Practicing Tips 1-5

Here are some tips you might find practical as you set about practicing each day.  Many people find it difficult to set aside the time to fully dedicate their concentration without any distractions, but this is key to a fruitful practice time and will bring about much improvement.  Here are some tips:

1. Find a time when others will not be around.  If this is not possible and you find you are constantly interrupted, politely ask to not be disturbed during your practicing time.  Interrupted concentration prohibits improvement and if you can concentrate on the task at hand for a long period of time you will find yourself getting it much faster.

2. Always start with a warm-up.  This helps get the blood flowing and allows your mind to refocus onto the current task: piano practicing.  Warm ups could be scales (recommended), Hanon, or some other finger exercise.

3. Relax.  Nothing is more frustrating than to get into some music that you are learning when you are tense.  Relaxing not only makes it easier to play, but it will keep you from getting frustrated as you come across difficult areas in your music.  Take some deep breaths and remind yourself how much you love to play.  If necessary, if you are really tense, begin by playing something you really like.  That will help get your mind in the right mode.

4. Practice each song more than once.  To run through quickly taking mental notes of your mistakes is not enough.  Yes, remember parts you had trouble with, but ALWAYS go back to correct those little spots after you are through.  Spend sufficient amount of time on each part.  The whole song is made up of many little parts.  If each of these little parts are worked out, the entire song not only becomes easy to play, but it becomes beautiful music.

5. Have fun!  The worst thing you can do is make yourself dread practicing.  I always look forward to practicing because I allow myself to play fun things in addition to the difficult things.  Give yourself motivation.  For example, after I practice these two songs I don't really enjoy practicing, I will allow myself to play one song I really love. There are many things you can do.  Figure out what works best for you.

Yelena Balabanova Concert

Welcome to "Just A Note"!

Hello piano students and fellow musicians!  "Just A Note" has been created for several reasons:

1) For use by my students. 

2) For my own benefit in doing research and posting my research.

3) For other musicians to enjoy and to comment.

I hope that it will be beneficial to you in your musical studies.  I welcome any suggestions or questions you may have.  I also hope that my love for music will be infectious and that you will seek to make it your own!  One thing I love about music is that it allows us to express what words cannot.  Even now I find it difficult to describe the satisfaction I get from sitting at the piano late at night and "performing" to my heart's content while all others are dreaming in a different form.  Music is more than just notes.  It's more than just a rigid structure of bar lines and time signatures.  Expression of those notes and measures depends entirely upon the musician.  My hope is to help you gain an understanding of what music is, where it comes from, and how it can benefit you.