Piano Practice Strategies

1. Have a plan for practice before diving into it- Examples of having a plan can be practicing a particular technical exercise, repertoire and being able to achieve specific things such as practice hands separate, work on voicing of a repertoire and so on.
2. Don’t skip the warm-up at the piano- Warmups should be done at least 10 mins before doing actual work on the piano. It can include some arm and finger stretches, scale and arpeggio exercises, Hanon/Czerny exercises, or even simple etudes.
3. Practice slowly, hands separate before playing hands together- When learning new pieces, slow practice has tremendous results. It is important to get all the details such as notes, rhythms, articulations, voicing, into your practice before trying it up to speed. Hand separate can help learn all these details precisely.
4. Slice up your pieces in small sections- It is always helpful to learn pieces in smaller sections (can be divided in bars, or phrases)
5. Use consistent fingering- Always have a pencil and mark all the fingerings that you are using to keep it consistent.
6. Remove distractions- Any sort of distraction from a device such as a notification on phone or laptop, can be harmful. It can lead to lack of focus. Leave your devices on silent or airplane mode or in another room
7. Listen to recordings- Listening to different interpretations from other artists for the pieces you are practicing, can give you ideas on tone, dynamics, and enhance your artistry at the instrument.
8. Journal your practice- Writing notes of all the practice done can be extremely rewarding as it helps you to track your progress, find out whether the plan you had in the beginning of the practice was followed. It can act as a mirror to your practice routine.