How Often Do I Need To Practice?
As a general rule when you’re first starting you want to aim for at least 20 minutes a day
In those 20 minutes you want to ensure you go over the language of music:
- Challenge yourself to identify the clefs, the brace, the stave, time signature, bar lines, double bar line, and basic rhythms (semibreve, dotted minim, minim, crochet, and quavers)
- In that time, you should also consolidate your knowledge of notes that you’ve learned and made sure you can find them quickly on the piano.
- After that work on technique – this might be in the form of scales or finger exercises that are designed to help you build strength, flexibility, speed, endurance and cultivate a variety of touches (legato, staccato) as well as dynamics (soft and loud)
- After this work on an old familiar piece before trying to attempt any new work
- Finish off with a fun piece
This basic program doesn’t change as you progress in your piano skills but the length of time you spend on each element will increase – it’s not uncommon to spend up to an hour at the piano.
Be careful though, any longer than that and you will get physically and mentally fatigued!