PPP087: Practice Until You’ve Practiced

Summary: A Wise Puritan Proverb A few weeks ago <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaEEiqyQfW4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my pastor shared a quote</a> from John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.” Over time that quote has been condensed to “Pray until you have prayed.” How do you know if you’ve prayed enough? Pray until you have prayed.With the idea of piano practice – How do you know if you’ve practiced enough? Practice until you’ve practiced. Practice until there is marked improvement. One quick side note: Episode 87?? My how time flies!Let’s hear it for the Canton High School Class of 87!! I didn’t mention this on the podcast (so this is a special treat only for show notes readers) but I was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” my Junior and Senior years of high school. Chris Chambless, the male counterpart my junior year, is the co-founder of a major energy company. I’m a piano teacher. By some measures he has far out-succeeded me but every time a piano student masters a new piece or surges with pride after a performance, I count that as a major success and I smile. Chris, if you’re reading this, congratulations on your well-deserved success! Some practical practice tips Your practice should be more than a clock watching exercise. There should be improvement after each practice session. Here are two ways I encourage my students to practice.Play and repeat and repeat and repeat – but not more than four timesPlay the piece or small section of a piece once. As you play, actively listen for problem areas. Find places that are difficult for your fingers to get to or where mistakes are happening.Decide on one problem to fix and focus on the notes or measure where the problem occurs. Play only those notes slowly and intentionally to fix the error. Now that you are playing the correct notes with the correct fingers, repeat that section slowly to train your fingers to play it correctly.Actively listen with each repetition to make sure you are still playing correctly and that your fingers are getting more comfortable moving to the proper piano keys.The trick is not to play/repeat more than four times. If you’ve been carefully focusing, four times will be enough. If you aren’t playing carefully, then you are only ingraining the mistake in your muscle memory.As my student said to me the other day, “Muscle memory works both ways.” This year’s recital practice incentive My studio recital is held the first Monday and Tuesday in May. I do this so that students have the remainder of May off and are able to focus on other end of school year activities. All year, my students have been collecting beads. They earn beads when they complete a book or participate in extra piano events,

PPP087: Practice Until You’ve Practiced

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