Tips for beginners struggles with practice - (Part 1 of 2)

Beginner Struggles with Piano Practice (Part 1)

Have you have you just begun piano lessons? Are you struggling with setting time aside to practice? Or are you very drained and tired after your practice sessions? Well hopefully, I can help you with a few of these things.

My name is Trudi, and I’m a music teacher in Truly Musical, a music school based out of Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. I primarily teach piano, as well as general musical theory, and I blog regularly about all things related to the craft of teaching and playing piano. My lessons prioritize the development of the student musically, and although I am classically trained, I encourage students to explore all styles during their time with me.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or are looking to start your journey into music; I’m always happy to share my tips!

Remember, practicing expends a lot of mental effort!

It’s important to remember, that when you first begin piano lessons, you are doing something that you've never done before. So in order to learn, and remember, you have to lay down new neural pathways in your brain. This is what gives the drained, tired feeling after practice, as your brain has worked hard incorporating all this new information. 

My pro-tip is to remember that used a lot of energy, so it needs to be replenished, ideally with a healthy snack and some water. This will reduce the foggy brain you are feeling after practice, and also is a nice treat to associate with your practice! This goes double for exams. I always make sure I have a banana and some fruit juice handy to keep my energy levels up.

Trouble carving out regular practice time

Now we move on to the first problem finding time to practice. This can be multilayered problem; you may not be able to find time to practice because you are working full time, studying, commuting, etc. You may not be able to find time to practice because you already have tonnes of extracurricular activities outside of school or work.

You may not be able to find time to practice because you haven't set out a daily routine. Or you keep setting aside time to practice, but somehow every day you don’t end up practicing. This last point is, in my opinion, the more difficult problem of fear, procrastination or avoidance — call it whatever you will.  Every musician has this fear and struggles at times with practice, just as writers are often afraid to write.

Overcoming these barriers

Finding time to practice may be difficult due to your schedule, even more so trying to carve out a regular practice time. Often there is a lot going on already! If you have no regular routine, a good place to start is to aim for between 10-30 minutes a day set aside for piano practice. This doesn't have to be at the same time every day, but it does have to be every day. You are already very busy and the promise of practicing twice as much tomorrow will not come true!

Take an honest look at your schedule and plan in a time for piano. Ideally not just before or after meals. Although you need to have plenty of fuel to keep you going, being hungry or digesting a large meal may make your concentrated strained. 

If you own a digital piano, and have headphones for it, don't forget the odd times of practice before work or school, or before you go to bed — so that’s usually 7 - 9 AM and 9 - 11 PM. The important thing is to be honest with your schedule, you're not going to practice at 11pm after a session at the gym or a very busy day. If you take that into consideration, you're more likely to set out a daily practice schedule and stick to it.

Routine to your practice sessions are arguably equally as important, and you should have a task in mind that you wish to achieve in each practice session. Do you need to have your fingers play smoother, do you need more control of finger or your whole hand do you need more control over your hand balance? There are many things that you can perform isolation work for in a practice session that can build to an overall musical whole. 

It is so important to concentrate and keep your concentration, not to do mindless repetition. If you have days with different workloads you can tailor your practice to accommodate that; plan more difficult practice sessions on the days when we have a lighter workload and save the easier activities for practice during the days where you had the heavier workload and are more fatigued. 

In the second part of this blog, I’ll try to deal with the thorny issue of avoiding practice and some of the reasons our brains push it off! Best of luck in your practicing, and feel free to reach out to me through my contact details on the site if you wish to learn more, ask any questions, or if you’re interested in studying music with me at Truly Musical, Arklow, Co. Wicklow.