It is well and truly obvious that to learn to play the piano, or any other musical instrument, you need to practice regularly and the more regular it is the better. In fact, I think that it is much more important to practice for a few minutes every single day than an hour once a week.
So how do people practice regularly? The simple answer is – by making your piano practice a part of your regular routine.
When I was a kid taking piano lessons, I was told by both my piano teacher and my parents that I had to practice every day and what worked for me, was that I practiced for a few minutes in the morning before school and the rest was after school, specifically after I had an after school snack and before I started my homework. It was the same routine from the age of six until I had finished school at the age of 17.
This routine worked for many years even though obviously I was doing a lot more practice when I was sixteen than I was at the age of seven. I would always do some practice before I went to school and then the rest after school and I truly found it easy to end up practicing for an hour everyday. This was because I was in a routine and every year my teacher told me to increase my practice by a few minutes, so 5 minutes became 10, which became 15. Eventually, 55 minutes became an hour and at that stage, any increase in how much I was supposed to practice, was no big deal to me at all.
My point is that you don’t have to think of how much time you would need to practice eventually, all you need to think is what are you starting with – which is usually a few minutes. You most certainly should put some thought into your practice routine. I can give you some examples but really you need to consider what other commitments or activities you have in your day and work out when is a good time that you could consistently practice. Is it first thing in the morning, after your morning coffee, or after breakfast? Is it after your morning walk or going to the gym, or maybe it is before you leave to collect the grandkids from school? In working out when is best to practice for you, it is also important to take into consideration what time of day do you feel most alert – morning, afternoon or evening. To get started you need put in the effort to practice at that time you have set yourself. In a matter of weeks, you can establish a daily habit of practicing the piano, without actually really having to think about it anymore.
Yes, establishing a regular routine of practicing the piano takes some thought, time and effort. However, once you are in that routine you will get your piano practice done, even after a period of not practicing due to illness or travel.
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