This article is contributed by Sebastian Mitchell, the author of Learning the Piano More Quickly Report
. Learn the piano more quickly in 3 hours or less!
Practice at Set Times of the Day
In my opinion it’s best to practice at set times of the day. Ideally this should be coordinated to when you naturally feel most alert. When I have several weeks free, I find the best time for me to practice is usually either early morning or around 9pm at night. Any other time is ineffective and leads to diminished results; for example, if I attempt to practice piano during the afternoon, I get sluggish and don’t do very well. This varies from person to person of course, but it’s worth investing time to find out when you naturally perform best.
Most people’s lifestyles prohibit this kind of accuracy, however, and so other tactics must be employed…
If you come home from a day job, you might want to consider having a short nap (20 minutes for a micro-nap, or increments of 90 minutes for longer periods) before practicing piano. I find that after I sleep I have a more focused mind, as well as being refreshed from the day’s activities.
Similarly, after I eat Thai food I find myself with greater energy (this is because thai cuisine is minimally cooked to preserve as many vitamins and nutrients as possible). Consider looking at the way your lifestyle affects your musical ability.
4 Hacks to effective piano practice
Here are some other ideas for learning piano:
Hack 1: One tactic I used to better my piano skills whilst still in high school was to befriend the resident musical prodigy. This person played cello to an almost world-class standard, had studied at Chetham’s, and was a gifted improviser on the piano, able to rapidly construct complex pieces. We used to hang out and mess around on pianos. I always learned a lot – just by being around him my musical intelligence increased. Just like “you are what you eat”, I say that “you are your peer group”. Thus: don’t spend your time with people who struggle to learn piano.
Hack 2: In my report I advocate learning hard pieces. This is because, due to the piece’s perceived complexity in relation to what you believe your skill to be, you will be almost frightened into plowing more energy into learning it. The piece’s difficulty is a catalyst, a powerful stimulus to force you to work harder than you normally would. It is akin to the notion “it’s easier to do the unrealistic than the realistic”.
Hack 3: Practice sight-reading large orchestral scores, for instance a Wagner opera, or a Tchaikovsky symphony. Go very slowly and try to turn the piano into a full orchestra. This is an excellent tool – once you return to reading normal two-staff piano music, it will seem much easier to understand and play.
Hack 4: Practice good posture. I took up Yoga and Alexander Technique (at first not because of piano) but found that my posture whilst playing piano improved, thus affecting my confidence. And increased confidence led to better performances and the tackling of harder pieces, which resulted in more rapid improvement all round.
There are lots of different things you can do to help your piano practice become more efficient. I encourage you to be creative, and to deconstruct the learning process so that you can streamline segments.
If you are struggling with your stagnant piano learning, get Sebastian’s secrets on how to learn the piano more effectively. He can play grade 7 pieces to a massive audience only after 18 months of touching the piano.
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