Sonder Music: Piano Lessons in Norman, OK
  • Home
  • Piano Lessons
  • Pre-K Piano Lessons
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Contact

About practicing...

6/2/2015

2 Comments

 
This post is a modified version of an "About Practicing" handout I recently made for parents of my piano students. A lot of prospective have questions about what home piano practice looks like. Endless amounts could be (and have been) written on this topic, but here are some helpful basics to keep in mind:

How much should students practice?
Daily, quality practice is essential to a student's progress and enjoyment in piano. Unlike other activities for children, which are often scheduled 2-3x a week, piano lessons are generally scheduled only once a week, so reinforcement at home is very necessary.  In my studio, I give the following guidelines:
  • Beginner level students should practice approximately 20-30 minutes a day.
  • Early intermediate level students should practice approximately 40-60 minutes a day.
  • Late intermediate/advanced level students should practice approximately 60 minutes a day or more.
These are basic guidelines, but frequency is more important than duration, and practice must be meaningful to be effective. Students should try to get in at least a small amount of meaningful practice each day, at a time that they are able to concentrate.  Which brings us to...

What is meaningful practice?
Meaningful practice is, essentially, practice that helps reinforce concepts learned in the lesson. It is extremely helpful for students to practice immediately after their lesson, or the very next day, to reinforce what they just learned. Students may need to be reminded to work on the assigned goals for each piece. Simply playing through pieces without specific goals in mind is not meaningful practice.

What about repetition? How many times should a student play each piece (or phrase or section)?
Students rarely do their best work on their first try. Repetition is important for improvement, but it helps to focus on improving one thing per repetition. Point out positives before reminding students about something they forgot to do or still need to work on.

Sometimes my child just wants to “mess around” on the piano and make up their own songs. How can I get them to focus on their assignments?
Messing around (improvising) on the piano is a wonderful activity with many benefits and should not be discouraged. Remind your child that they may only have a certain amount of time to play the piano (before it's time for dinner, for example) and that they need to make sure they have time for their lesson assignments too, so that they can get better at playing the piano.


2 Comments
Adrian Lawson link
1/10/2021 12:43:18 am

Hi great reaading your blog

Reply
codybecth link
7/18/2022 09:29:58 am

Great Article! Thank you for sharing this is a very informative post, and looking forward to the latest one

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Lauren's Blog

    Thoughts on Piano Teaching

    Lauren Sonder
    Lauren Sonder is a piano teacher in Norman, OK.
    She believes in providing a well rounded musical education that emphasizes training the ear, learning music in a variety of styles, and being creatively engaged at the piano.

    Blog  Categories

    All
    Beginner
    Composition
    Creativity
    Group Lessons
    Intermediate
    Listening
    Living Composers
    Method Books
    Mixed Meter
    Music Appreciation
    Music History
    Piano Posture
    Practicing
    Reading
    Technique
    Yoyo

    Archives

    September 2021
    March 2020
    July 2019
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

Embark on a journey of learning and discovery with piano lessons!


Sonder Music Piano Studio / Norman, OK 73069
(405) 474-9734 / info@sondermusic.com
© 2014-2023 Sondermusic, LLC