Ok, here it is. The powerhouse habit that will get you playing piano: You need to sit down, and practice daily.

Establishing a practice routine and sticking to it should be your top priority if you’re going to learn to play the piano.  Yes, having an instrument to play, and sound, guided instruction are also important.  But if you don’t practice, practice efficiently, and practice regularly, your studies will go nowhere.  Here are some tips to get that practice happening:

Daily practice is best.  Shorter sessions every day trump one or two weekly power sessions every time.  This is because learning the piano requires three skills: cognition, muscle memory, and aural memory.  Practicing for one hour once per week may help your brain understand what’s happening. Still, it will never give you the “reflex action” required for smooth, intuitive playing.  

Set both weekly and daily practice goals.   If you’re working with an instructor, your lessons would be where you set your weekly practice goals.  But if you’re working independently, pick a day of the week that will always be your “reflect and start anew” day: sit down and ask yourself how your past week of practice went, where you’re at with each of the songs or skills you were working on, and what you want and need to focus on for the next week.  I keep a small notebook to jot this down for my own piano practice.  

And when you sit down to practice each day, do something similar.  Take a look at your weekly goals, decide how you want to spend that day’s session, and do it.  

Practicing the piano vs. playing the piano. Sitting down and playing through songs, old and new, is the best part of being a pianist.  However, this shouldn’t be confused with practicing the piano.  Practicing is methodical, often at slow speeds, with lots (and I mean lots) of repetition on the sticky parts of a song or skill.  Practicing is usually not very pleasant for listeners in the room to hear, and that’s ok- it means you’re doing it right!

Just sitting down and playing through pieces is important, too. It is the time when you reap the rewards for all your hard work. It is the time to joyfully work on your overall musicality and preview music you may want to start learning in the future. It also is where you reinforce your past, earlier efforts (often, we play a piece better and better when we revisit it).

Consider where YOU are now, this week, and this month, and adjust your routine accordingly.  Plans and goals are fantastic, but if you’re sick, have a new baby or job, or something else pulling you mentally or physically away from your piano, remember that your practice routine doesn’t have to be all or nothing.  Make it your goal to sit at the piano daily, but reset your practice goals to micro goals.  Examples of reasonable micro goals during challenging lifetimes could be:

• Playing through one old favorite song, one time

• Learning one new scale

• Learning four measures per day on a challenging piece

• Picking up a song that is several levels easier than your usual playing level and learning it

Micro goals in busy times are just as essential as loftier goals in calmer times.  Remember, daily practice is 95% of it!  Keeping that daily practice routine going is much more important to your lifetime pianist skills than making huge strides every week.  Be realistic about where you are right now.  

Fall out of the practice? That will happen from time to time.  It’s easy to fix, but the key is not to beat yourself up.  Remember that today is a new day, so pull out your practice notebook and set a micro goal for the week.  Micro goals can be beneficial for re-establishing your practice routine, as they are small and accessible and make getting to your piano much easier than a goal to “practice one hour every day starting today.”   And getting to the piano and playing is what it’s all about!    

Do you need additional help getting into a practice routine?  Schedule a one-on-one virtual consultation with me here. 

Happy Playing!