Advice for Pianists
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The most efficient way to study a solo piano composition is to learn the most difficult sections first.
Here’s why: The typical way that young pianists, or beginner pianists, learn is to learn the first part first. Then, each day they push forward and learn a few new measures. The problem is that it’s very tempting to stop pushing forward and to prematurely reward yourself by playing through the part you’ve already learned. This, of course, is the beginning section. As you approach the part that you don’t yet know, you hear the music getting slower and sloppier until it just stops. Then, this is so frustrating, you are tempted to repeat the part that you know again rather than work on the new section. So in essence, when you do this, you end up “practicing” the part you already know and avoiding the parts that you don’t yet know. This is so common, yet so ineffective!
Professional pianists have 5 or 10 piano pieces that they are working on concurrently. There are sections within each piece that are at varying levels of mastery. This is really a good way to go about piano practicing, because if we become fatigued or bored, we become much less efficient with our learning. By giving yourself permission to switch your attention to different piano compositions or to different sections within one piano piece, you are actually becoming efficient.
Regarding piano study times, shorter times are optimal. After about 15 minutes of an activity, the average pianists becomes mentally fatigued. Short bursts of concentration repeated frequently are much more effective than one long session. So, even if you only have 10 minutes, do it. Do another 10 minutes later in the day or the next day. By the end of the week, you might have 16 micro practice sessions, yet only practiced on 4 days. This is highly efficient. Instead, if you have the goal of practicing an hour or practicing a half hour, another day goes by with zero practice. Why is this? Because our life gets so busy and that half hour or hour just doesn't materialize.
Regarding piano study times, shorter times are optimal. After about 15 minutes of an activity, the average pianists becomes mentally fatigued. Short bursts of concentration repeated frequently are much more effective than one long session. So, even if you only have 10 minutes, do it. Do another 10 minutes later in the day or the next day. By the end of the week, you might have 16 micro practice sessions, yet only practiced on 4 days. This is highly efficient. Instead, if you have the goal of practicing an hour or practicing a half hour, another day goes by with zero practice. Why is this? Because our life gets so busy and that half hour or hour just doesn't materialize.
