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Currently I'm aiming to do more than 60, but finding it difficult particularlly Mon-Fri.
I'd welcome hearing your thoughts on how 60 minutes of daily practice should be split up.
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How many songs do you work on at a time? I'll assume two.
I try to make my practice very focused. I do scales and arpeggios in the key of the songs I am working on. just for 5 or 10 minutes. or maybe an exercise that addresses problems i might be having.
I make a different practice approach every day including some of the following.
. Play one measure and the first note of the next measure 5 times then move on.
. play the right hand
. play the left hand
. play the left hand music with both hands
. play with a metronome, very slowly, medium and fast.
. play the piece backwards, starting with the last 2 measures, then the last 4 measures, then the last 8 measures then the last 12 measures, etc.
the point being is that one could choose to practice in a focused manner rather than just playing the piece from beginning to end over and over.
accompanist/organist.. a non-MTNA teacher to a few
love and peace, Õun (apple in Estonian)
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Technique - 10 minutes: scales, arpeggios, etc, with whatever you're working on, BUT ONLY DO ONE MAJOR AND ONE MINOR KEY A WEEK (5 minutes each). This gives you time to really work on them and bring them up to quality.
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Sight-reading - 5 minutes: self-explanatory. sight-read WELL below your level straight, correctly. No stopping, musically, etc etc etc.
Alternate with technical exercise since you're aiming for just 60 minutes. Don't sacrifice pure technique in scales or practice in repertoire for those.
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Repertoire - 45 minutes (3 pieces at 15 minutes each):
If you're practicing correctly, then you should know that you don't just play through a piece a million times to learn it. You pick a section and work/drill/memorize on it for 5-10 minutes, and review another section for about 5.
So, you grab piece 1, choose a section, work on it for 5 minutes (bring up to speed, memorize, polish, control, etc), then another, then review old section in the last 5 minutes.
Repeat with next song.
The three songs should be: 1 hard piece (a bit above your level, to really push you, that you work on for a while), 1 piece at your level (your bulk technique and musicality will come here), and 1 piece below your level (full on musicality because you can polish and learn a lot easier).
The types of songs will matter on what your goals are.
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Now, this is a more 'classical/reading trained approach.' It doesn't give you enough time for improv, theory (which can be done anywhere, so make sure to continue it!), etc.
II. As in, second best. Only lowercase. So not even that. I teach piano and violin. BM, Violin & Percussion Performance 2009, Piano Pedagogy 2011.
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Play a lot of the works Bach - it will vastly enrich your repertoire and, as a bonus, contains within itself all of the "scale work" and "technical exercises" you will ever need.
Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on. Frederic Chopin
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ll: Are these times proportional? If I had 90 mins avail. to practice, could I just adjust accordingly?
Last edited by EmptySpace; 01/07/11 11:10 AM.
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EmptySpace, Of course! I like to think about (%s, but also with very breakable limits)- 1) 10% should be spent on technical exercises (no less than 10 minutes but no more than 30) 2) 10% should be spent on sight-reading (no less than 10 minutes, but no more than 30) 3) 20% should be spent on keyboard skills, but only if you are doing plenty of other work and devoting more than just an hour or less to practicing. These skills are improv, transposing, clef reading, musicianship (ear training, dictation, rhythm, etc). Sight-reading would be considered part of this, but at the time needed to sacrifice, I personally believe it should be these that go first. Or, alternate sight-reading, improv, and musicianship. 3) 50% should be spent on repertoire IN SECTIONS. That means you can work on a bunch of pieces at once and still make progress. That's how practicing should be done. 4 10% - not what this should be, but what it will inevitably become: time spent browsing, looking around, stopping, etc, blah blah blah. It's smart to factor this into your practice hours because it will happen and you want to make sure you acknowledge that fact. Plus, it good to let your hands and mind rest every so often! Hope that made sense! ~ 90 minutes: 10 minutes - tech exercises 10-15 minutes - sight-reading 10-15 minutes - keyboard skills 40-45 minutes - repertoire 10 minutes - doodle time That would be how I would segment 90 minutes, personally. This does not include theory, which can be done anywhere
II. As in, second best. Only lowercase. So not even that. I teach piano and violin. BM, Violin & Percussion Performance 2009, Piano Pedagogy 2011.
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Thank you! You are an invaluable resource!
