Do You Really Know What You Are Practising?

Do you really know what you are practising?

We all know that we have to practise in order to be able to play. You’ve probably been told by your teacher how much more you need to practise.

The question is what kind of practice do you do?

I remember the time when I practised for hours every day but wasn’t getting the results I wanted and my teacher was more frustrated than ever.

Does this sound familiar to you?

You may be told that enough sheer repetition makes a perfect practice. Well, does it?

Let’s say you are working on some arpeggio passages in your LH. How do you practise?

First of all, try to figure out exactly where the problem lies. The more specific you can be the better practice solution you can come up with. Think like a doctor who is seeing his patient.  You need to identify the problem, diagnose the symptoms then given him the correct prescription, right?

OK, why don’t you? Is your thumb moving as soon as it comes off the key? If not, you can practise the thumb movement. Keeping the other fingers on the keys and moving your thumb only makes a great practice method for example.

You have probably heard of rhythmic practice but you can always change the fingering to make it even harder, change the key or change the pattern. You do this according to what you really need to practise on.

So the next time you go to the piano, think again. What exactly are you working on right now? Don’t waste your time.