Hello all..My name is Derek, and I'm fairly new to the site...I've been playing by ear for over 30yrs and now beginning to learn theory..Does anyone mind sharing their practice routine with me.. I love to hear other ppl's routines..Thanks in advance

Not much routine here. I do scales and stuff only when I feel like it or think I need it because I have lost the "feel" of the keys. I usually work on 3-4 pieces if I have the time. I change piece when I feel like it

For me it works best to alternate between full tempo, slow practice and playing through the whole piece (when I can). I also alternate between practicing larger chunks and practicing just small fractions with difficult stuff. I don't have any fixed practice routine, but I am beginning to feel quite well what works and what doesn't at a given time, so I change when I feel I am not getting anything out of what I am doing.

I tried all kinds of what to do lists, but they always turned out to be useless or forgotten after a couple of days

15 minutes on, 5 minute break .... may sound strange but whatever you do, break it up as your focus will be better, imo...

Thanks for sharing. It is very similar to me I agree about lists.

By "now beginning to learn theory," does that mean you can comfortably read and recognize music from the written sheet or are in the process of learning? I ask because I'd suggest becoming fairly proficient with this - possibly through the linear progression used in something like a beginner's method book (ex. Alfred's all-in-one piano book 1) - before just picking up any piece of music and trying to learn from it. This is especially important in your case because with as developed of an ear as you have, you don't want to rely on it as a crutch (this could happen subconsciously) for not wanting to or not being able to read, especially when that's your goal.

Theory is becoming a beguiling mistress.... gotta love going down the rabbit hole of knowledge! :-):-)

Bobpickle,that's my problem..By my ear being so good,it's hard to wanna learn to read(and I know the basic's)when I could just listen to the song two or three times and have it.

I`ve never been a decent sight reader for the same reasons Motif. I get by. I practice what I need to to do the job in hand; at the moment it`s this Mendelssohn recital, I`m loving putting the effort in.

You're going to need to bite the bullet then at some point and set aside time each day that you're able and focus on nothing else but learning the skill and then drilling it into you (great drills at emusictheory.com). Our own Brian Lucas devised a course that some of us here helped review that I would recommend: http://www.simplesightreading.com/

Otherwise, check out my thread with free, approachable online resources for learning music theory here: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1948785.html

start with scales technique etc. then site read a bit. then practive an etude then play a piece or 2. whole thing can get done 45m to an hour, if im tired i skip something . wow i bet ur really good because its a gift to pick it up by ear.. i think. if u want to learn theory you should start by learning how to read music. then u start site reading a bit every day easy stuff and u just go from there. what style of piano do u play?

Thank you all for the comments..I do wanna learn to read but between gigs and gigs and gigs lol. it's hard to focus on..

I won't say that I do this all the time ... but this is the routine my teacher has recommended to get in roughly one hour of daily practice.

Warm-up/Exercises: 5-10 minutes
Scales: 10 minutes
2 or 3 WIPs (Works in Progress): 15-20 minutes per piece

I can alternate days working on the WIPs rather than trying to cram all of them in every day. If I need to split the time during the day, my teacher recommends doing exercises with one of the WIPs and scales with the other. That way, scales also serve as a warm-up. Btw, my exercises are all from the "Dozen a Day" books, since I own a couple of different ones in the series. I find they are very useful. (No, I'm certainly NOT doing 12 exercises daily, ha-ha! Also, I don't follow them in order. My teacher selects particular ones for the skills I need to learn/practice.) I imagine you could use any exercise materials that are designed to teach technical skills and sight-reading.

Hope this is helpful.