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Thanks for all the ideas. Drawing form all the above, I think I'm going to give the following a go:
Sight-reading (L1) 10 mins A weekly piece(L2) 15 mins Hanon (1 exercise) 5 mins A monthly piece(L3) 15 mins Left hand Exercises 5 mins Scales 1maj & relative minors 15 mins
OK its 5mins over target!
I'm currently focussed on sight-reading so it gets done first The pieces are all rooted in that level where: L1 = my "fluency" sight-reading level (currently ABRSM Grade1) L2 = L1+1 = ABRSM Grade2 for 1 week only L3 = L1+2 = ABRSM Grade3 for 1 month max
I've been doing lots of work on scales since last May (which peaked during the last month at 30-40mins a day). So it's time to cut back on these. But I found that I was still having troubles in some pieces with a lack of dexterity and control in my left hand, so started doing a Hanon exercise and one of my own design which have helped.
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Is Grade 1 actually fluent sight-reading for you, or are you just at Grade 3 and think it should be Grade 1?
You will want to find someone to check your self-created exercise to make sure that 1) you won't be doing something harmful and 2) that it will actually benefit you.
If you're having trouble with your left hand in pieces, I would say that you should find the spots in the pieces AND DRILL THOSE LIKE AN EXERCISE INSTEAD.
If you find yourself not reaching the full 65 minutes, cut out 5 minutes of the scales first.
Hanon should not get a full 5 minutes of devoted time. That's just too much time when you only have 60 minutes to practice. Alternate with scales (ie, do one major/minor and one hanon a day) and devote more time to your pieces.
Unless you're doing A TON of pieces, you shouldn't just work on a piece for a week then throw it away and one piece for a month and throw it away. There's a HUGE use in having a ton of pieces at every level that you read through, but you also need to bring some pieces to a REALLY polished level.
II
II. As in, second best. Only lowercase. So not even that. I teach piano and violin. BM, Violin & Percussion Performance 2009, Piano Pedagogy 2011.
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Play a lot of the works Bach - it will vastly enrich your repertoire and, as a bonus, contains within itself all of the "scale work" and "technical exercises" you will ever need. I am an adult beginner who has been playing for about a year. I like your suggestion of a steady diet of Bach. I have the Schirmer Perfomance Edition of "First Lessons in Bach" and am able to play the easier minuets (minus the ornamentation). I am very much looking forward to the time when I can start working on some of the "little" preludes and the "Two Part Inventions". Yes, it seems to me that Bach's keyboard music contains all the technique a pianist would ever need.
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It doesn't contain all the technique a pianist would need. It contains all the technique you'd need for Baroque music, and it can be applied to all music down the road. However, it's not all the technique there is. That's why we learn from all the eras And it's why we learn PIECES from all the eras, not just scales and exercises. I rarely even consider scales solely exercises - they're more about theory, fingering, and isolation than actual song playing.
II. As in, second best. Only lowercase. So not even that. I teach piano and violin. BM, Violin & Percussion Performance 2009, Piano Pedagogy 2011.
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15 minutes for each song?
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15 minutes for each song? Why, does that seem wrong to you?
II. As in, second best. Only lowercase. So not even that. I teach piano and violin. BM, Violin & Percussion Performance 2009, Piano Pedagogy 2011.
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It doesn't contain all the technique a pianist would need. It contains all the technique you'd need for Baroque music, and it can be applied to all music down the road. However, it's not all the technique there is. That's why we learn from all the eras And it's why we learn PIECES from all the eras, not just scales and exercises. I rarely even consider scales solely exercises - they're more about theory, fingering, and isolation than actual song playing. Oh, I absolutely agree. That is why I am always looking for pieces by composers like Haydn, Mozart, Schumann, Bartok, etc. Although my primary interest is in Bach and Baroque music.
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Hi ||,
Thanks for the tips an advice.
<<Is Grade 1 actually fluent sight-reading for you, or are you just at Grade 3 and think it should be Grade 1? >>
It's slower than full tempo and is a challenge. I was previously studying pieces at >= Grade5, but spending several months or more learning and polishing each piece. For sight-reading, I bit the bullet and dropt 6 grades or more to -2. In other words, I worked through 3 series of sight-reading method books up to level 3 (11 books) before starting to sight-read the Grade1 pieces. For sight-reading I'm using collections of past ABRSM exam pieces alternating with graded collections of pieces (but whose grading is highly variable and some are way too hard!).
