Learn to Play the Piano Faster By Keeping Track of Your Progress!

Wherever you are in learning the piano – a beginner, and intermediate or even an advanced player – learning the best ways to keep track of your growth and progress will help you reach your goals faster by keeping you on track.

In today’s world we keep track of many different things using photographs, written stories about an event and even videos. Think about the things that you keep a record of such as the progress of your children, how much your pets grow from year to year, how well your gardens do in a season, your work accomplishments, and many others.

Now you’re going to add your piano playing to that important list and you’re going to start keeping it updated along with the other fun things in your life!

It makes sense that we keep track of our musical growth and there are several different ways that we can do that as well as many benefits from recording in some way our progress.

One of my favorite sayings is “get out of your head and into your feet”. It’s important to write things down…whether you do it on paper or in your tablet, phone, whatever works for you. In other words…it’s pretty easy to think of what you want to accomplish on your piano and how you think you can get there, but to really keep an accurate record of how well you are accomplishing those goals…you need to write them down.

Start – by writing down one larger goal, and then divide that into several smaller goals.

• The benefit of writing down your larger goal and then smaller goals to get you to the larger one is that you have specific actions to follow instead of just trying something different each practice session. This way you stay on focus and reach your goal(s) faster.

Next - keep a practice log, or a written record of what you worked on during your practice time. Include any scale(s) that you worked on, exercises and etudes, and any pieces as well.

• The benefit of keeping a practice log is that over time you can go back and review it to see how much you have learned and exactly what scales, etudes and pieces you have mastered or at the very least, improved on during that time.

Another thing that you can do that doesn’t involve writing is record your playing.

• The benefit of recording your playing is that you actually hear what you played instead of going by what you ‘think’ you played. This is so important in learning to play an instrument! Again – it’s getting out of your head and into your feet, or fingers…in this case. The honesty of a recording not only shows us a few mistakes that we might have missed but also things that we played well, that we thought we messed up. If we keep these recordings it is always fun to go back and listen to the first one compared to the most recent one. You can really hear your growth this way!

Include in your written records the names of the pieces you have learned, the scales that you know how to play and their corresponding arpeggios and chord progressions, and any exercises and etudes that you’ve mastered so you can see your level of playing progress from one to the next.

• The benefit of this is the encouragement you receive from seeing what you can now play, that you couldn’t a month ago, or a year ago.

Share - your piano playing with your friends and family.

• The wonderful benefits of this type of tracking are that those who love you are going to be wowed at your progress and they will happily share their admiration with you! Again, this is a huge boost of encouragement that will propel you on towards your goals even faster.

Finally – try to follow a specific course or curriculum if you can access one. (Watch the following video to find out which one I recommend and how to access it online).

• The benefits of following a specific curriculum is that the path you need to take in your practicing is already laid out for you according to your level of playing.

The following video goes into each one of these steps more in depth and I also give you some important information on finding online assistance with a curriculum. 

I’ve also included a couple of other videos on the topic of practicing that should help answer any questions you might have and even teach you some new tricks to take your  practicing to the next level! 

If you like my tips and lessons, you will love the courses over on my website. Whether you are a beginner looking to get a solid foundation to build on or you are looking to take you existing skills to that next level, the online music courses on my website  https://www.pianolessonsontheweb.com will help you do just that.