My thoughts on practising.

Hey guys,

Well here's a few quick thoughts on practise time. I like to practise between 1-2 hours a day, but I take breaks throughout the day. For example I might practise for three separate 30 minute sessions this gives my arms and my brain a good break so that when i come back I can continue to be productive!

I usually spend 1/3rd of practise time on scales/technique. (well, lol not always, sometimes I'm bad and I do not practise as much as I should....tisk tisk)

Anyway let's hear your side of the story!

Reply Test

^_^ well now we know reply's work, so jordan, care to share your own practise habits?

Hey y'all, first time on the new website, its pretty great!

On practicing, thats actually what I need help on, how to practice correctly. But what I do now or starting to do now are hanon exercises. I only know two of them but I do that from C2-G7. My usual routine for learning a new piece is to hear it being played, start reading and practicing it then trying to replicate what I heard it sounded like. As for hours I try to play, TRY, to play atleast 5 to 7 hours, 1 or 2 breaks. It may seem alot but time goes by fast when you having fun.

When I took lessons I didn't believe in practicing! :p

Now that I'm doing it for fun I actually do play quite a bit, hahah. But I rarely ever do scales or any technique stuff. Bad! :X

joegeran wrote:Hey y'all, first time on the new website, its pretty great!

On practicing, thats actually what I need help on, how to practice correctly. But what I do now or starting to do now are hanon exercises. I only know two of them but I do that from C2-G7. My usual routine for learning a new piece is to hear it being played, start reading and practicing it then trying to replicate what I heard it sounded like. As for hours I try to play, TRY, to play atleast 5 to 7 hours, 1 or 2 breaks. It may seem alot but time goes by fast when you having fun.

hanon is actually quite good! ^_^ A good technique will help you VERY much for the entire time you play piano.

Something you might want to consider trying is when you first listen to the song, also read along with the sheet music infront of you while you sit in a chair and just listen. You'd be surprised how much just reading the sheet music can help you learn the piece! Try it sometime

Cool ! When I listen to a piece, sometimes if I have the sheet music in front of me, i'll read and listen.

joegeran wrote:Cool ! When I listen to a piece, sometimes if I have the sheet music in front of me, i'll read and listen.

Awesome! i think you'll like it! You learn about things you'd normally over look if you were too busy playing the notes

If you practice for a long period of time every day you'll definitely improve your playing . Andrew is right about taking breaks because it's really important that you take a few during your practicing, other wise your fingers might start to hurt depending on what you're practicing - especially if you're doing finger exercises.

I try to practice for 2-4 hours a day but that doesn't happen often when you're busy with other stuff (school, work, etc.).

Yeah, your right abou breaks, and fatigue. Right now I can play flight of the Bumble bee,

Rachmaninoff trans., and trying to playing that from beginning to end 4 or 5 times in a row, is an

ignorant way to play. The problem is I love playing it fast, if i play it slow, it seems ackward to me.

joegeran wrote:Yeah, your right abou breaks, and fatigue. Right now I can play flight of the Bumble bee,

Rachmaninoff trans., and trying to playing that from beginning to end 4 or 5 times in a row, is an

ignorant way to play. The problem is I love playing it fast, if i play it slow, it seems ackward to me.

Nice! I love that piece, although it can be pretty hard to play.

I usually practice atleast 30 minutes a day on my old Yamaha PSR-47 keyboard, that's getting replaced
with a M-Audio ProKeys 88, really need these hammer-action keys + the sound bank is really great.

Sometimes I pratice for 2-3 hours, that's usually when I refresh my already memorised songs,
and I tend to do it without breaks, because the time is flying...

( a little piano off topic )
I practice guitar for 30 min a day, sometimes an hour, seems to me that memorizing guitartabs are
very easy, compared to pianosheets, so I dont need to spend that much time with the guitar.


Anyway, I try to learn a new thing every day, because there is no reason to be stuck at the C major scale... C-D-E-F-G-A-B... ^^

VictorCS wrote:I usually practice atleast 30 minutes a day on my old Yamaha PSR-47 keyboard, that's getting replaced
with a M-Audio ProKeys 88, really need these hammer-action keys + the sound bank is really great.

Sometimes I pratice for 2-3 hours, that's usually when I refresh my already memorised songs,
and I tend to do it without breaks, because the time is flying...

( a little piano off topic )
I practice guitar for 30 min a day, sometimes an hour, seems to me that memorizing guitartabs are
very easy, compared to pianosheets, so I dont need to spend that much time with the guitar.


