What If I Only Have 30 Minutes to Practice?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2023
- improvplanet.thinkific.com/bu...
Piano Foundations series now enrolling at Improv Planet:
I. The Four Pillars of Piano Technique
II. Tone Production at the Piano
III. How to Practice - เพลง
New courses on piano technique and historical improvisation now enrolling at Improv Planet:
The Four Pillars of Piano Technique
: improvplanet.thinkific.com/courses/the-four-pillars-of-piano-technique
Tone Production at the Piano
: improvplanet.thinkific.com/courses/tone-production-at-the-piano
How to Practice
: improvplanet.thinkific.com/courses/how-to-practice
The Piano Foundations Series
: improvplanet.thinkific.com/bundles/piano-foundations
And more: improvplanet.thinkific.com/
Another protip is: SLEEP! Sleep is where your neuroplasticity occurs, locking in your progress / learning. There might actually be something to be said for taking a nap after practice if you want to learn faster.
Another thing that helps is doing nothing / taking breaks while keeping it fresh in your mind.
Sleep, rest and breaks are more vital than people know. I'm convinced piano progress happens during good sleep. A seeming miracle.
Unquestionable real thing. I was working on a tough passage, had difficulty, couldn't play it well, didn't get it. Decided to stop, got a good night's sleep. The next day when I went to piano about noon, I played it right, first time through.
YES!!
But too much sleep is making you dull. As always, balance is the key. I also do Yoga and meditation -- it is the additional relaxation and clears the mind if done right.
Yup! That's why 30 minutes per day is better than 3.5 hours in one day per week. And btw: 30 mimutes per day is super good. Better, even, than this video describes...
0:31 - true! 30 mins is infinitely better than 0 minutes.
You are the first person on TH-cam to say 30 minutes is not enough. I feel the same way. Its a good start. To get to great, invest the time.
Really? Is he the first? Are youtubers so delusional that they think 30 mins is enough? It takes years with 5-8 hours to get somewhere with the piano, 30 mins is good for learning new stuff, fixing one or two technical issue in the piece but not enough to build up a concert repertoire.
Getting back on the piano after 40 plus years, being prepared to utilize unscheduled available time means we must travel with our backpacks. (Smile) The wife wonders why I always have a bag of stuff where ever or when ever I head out. It's not a lot of stuff I carry with me but time is the one resource we can't get back once gone. If I know I may get a chance to practice...I have my main back pack. If I know I'm not going to get a chance to practice...say going to the dentist/food shopping. I have a different bag...with reading or listening material. Thanks for the post.
I am "cranky and old," too. Not so cranky, really, but I know I will probably never get beyond about level two, being self-taught at this point (age 80). I like your videos because of your humanity and sense of realism. My human nature struggles with self-discipline, and this video particularly helps me focus. Many thanks, and please keep it up a long time!
5 minutes at a time is pretty much my standard practice increment, although the total time spent practicing per day is much more than 30 minutes. My brain learns better in little “bites” with breaks in between.
I think that is true of all of us. We get obsessed with putting in a lot of time. And stay focused on ironing out a challenging passage. I will think about this.
This has been proven with young practitioners to be true and is very efficient. When you stop, the mind continues the practice the part you just played for a while.
In his little book, Gieseking warned against practicing for more than twenty minutes at a time, if I remember correctly from more than 50 years ago. Of course, he was one of those people who could play a score by memory after having looked at it once.
I would also say if someone only has 30 minutes a day to practice, and piano is a top priority for you, then you need to find other areas in your life to cut back on to gain more time to practice. I'd also say that you'll need more time to practice in Less phone time, less travel time, and possibly even less time with friends/family. Really great musicians are often loners and eccentric and socially awkward....and also poor because they spend more time playing music than focusing on things like making money (!)
Good video. Glad you are back.
A few folks mentioned rest and breaks in practice and performance, applies to 30 minute or less practice-r. I find that often the best rest is NOT to do nothing, impossible for me, but do something else, change the focus of what you're working on, could be musical, playing the kazoo or non-musical to the roar of a lawnmower while chasing it.
I listen to your lectures with pleasure. Thank you.
Most people have the time setting priorities. Since when I quit watching nonsense TV I had plenty of time. We just waste so much time for things we do not really need to grow in our perception and abilities. I guarantee, it is rewarding in many ways to set priorities.
Great wisdom, fun, practical, real.
Your comment about continually being asked to do more with fewer resources gave me this great idea: college administrators should ask their football and basketball coaches to just teach the players in a lecture hall setting! That way they wouldn't have to build state-of-the-art, multi-hundred-million-dollar stadiums (with major renovations every 15-20 years) for them to practice in.
Very keen but peeing into the wind. My gripe precisely.
As a 60 year old student who has been playing for 7 months, this video reinforces and clarifies things I have been intuitively groping towards myself. Even though I practice a bunch (3 -5 hrs most days), at my age I am striving to be as efficient as possible with the time I have remaining. Thank you!
Welcome. These are vital considerations when developing a playing technique. Rock solid wisdom. Wrong if it hurts, or is difficult, read not fun. Solving riddles in such a complex undertaking should be fun, also, that never stops. 70 is the new 80. Gratified here.
