6 ways to get the most out of your piano practice and stay motivated

How do you stay motivated playing the piano and break through some plateaus?  We will share some standard and some less common ways to get some extra mileage out of your practices.  

1.  Push harder on the keys  Somehow when you push harder when learning something new, you are making a deeper imprint in your mind and finger memory when you do this.  When you strike the keys with more confidence and authority, it stays with you when you play these passages in the future.

2.  Repeat, repeat, repeat  When you find yourself playing a difficult passage, break it into smaller phrases, and play them over and over again in a short period of time.  It can be mind numbing, but your fingers have memory, and they will thank you for this later

3.  Use your iphone or kitchen timer  This especially comes in handy when you have a child who keeps asking, "am I done yet?" Doing this gives a definite start and finish time for practice and creates good habits.

4.  Say the notes as you play them  This is a best practice for beginners who are learning to read music.  The reinforcement will make learning to read music happen faster.  You can also sing the notes as some of our senior students like to do.

5.  Switch to different tones or to a digital piano  Sometimes it is nice to step away from the acoustic piano and play on a digital piano if you have one.  You can gain some new energy by doing this.  You can get more mileage by practicing the same scales, songs and finger exercises on all of the different tones of the digital piano.  This can easily buy you an extra 10-20 minutes of practice.
  
6.  Reward yourself  This final strategy goes a long way in making strong connections with what you are playing.  Simply keep your favorite beverage (non-alcoholic, of course) with you while you are learning something new.  As you accomplish something challenging, take a small sip.  Wait to take another when you make an improvement or manage a difficult passage or chord.  There is something hard wired in our brains that responds to this type of reward system as simple as it may seem.  Notice the way you feel as you take a sip and reflect on your accomplishment.

We hope this helps you make some extra leaps or break through some plateaus that you may experience when practicing the piano.  Feel free to contact us with questions about Piano Lessons in Gaithersburg, MD or Digital Piano Rentals