Should You Practice More or Practice Longer?

Practicing is always an important topic because it's the basis of growing our piano playing. 

Sometimes there's a little too much drama centered around this topic! We feel guilty for not practicing enough, or not practicing the right way, or the right music ​and can end up not practicing at all because we feel a bit defeated if we don't achieve our goals each week. 

Sometimes we're not aware of the intensity of feelings and pressure that we come to our pianos with before we even sit down to practice. This can result in less productive practice sessions and less growth in our playing. 

One of the main topics surrounding practicing is how long do we need to and how often? A few of the common questions in regards to this are:

• Do I really have to practice everyday? 
  • No, you don't. But you need to practice most days of each week. The key here is to manage your time and schedule so you have at least 15 minutes set aside to sit down and work on your piano music. It is necessary to commit to working towards achieving your goals in your playing. Everything we do well, we have had to practice; whether it's driving, tying our shoelaces, painting a picture, working a math problem, or cooking our favorite recipe. Repetition of something, (practicing) is what makes us learn it in our conscious and subconscious minds. Without that steady ongoing activity, we simply won't learn what we're trying to learn well. 
• Do I have to practice for a long time when I do sit down to practice? 
  • No you don't. The most important thing with learning to play the piano well is consistency over quantity. In other words, the growth comes from the steady work, not lengthy practice sessions that try to compensate for a lack of practicing regularly. You will have much more productive practice sessions if they are scheduled in frequently, even if for short amount of times. Working daily for 15 minutes accomplishes way more than working twice a week for 45 minutes. If you'd like to read more about why this is true, check out my blog on what happens in our brains when we do repetitive actions! 
• How do I practice regularly when I am so busy?
  • This one is always easier than we think! Take an inventory of your weekly and daily schedule.  There is at least 10 - 15 minutes of extra time in our daily activities if we really want to find it. Sometimes, we might have to be willing to give up something, or put one thing off until later so we can sit down and work on something for a bit each day. Still can't find a few extra minutes in your schedule? Try getting up 10 minutes earlier...you'll hardly notice it when you see the great things happening from regularly practicing your piano!

Keep it simple and keep it steady. If you have really decided that you want to learn the piano, knowing how much and how often to practice will really get you going in the right direction because your practicing will produce the results you want to see!

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