Welcome!  If you are currently one of my students, you've heard these tips in your lessons, often!  We all live in a busy world--so why not maximize your practice sessions by practicing correctly? 

If you are not one of my students and just happened upon this page, I hope you find it helpful.  Click on my home page for more information about private lessons and other cool music links!

1.  Plan to practice.   Parents, you need to manage your child's time so that they have a short practice session scheduled into their daily routine (this applies to adults, too).  Expecting your child to practice without help from you, is like expecting them to remember to brush their teeth without being reminded.  You have to train them until it becomes part of their routine. And, yes, you will probably have to remind them.

2.  Practice slowly, with control.  You've heard this in your lessons over and over, If you are playing too fast and making mistakes, then you are "practicing the mistake" and hindering your own progress. 

3.  Practice small phrases or passages until they become easy.  Once you've mastered a segment, then you can practice linking it together with the next learned segment...until you have mastered the whole song!  This may seem time-consuming, but it actually speeds your progress. 

4.  Follow a pre-specified practice plan.  Either one prescribed by your music teacher or one you devise on your own.  If you don't have a plan of attack, then you won't necessarily practice the things that will help you grow musically.  All my students have a customized practice plan that they are encouraged to follow, in order to achieve the most progress. 

5.  Sight-read something new during every practice session.   Make it part of your practice routine.  Reading new material on a regular basis really exercises your "sight-reading" muscle and facilitates rapid improvement.

6.  Practice the hard stuff!  C'mon, you already know the easy stuff! If you spend most of your practice session "playing" the easy stuff you already know, you'll never move beyond it to more challenging material.   

7.  Have fun playing piano, often!   It's not just all about practice...you should be having fun playing piano--whether you are practicing or playing!