Anyway, I try to learn a new thing every day, because there is no reason to be stuck at the C major scale... C-D-E-F-G-A-B... ^^

Yea, it's funny how such a small amount of practise time can do so much for people!

any idea how to practice sight reading?

in my opinion scalling, sight reading, and mr. andrew vidoes +
1 million points determination =
piano expert in no time

asumarione wrote:any idea how to practice sight reading?

in my opinion scalling, sight reading, and mr. andrew vidoes +
1 million points determination =
piano expert in no time

Well thank you for including me in that equation there very honored.

Practising sight reading is pretty simple. Watch my piano lesson #17 on the rules of sight reading, and then pick easy songs and play them at sight, practising doing this makes you a better sight reader, and as you get better you try sight reading harder and harder stuff. the Biggest key is to look ahead and not let where your playing to ever catch up with where you're looking. Look 2 bars ahead at all times

2 bars? is that 2 measures?
I am not yet on lesson 17 but there is something to look forward too

yes. 2 bars and 2 measures are the same thing.

I atleast practice 1 hour pr day. I can actually play 5min several times also, in comersals and so on, but when I sit down and play, the time really flyes. So I have played several houres with smaller breaks. I have up til now just practiced songs. But, Im lerning scales, and practicing them + chromatci scare rewhersal. Starting hanon monday.

VictorCS wrote:
Anyway, I try to learn a new thing every day, because there is no reason to be stuck at the C major scale... C-D-E-F-G-A-B... ^^

We from Norway acually dont got the B - note.
It is an H - For those who might be interested

C# - c -d-e-f-g-a-h

thomandy wrote:I atleast practice 1 hour pr day. I can actually play 5min several times also, in comersals and so on, but when I sit down and play, the time really flyes. So I have played several houres with smaller breaks. I have up til now just practiced songs. But, Im lerning scales, and practicing them + chromatci scare rewhersal. Starting hanon monday.

VictorCS wrote:
Anyway, I try to learn a new thing every day, because there is no reason to be stuck at the C major scale... C-D-E-F-G-A-B... ^^

We from Norway acually dont got the B - note.
It is an H - For those who might be interested

C# - c -d-e-f-g-a-h

Wow... that's very interesting. The "h" is the letter "b" in Norwegian, am I right?

Jordan wrote:
Wow... that's very interesting. The "h" is the letter "b" in Norwegian, am I right?

No, you arent actually right.
NorwegianAlfabet: a B c d e f g H i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Æ Ø Å

But i have read that the H was standing in notation instead of B, and became the standard note by a mistake, or lazyness once upon a time.
So, it is actually the H, wich complicates thing in the very beginning in lerarning... It is alot easyer forbeginners to compare to the alfabet.

I remember we learned the B as H when playing the recorder at school,
but now I'm using B because I only learn from english sources.

VictorCS wrote:I remember we learned the B as H when playing the recorder at school,
but now I'm using B because I only learn from english sources.

Yeah I use the H and B. Really dont matter.
But I think it should be changed, so it is more universal!

yea the whole H- B thing seems a bit confusing especially since it doesn't even fit with the alphabet, I agree it should be changed!

thomandy wrote:

Jordan wrote:
Wow... that's very interesting. The "h" is the letter "b" in Norwegian, am I right?

No, you arent actually right.
NorwegianAlfabet: a B c d e f g H i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Æ Ø Å

But i have read that the H was standing in notation instead of B, and became the standard note by a mistake, or lazyness once upon a time.
So, it is actually the H, wich complicates thing in the very beginning in lerarning... It is alot easyer forbeginners to compare to the alfabet.

Very interesting, I like the alphabet.

VictorCS wrote:I remember we learned the B as H when playing the recorder at school,
but now I'm using B because I only learn from english sources.

Wooow I just realized guys you are both from Norway... thats awesome

Just for a little information

"In almost all European countries, except those whose main language is
English or a Romance language, the 'German' system is used. This also
uses the letters A to G of the Roman alphabet, but reserves B for the note called B flat in the 'English' system, and uses H for the note that is B natural (or just B) in the 'English' system.The
'German' system differs from the 'English' system also in the naming of
notes that are a semitone (or half note) higher or lower. In the
'German' system these receive the suffixes -is.
The natural symbol transformed into the letter H: in German music notation, H is B♮ (B-natural) and B is B♭ (B-flat).

In European and other countries whose main language is a Romance language, the pitch names are based on the solfeggio syllables do (or ut), re, mi, fa, so (or sol), la, si (or ti)."

So it is not Norway who wants to be different

I agree that a unification would not hurt though
For me it is easier to remember and learn it in English than in my own language... ( see the forum part where we posted musical vocabulary about our own language )