Practice is the Only Answer

From time to time, people get stuck with their piano practice – things are just not working as well as they should. Everyone who has ever taken piano lessons understands that there are difficulties and challenges along the way. If you want to learn to play the piano, then you will need to practice. Even though this is really an obvious answer, it surprises me how many people I have met, that have not really grasped this concept.

As a high school music teacher, I have come across many individuals that could be described as having musical talent, but because they don’t put in the practice, they don’t get anywhere. It is practice, not talent that will ultimately result in a person’s ability to play the piano.

So this means that if you are finding a piece of music frustrating, then it is only practice that will resolve the situation. Often this means that the tricky bits that are not really working, would need specific targeted practice. Whinging and complaining about it will not fix it – although sometimes it is good to vent about frustrations.

If rhythm and timing is weak (and it is probably the most common weakness a piano student has), then you need to spend time practicing your rhythm and timing. This does not just compromise of playing your piece of music through, but also focusing specifically on your rhythm and timing as you play. Even though this might sound boring, clapping your timing and rhythm  can help improve your music because it is isolating this one element.

If it is your notes that are being particularly problematic, then isolating and practicing those tricky bits that seem to never work, can really make the difference.

If you are practicing a piece of music slowly and thoroughly, then you have the time to make sure that every detail is at its best. If you do this deliberately you will find that over time you can gradually learn to make the piece of music go faster, until it is at exactly the right speed.

I know that it can be daunting to learn to play the piano and sometimes it can feel so hard that a person can doubt their ability to learn to play the piano. Quitting is not the answer, but persistently practicing will eventually get you the skills you need to play the piano. Indeed,  Practicing is the only answer.