<<If you're having trouble with your left hand in pieces,>>
Two issues. Firstly, I'd been playing "challenging" pieces where there was little left hand finger work per se (but lots of octaves, chords and wrist/arm work). The current "easier" sight-reading pieces seem almost "harder" as there's more delicate left hand single note finger work. Secondly, early last year I developed ulna nerve compression issues in my left (dominant) arm which affects the 4th and 5th fingers and outer part of the hand. So some of this is a combination of starting over and recuperation/therapy.
<<You will want to find someone to check your self-created exercise to make sure that 1) you won't be doing something harmful and 2) that it will actually benefit you>>
Nothing fancy really. I'm playing ascending triplets going up a note each time with 5,4,3 over several octaves (initially just 1 octave and very slowly) now at met = 100. Then to mirror the last part of a scale and thumb under, playing 3,1,2,3,4,5 again ascending over several ocataves. This (together with Hanon) seems to be greatly helping the left hand pinkie and ring finger.
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I really found this thread valuable as I realize my practice sessions haven't been as productive as they could be.
I'm curious what kind of practice you all would recommend for someone who is just starting Alfred's basic adult all-in-one level 2 book. I've been doing 30-45 minutes/day and I'm going to try increasing that to 45-60 minutes/day. The recommendations in this thread make sense to me for someone who's advanced. So I'm wondering if I should count the book as one of the repertoire pieces? Or do half repertoire & half the book?
ii - if you remember me, I'm the one who ordered the Snell books based on your recommendation. I should receive them in 3-4 more weeks so until then I'm using the Greatest Hits book Level 1 as my repertoire book. I've learned half the songs in it already (the easy half hehe).
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What a great thread! I really like the structured approach to everyday's practice. I have a question for II and his first suggestion on how to slice your 60min practice. The question is, where do the pieces in your repertoire, that you like to keep fresh and maybe still trying to polish a bit, come in?
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Adding ten extra percent for that, or subtract a few minutes from other sections to devote to keeping up old repertoire.
It's hard squeezing in everything every day, especially when you only practice an hour a day and want to get oh-so-much done. You have to create priorities and realistic goals. That all depends on how much time you put in.
II. As in, second best. Only lowercase. So not even that. I teach piano and violin. BM, Violin & Percussion Performance 2009, Piano Pedagogy 2011.
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I have modified EJR's schedule from above and put it into a spreadsheet to fit my needs of an hour and fifteen minutes. I am a beginning piano player but a guitarist of 37 years. I have an excellent teacher so I am covered there. I cant sight read music yet (but I can play any guitar song I want by ear and have played professionally using tabs when needed) but with piano I know I have to read music. Anyway; below I have modified EJR's practice schedule for my use. It is a two week schedule that includes every note's scales:
Monday 15 Minutes Practice C Major/Minor Scales 15 Minutes Sight Reading 10 Minutes Alfred's 15 Minutes A Monthly Piece 5 Minutes Left Hand 15 Minutes A Weekly Piece Tuesday 15 Minutes Practice C# Major/Minor Scales 15 Minutes Sight Reading 10 Minutes Alfred's 15 Minutes A Monthly Piece 5 Minutes Left Hand 15 Minutes A Weekly Piece Wednesday 15 Minutes Practice D Major/Minor Scales 15 Minutes Sight Reading 10 Minutes Alfreds 15 Minutes A Monthly Piece 5 Minutes Left Hand 15 Minutes A Weekly Piece
etc...
Does this work well for my needs gang? I will bring my schedule to my teacher and discuss this with him as well and Thanks for your input!
Nord Grand, Kawai MP11 (v1), iMac 2017, Yamaha HS8's, Sennheiser 650, Focusrite 2i4, Pianoteq 6.4.0, Steinway Model A, Mason and Hamlin Model AA, Piano Marvel: 3C
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Play a lot of the works Bach - it will vastly enrich your repertoire and, as a bonus, contains within itself all of the "scale work" and "technical exercises" you will ever need. I am an adult beginner who has been playing for about a year. I like your suggestion of a steady diet of Bach. I would also recommend this suggestion as well.That is assuming the OP is a fan of Bach.Fantastic resource for passagework and reading.Plus rather than learning all that boring Czerny and Hanon, you'll be learning some of the most beautiful music ever written.(IMO) Whatever you decide to do I would also suggest that you spend about half the time doing exactly what you fancy, whether that's scales or playing through a piece you already know well or just sight reading new stuff.
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