GETTING THE MOST OUT OF PIANO LESSONS

Practice, Trust, Explore, Study, Practice

In this article I will discuss all the issues and circumstances I have seen in my years of piano teaching that have impeded upon a student’s progress. I also cover how to get the most progress and joy out of your lessons. Piano lessons are not necessarily cheap, and it can be frustrating for both teacher and student when progress is not being made, sometimes, even after years of study. One of the most common reasons for this is, of course, lack of committed practice time. Consider, for instance, the amount of time an athlete is asked to commit to his or her sport. It is not uncommon for a soccer player to be at “practice” 3+ days a week. I have even been told by a student that they had gymnastics two hours a day, five days a week. If this is the type of commitment it takes to excel in a given sport, why then would learning to play the piano be any different?

Instructors, on average, work with each individual student for ½ hour per week. If the student is particularly devoted, they may be lucky enough to have 1 hour lessons. This, however, is only the lesson and accounts for about 5% of the pianist’s progress. The other 95% percent of the student’s musical growth happens in the practice room. Getting your student to practice 30 minutes to 60 minutes a day can be frustrating but if they are consistently spending less than 15 minutes practicing or skipping days the student will even become bored by their lack of progress. The more you practice the easier music becomes. This is key as it makes playing (not practicing) the piano more enjoyable. This brings me to my next point which is it isn’t just about how much you practice but also what you practice.

Good repertoire for the piano is essential. There are compositions which are truly suitable for the piano and there are compositions (or usually arrangements) which truly are not. Countless times students and/or family come to me with a famous pop song, movie soundtrack, or folk/hymn tune and 9 times out of 10 these pieces are less than suitable for the piano. There is nothing inherently wrong with the composition of any particular song/piece, but it is in its execution at the piano which becomes problematic. Here are some common issues I encounter with these arrangements.

1. Too difficult. The melody might sound simple, but the strangely rhythmic LH is anything but simple. Not to mention the polyrhythms which are created by trying to play a pop bass guitar line in the left hand, while floating the vocal melody in the right hand fingers 3, 4, and 5, all while strumming some chord tones in the unused right hand fingers. It might sound great under the larger, more experienced hands of a teacher or seasoned pianist but it just isn’t right for beginning level students.

2. Too basic/thin. I generally see this when the arranger decides to make the piece “beginner friendly” or “easy”. They sometimes reduce the piece to just melody alone. Sadly, however, the piece suffers, doesn’t sound “quite right”, and just doesn’t feel right under the hand. The student learns close to nothing about music and much, much less about the true art of piano playing.

3. Not stimulating and fun. This happens when the student realizes they just aren’t “sounding good.” The difficult hand positions and shifts become stressful and confusing and can lead to self-doubt.

With this said popular tunes that students want to play can be helpful in keeping interest and engagement but should only be occasionally encountered. Trust in your teacher’s years of piano training, practice, and study. Do not get caught up in an arrangement of a piece which never even had a piano part in the first place and was arranged by someone who might not have ever given a piano lesson. Good instructors always choose pieces which guide the student toward natural hand positions and away from awkward poly-rhythmic situations (which do not have the pianist’s best interest at heart). Good repertoire progresses the student’s musicianship along and when meet half-way by a dedicated student with open mind, ears, and heart inspires him/her. Pianism is a two-way street were the more energy you put into the repertoire the more it feeds you right back.

My last point is to devote time to sight-reading skills and chordal studies/exercises. If given the right chord exercises the student will have an unlimited amount of “aha” moments in which they start to understand why composers choose this or that note or chord. This theoretical understanding forms the basis to most musical languages. This understanding of chord names, structures, and relationships must be achieved if common-practice-music (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin etc.) is to make any sense. It takes hours a day, many days a year, for many years for music to “make-sense.” Keep this in mind on your musical journey and above all have patience.

Happy practicing!

-Branden Downing

Piano Teacher

#Piano Studio #Practice #Piano Teacher #Piano Student #Commitment