Pick One...and Just One

​Learning to play the piano is really all about simplifying what is too difficult to do at first. 

• We don't know where to start when we first look at a big keyboard...so we learn where middle C is and go from there one note at a time. 
• We can't read notes when we first look at music...so we learn what the name of the first line of our staff is in our treble clef/right hand and go from there one line at a time - and then one space at a time. 

With everything we learn in piano playing, we have to break down or simplify the concept and the technique that we're trying to master in order to do just that...master it. 

So why isn't it easier to master what we're trying to learn then, if it's really that easy!?

I truly believe that in our passion and zeal to learn everything we can at one time...we take on too much. 

Think about how exciting it is to take on a new piece that you absolutely love (!) only to find out how hard it is when you start trying to play it for the first time. The enthusiasm remains and you tackle as much as you can, as fast as you can...do get that thing learned because you can't wait to play it somewhere. But then the techniques prove to be more challenging than you thought...and that enthusiasm has waned a bit, and the next thing you know, that piece gets put in the back of your music library. 

Our enthusiasm takes us right over the part where we break things down. In other words...we end up bypassing the very thing we need in order to really take flight during a good performance. 

The way to capture that zeal into practical application is by honing into one thing each week and master it. Just that one. 

• Is it rhythm and counting that you can't do? 
• Are you unable to play the notes correctly with both hands together?
• Is this a new key that you're playing in and have never played that scale before?

Whatever your challenges are...make a list of each one. Then take that list and break it down week by week. Spend the first week on the rhythm for example and work only on that. Then move on to the next challenge when you've mastered the previous one.

It may take more than a week, and some things may take less than a week. The more you practice this way of learning a new piece or exercise the better you will know how long it takes you to master specific things. 

The main point is to do only one a a time. Don't work on 2 things from your list at the same time. It's fine to review over what you've been working on...but do that separately from your actual practice/work time in your playing. 

Professional multitaskers might thinking this is silly and believe that they can successfully work on more than one thing at a time...but remember that we're already multitasking when we're playing the piano...our minds are always on more than one thing. That's why it is so important when you are learning something new on the piano to in fact learn things individually and one at a time due to the fact that you are...already thinking about more than one thing. Too much multitasking just causes mental and even physical exhaustion. 

So relax...enjoy the idea of keeping things simple in your piano practicing and you might find that you start using that same concept in other areas of your life...especially when you see the benefits of this in your piano playing!

Stay Tuned to pianolessonsontheweb.com and learn much more to achieve your dream of playing the piano!

---