@@DavidMiller-bp7et 80 is the new 70 ?
😊
I enjoyed this for 2 reasons. First because I learned the BacH Brahms Chaconne shortly after I started playing with only my left hand. I think it took me 4 or 5 months but I liked the piece and my teacher said I could learn it. This is probably my greatest achievement on piano. Obviously I am very familiar with the Chaconne. I never practiced anything that slowly. Great idea. I wonder if I should play slowly for my teacher or I should try to play at tempo for lessons. Going to look at the Chaconne again and see if slow practice makes perfect.
I have recently managed to increase my time at the piano from 15 minutes to 40. I just stop when the arthritis pain starts in my thumb. In 15 minutes I accomplished nothing. But 40 minutes is okay.
I use a kitchen timer. The timer stops me from taking time from another practise activity.
I practice about 40 minutes a day due to back issues and chronic cubital tunnel not related to piano. However, what has worked best for me is to break that practice time into a few sessions. Most days, I practice two 20-minute sessions. Each session is composed of 5 minutes of scales and arpeggios, followed by 15 minutes of pieces. Also, I play songs from my repertoire through out the day when i have a few minutes here and there and i dont count this towards my practice. If i did, id probably be in the 50 to 60 minutes range.
I always have a plan for each session. For example, I spend 6 minutes learning a new measure, 6 minutes ironings out passages and phrases out, and 3 minutes reviewing what I've already learned.
I have to devote time specially to sight reading though. I only read as I'm learning the song for now. And anything else that I can do where I'm not sitting at the piano, namely planning, researching, etc, I don't count towards my practice time.
I feel so lucky that I can practice despite my cubital tunnel and lower back pain. That's why I make sure I make my practice sessions count.
Thank you for this, really helpful. Could you do the 1 hour and 2 hour versions if you have time?
If i relate practising the piano to meditation I come to kind of similar points of view. There is a limit to what could be „gained“ from a very short session . Five, ten, fifteen minutes are not worthless, but the „magic“ moment, in my experience, never starts before minute twenty or so in both disciplines (and many others too, learning a foreign language or some sports e.g.).
The opposite should be considered as well : having lots of time and being eager to practice, I wound up reaching the point, where I was no longer concentrated.
But that might be the topic of another video .
If I'm overwhelmed with work (even with lots of time to spare), I tend to divide the music into very small chunks. I set a timer for, say, 3 minutes, and learn a particularly difficult passage - only something very small, like a few bars of nasty stuff. And then I move on to something different and do the same. Then after a few cycles, I return and repeat, but this time with a tiny bit more overlap before and after, thus avoiding "cuts" in the music. This allows my brain to stay fresh and the practicing won't become mechanical and thoughtless. I don't have to have a plan per se, but I do need to know beforehand what parts of the music can be learned after playing through once or twice, and which parts need deep dives.
Time wasted on being happily and musically playing the easy parts is time I always regret, even though I enjoy it at the time. There will come a time later when I'd kill for that time just to polish a difficult passage.
If a passage won't stick, I make sure that the last few times I play it is at least slow and correct. This is to not let my brain remember that passage as being a horrific mess. Then I SLEEP ON IT. Yes! This works. When you return after a good sleep - where the brain has had time to do it's house cleaning work, you will find that it has at least somewhat improved said passage. It might not be solved, but the path forward is clearer and more plausible.
Also, as my teacher, Hamish Milne, said: "Indecision is the root of all evil." Don't spend time being indecisive if practice time is short. Go straight for the throat, and don't let go.
For technical stuff I like to practise 8 keys a day. E.g. C major, A minor, Eb major, C minor, Gb major, Eb minor, A major and F# minor. They are keys following the diminished chord. If you like Barry Harris..
I've had times where I could only get 15 minutes of practice a day when trying to learn some accompaniment parts. It forced me to be efficient. The first day or two, I figured out which sections actually needed practice to be sufficient. Then, I would pick three sections to work on for 5 minutes each. I found that most trouble spots are only a measure or two, sometimes just a single leap between two chords.
While not ideal, I think I learned more about good practice habits in those micro-practice sessions than I did when I would have to get hours of practice every day.
I normally do 1.5 to 2 hours of practicing.. but on busy days with erands and so on its more like 10 minute pockets spreaded for a total of 40 and same, very strategic planning and such.
Nice to see some new videos.
2:05 - that is a real case of time plus talent plus effort, as John not only has talent, but also works hard - and is also highly intelligent, tactical - well organised and efficient in doing things.
I think for most of the people, if they just quit social media, tv, Netflix, streaming and gaming they would have at least an hour extra in their lives. 30 mins is enough for fixing one or two technical issues in the piece or learning a section of a new piece, maintaining old pieces, but it’s not gonna be enough to build a proper pianist from ground up.
Although this is true, on my side I don't do social media for fun, I do it because I'm addicted. Fortunately, my will for piano currently is greater than my addiction to electronics.
