Important Goals that Will Grow Your Piano Playing Fast!

Have you ever set specific goals for your piano playing?

I bet you have, even if you haven't thought about them very much on a really conscious level.

• You must have had a goal of playing the piano to begin the learning process, so that is one. 
• You probably have heard one or more songs that you thought, "Oh, I'd love to play that on the piano". There's another one. 
• You may be in the middle of practicing on a certain piece and want to learn specific techniques so you can play the notes clearer; or you want to put more emotion into a certain passage. There's another goal. 

Anytime you feel the desire to do something that is new, or that makes you grow and expand your comfort zone, you can identify that desire, as a goal. 

These types of goals are rather large and more "big picture"; They occur more in our imagination and subconscious realms.  

In order to reach them, we need to lay out a plan of steps (smaller goals). 

Smaller goals are much more present in our conscious thinking than the bigger-picture ones. They take action on our part to be successfully  reached, and they require us to use our will and discipline to achieve them. 

It's important to know the best goals to establish that will help you reach your main destination faster!

While each main goal will require different steps to reach, there are some specific steps that you can apply to every single one, that will get you started on the most productive path. 

1. Clearly define your main goal: Example: you want to learn a new piece on the piano. 
2. Examine the technical requirements of the piece. Make sure you understand the time and key signatures, all rhythms and note values, (including rests), and identify anything in the piece that you don't understand. 
3. Establish a time-frame for reaching your first few smaller goals. It might be a week, or a month; just make sure it is realistic in terms of your schedule and how much time you can put into working on your goals. 
4. Set up a practice schedule. Once you have established your time-frame, schedule in ample practice time so you can put in the work to learn what you need to. No need to go overboard here either. 10 minutes a day will do wonders and you can accomplish a lot with just a few minutes of focused work several times each week. 
5. Review your results each week and adjust your smaller goals as needed. How did you do after week one? Did you learn what you needed to? It's OK if you didn't quite accomplish it all! Simply adjust your practicing to accommodate what you need to focus on more next week to get you back on track. 

Do you see how much more this type of goal work is done in your conscious mind vs. dreaming about achieving something when you first desire it? This is important actually. It's a "rule" so to say, in learning the piano or anything else really. 

*In order to make your dream a reality, you have to plan and take specific action steps. These steps require the use of your will and conscious effort to make them happen. Knowing what general steps you need to take when approaching any dream or desire, will definitely help you get there faster!

Apply these goals to your dreams of playing the piano and adapt them to each challenge you face in your learning. You will learn faster and be able to achieve more of your dreams as you learn how well good goal setting works!

Stay tuned to LessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dreams of playing the piano!