There's just no way to say. The student must do what they have to do, whether the elapsed time be long or short.
Professional musicians have a totally different definition of success. They "play for their supper" and thus must reach a level of fluency which will please their intended audience. You might expect this to take even longer, but not necessarily, since the pro brings much previous skill to the task. He is learning a new piece,instead of learning to play in the first place, and that makes for a very different task.
Thus, our intital question cannot be answered simply by saying something like, "You must practice an hour a day, five days a week." This amount might, or might not, be adequate to provide the success. a particular pianist or piano student seeks. Here's what to do instead:
1. Define carefully what you intend to do with your efforts - in other words, how do define success for this particular task?
2. Resolve to achieve success, regardless of the time it takes, either in daily practice, number of days of practice each week, or any other arbitrary figure. FOCUS ON SUCCESS, NOT PASSING TIME.
3. Now figure out how to be as efficient with your time as possible. EFFICIENCY IS THE PROPER GOAL. Wouldn't most folks prefer to be successful in less time than more?
4. The more you focus on practice efficiency instead of practice time, the more you will achieve with less wasted effort. A second hour of bad, inefficient practice will not fix the first hour of bad, inefficient practice. Rather, it will make it worse.
I must close with a plug for my lessons, both live and online, and my book. Quality of practice, efficiency of action, getting more music with less wasted effort and frustration - THESE are the things I teach. If you were ask me about "my method," that's how I would describe it.
Long enough to succeed (however you define success.)
For some hobbyists, "success" consists of sitting down and playing pieces for fun, regardless of how well or poorly those pieces are played. Frankly, I wouldn't even call this practice, but many folks do. To me, a piano instructor, practice occurs when your purpose is to succeed at improving your general skill level. I suppose some slight improvement does occur from simply playing for fun, but it is minimal and more of a side benefit.
Other piano students, especially those taking lessons, define "success" as mastering their music for that week. Here we can see how impossible it would be to actually specify an amount of time appropriate for each student. After all, their music that week might be hard or easy, plus they will certainly apply vastly different levels of talent to the task. Additionally, each student's idea of mastery is likely to be different.
To further complicate what seemed at first like a simple question, a new piece of music goes through many stages over many days before most pianists consider it mastered. No particular amount of time can be stated for each day's practice, since several or many days work will certainly be required. Perhaps a student will do more on Tuesday than Monday or Wednesday. There's just no way to say. The student must do what they have to do, whether the elapsed time be long or short.
Professional musicians have a totally different definition of success. They "play for their supper" and thus must reach a level of fluency which will please their intended audience. You might expect this to take even longer, but not necessarily, since the pro brings much previous skill to the task. He is learning a new piece,instead of learning to play in the first place, and that makes for a very different task.
Thus, our intital question cannot be answered simply by saying something like, "You must practice an hour a day, five days a week." This amount might, or might not, be adequate to provide the success. a particular pianist or piano student seeks. Here's what to do instead:
1. Define carefully what you intend to do with your efforts - in other words, how do define success for this particular task?
2. Resolve to achieve success, regardless of the time it takes, either in daily practice, number of days of practice each week, or any other arbitrary figure. FOCUS ON SUCCESS, NOT PASSING TIME.
3. Now figure out how to be as efficient with your time as possible. EFFICIENCY IS THE PROPER GOAL. Wouldn't most folks prefer to be successful in less time than more?
4. The more you focus on practice efficiency instead of practice time, the more you will achieve with less wasted effort. A second hour of bad, inefficient practice will not fix the first hour of bad, inefficient practice. Rather, it will make it worse.
I must close with a plug for my lessons, both live and online, and my book. Quality of practice, efficiency of action, getting more music with less wasted effort and frustration - THESE are the things I teach. If you were ask me about "my method," that's how I would describe it.
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