Practice, Practice, Practice.... Part 1

Practice, Practice, Practice...A phrase I remember clearly from my first teacher.   Of course every teacher advocates practice, it is not possible for us to improve as musicians without putting in our time.  Of course, this varies greatly from person to person, but the core remains the same, we get better as we play more.

I am jealous of many of my peers, who are very natural piano players, with large hands or longer arms.   Or, in some cases, just learn much quicker, but these things do not mean, that I am any less of a musician.   I also feel, that, the way I practice, will not work for everyone, and people should find their own path.

Practice is the day job of the musician, it is not always fun, and sometimes be very frustrating.   Sometimes, it can be a lot like data entry, as we input the information into our heads.   For myself, I found that discipline, and stability have lead to my greatest improvements.

Before I get into the meat of working on pieces, I like to start with stretching, away from the piano.

You can find information on the internet about stretching, but I find it important to stretch:

• Shoulders
• Back
• Arms
• Fingers

It helps me feel loose and less tension, and since I plan to play much longer while practicing then I would for a performance, I have done well to avoid a lot of injuries this way.

So now, on the piano, I start right into Rachmaninov....Totally kidding, I prefer to start with scales, with the metronome.   I only work play 3-4 scales a day.  Put find it important to play them slow(around 69 on the metronome) and fast (108 on the metronome).    For the obvious reasons of getting my fingers ready, the slow practice, is to help control my sound.  To not let my body be ran by the adrenaline, but to finer control my pace.  Put the music back in the realm of the mind, and not the excitement of the body.  Music is control of one's emotion in expression.

One thing many pianists lack, is sight reading abilities, myself included.   I feel it is important to improve this skill, so I will learn something new everyday.  Play from a score I have not seen before.  With the internet, and websites such as imslp.org it is easy enough to find new music.   Or just find a hymnal and start playing from the beginning. 

Continuing in my next post, I will discuss how I work on a new piece.    I hope to hear your stories of practicing, and what people have found to work, and not work!  Please subscribe or Like me on facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/jdhpiano

Practice time!! Where is my Martini!