I’ve been told to stay at the level your at takes 20 minutes a day, I usually practice right after supper as that is when I have the time, it usually turns into 30 minutes though as I lose track of time, I switch back and forth between piano accordion and piano, sort of cross training
With 30 minutes, I do better with just one thing instead of two or three. If I have weeks or months of limited time coming up, I accept that I am simply not going to get around to some areas for a while.
Fine video, lots of good advice.
Brilliant! Thank you 🙂⭐❤🙏🏼
Another great video full of wisdom that has given me significant pause as to the effectiveness with which I spent my time at the piano. Thanks @cedarvillemusic.
Great video! Very insightful and also motivating for myself and eventually for my students in the future
A dear greeting maestro!
Excellent. Thank you very much. 30 minutes with these direction and focal points will help me a lot.
This video was around 15 min so I've got 15 left to hopefully achieve something. Thanks. Great channel. ⏰ 🎹 ⏰
Great advice thank you
Some ear training is also good if you only have 5-10 minutes to practice, and there are many good ear training apps if you're not near an instrument.
If I didn’t live in the middle of nowhere - Yuma, AZ - and had talent - most of which dissipated with age - I’d love to take piano lessons from you. You’re the kind of teacher I never knew.
Where is that?
If one practices with total attention for a true 30 minutes specific exercises….I think much may be accomplished say in a year…..
I do have some decent time but I think this video is very important for how I need to treat each of several different aspects of playing.
Maybe you’ve already done a video on this subject, but it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how effective scales and arpeggios really are. My piano teacher recognized that technique was my strong suit from the moment she met my neophyte pianist self, so she never had me practice scales or arpeggios. All of my technique was acquired through practicing pieces. I’ve since learned Chopin Ballades and Etudes, Ravel’s Ondine, and other technically demanding pieces without ever practicing scales or arpeggios. I too often meet pianists who have played for a decade practicing their Hanon exercises every week, yet struggle with intermediate and even beginner pieces. I’ve always viewed it as archaic to practice such things, so maybe I’m missing something?
Hello John, thanks for this video, it kinda reassured some thoughts I’ve been having about making the best of short time practice, how would schedule a two hour practice? Greetings from Mexico City
I think he addresses himself to music students who want to become professional pianists when he says that 30 minutes is not enough. If you are an amateur, I think with 30 minutes per day, you can achieve a lot.
Fantastic content, as always! What is this notepad software that you are using?
1:01 - this!!!!! Fully agree.
I often wonder how much my ability as a intermediate pianist has been affected because of my lack of practice for long stretches of days. I’m home around 15-17 days in a month because of my job and I try to use my time wisely to advance my studies and proficiency when I can. When home I will sometimes practice 3 hrs or more at time with small breaks in between. Am I really wasting “cognitive” time beyond a couple of hours of practice in a day even though it’s common knowledge to practice in small increments daily for better results? I’m sure there are many studies regarding optimal practice routines! I’m always amazed how well I play a struggling passage after being away for several days when I had such difficulty with it before I left!
Thank you for this video - it's excellent advice for those of us who have limited time but want to maintain some music. I have another question for you (perhaps you'd answer in a video?): How do recommend starting a new 'project piece'? (e.g., a Chopin Ballade) Particularly if one is short on time? Do you, for example, advise working on rudiments in relevent keys first/alongside? (scales, arpeggios, etc.) Tackle one measure at a time? One page? etc.? Listen to recordings? Hands separately? Any advise on 'process' would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
if you are really tight for time and only can play for 30 mins a day for an extended period of time, consider taking an "off day" once in a while to just "play for fun" too.
Can you recommend fingering for descending arpeggios?
How does this differ for you if you want to work on improvising?
What program is that?
what is the complete title to the Bach piece? Please!
Chaconne in D minor.
Do, or do not. There is no try. Rach 2 may take years, but the fun is in the journey.
True practice time is actually playing…..count that “frictional inefficiency” of the minutes one is not really playing. Aim for efficiency….actual playing on the keyboard time.
30 minutes a day is better than 15. 15 Minutes a day is better than 0 minutes a day. 5 minutes a day is better than no minutes a day.
5 minutes isn't even enough time to warm up.
What does the Rachmaninoff quote say?
Big line, big musician. Small line, small musician.
I love these videos but pretty sure I would not last for long havingJM as a teacher 😄
"What Do You Do If You Only Have 30 Minutes to Practice?" - the answer is obvious: cry 😭
Expand it into 40 hours
if you only have 30 minutes FORGET BEING AN ARTIST ??
A good followup video would be examples of practice journals. With limited time I found a daily practice log to be absolutely critical to avoid wasting time with "umm so what should I work on" as well as track which sections needed more time and which sections were mostly fine. I have yet to run across any other student who kept a line-item practice log (with length of time per section, bpm, todo notes) like I did..not even my profs. I found one blog online of a pianist who showed a matrix grid where cells would be filled with bpm and columns with the date, and rows being sections/measures/exercise names. But no indications for how many minutes to spend on each item. Anyways this log/journal becomes the immediate and rapid reference for starting the short session with very minimal time spent fumbling around for books or pages etc, and maximizing focus on each todo item.