Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Can you practice to much.

My lessons are every two weeks. My material is beginner. In the middle of level three. My teacher pics songs i can't stop playing. I still make mistakes but it can be from not reading the music because of maybe over practicing? Not sure, have not experience this before. There is nothing to compare it to. Wine does not help. It was worth the try though.

I think you will need to clarify a lot for other posters who are rather picky about getting all possible information before giving a response of any kind.

For starters, how long are you practicing now?

Practice makes permanent, not perfect.

I learned this far too late.

If you are playing a lot and repeating the same mistakes, you're cementing those mistakes. Better to play slowly through short sections and play them as perfectly as possible.

As long as you are able to

1) maintain mental focus so that you practice, not play
2) play with good enough technique that your arms or hands don't get a burning sensation, tired, weak, or sore

then long practice sessions probably don't hurt. I find I get better results from having multiple, shorter duration sessions during the day.

only if you're not practicing right, as Whizbang said.

As a beginner myself I am shocked at the amount of errors I make despite much practice, A song can be perfect one day and all of over the place another.

I believe my problem is three fold
a) concentration slips because I can become blasé about the piece
b) my fingers have not caught up with my ambition
c) still an infant as far as piano is concerned and yet to bond with the instrument (I think long term players will understand that)


I tried to record myself today, the extra pressure eventually forced me to concentrate harder. I also think finger exercises are worthwhile in building up the weaker fingers. I will need to find a way to bond with my piano without my wife getting jealous, but that will be a whole separate post.

Too much of anything is no good, but it depends on the person, if you will.

It takes the brain time and experience to develop the technique you are practicing, learning.

I suspect that if you play a phrase, a piece, 10 minutes everday or 3 times a day, as opposed to one half hour every day, it could amount to the same thing.

We all have a main piece we are working on. My experience is that it is better to practice it of only a few times for 10 minutes at a time because playing longer than that of a particular piece is routine and not beneficial.

You can practice as long as is beneficial but not the same piece. Work on lots of stuff and break it up. The spaces of time from the piece give the brain and you the player a freshness everytime you sit down to play it. For instance. If you sit at the piano and play a piece 30 or whatever times in a half hour or an hour, you are always immediately placing your hands/fingers in the same spot immediately. But when you only play it for 10 minutes, space away from the piece, and back again, you usually have to think about the hand position and the key signature - it is slightly less than automatic. That is my experience. I guess the word is reacquaint youself with the piece.

When I am able to play a piece to the end, I don't immediately play it many times then - because I am worried that I am only able to play it because I have played it many times - in other words short term memory - so, as I say, when I can play a piece to the end, I walk away, contented, but cautious. And later when I come back, I find it - yes, I can do it, but it is as I suspect, a little less under my fingers, but a good position to be in to move farward playing and giving it everything it needs to be polished - over many weeks and months.

How you practice makes all the difference in the world, moreso than how long. Your teacher should be showing you how to practice in your lessons. I know this may seem obvious, but I have many students who I show how to practice and specifically write in their assignments what to do, and yet they go home and just play through the piece start to finish. Several students that when they finally figure out they're supposed to practice as I'm telling them exclaim, "Wow, it really works if I do what you say!" as if it's an amazing revelation.

At any rate, you should be consulting with your teacher specifically on how you should be practicing your music. Also, you can do searches on this website regarding practice methods, but really it depends on the difficulty level of the music you are playing. To a certain extent, your mistakes may simply be caused by the fact that you haven't been playing piano very long and have limited experience. It's very important at this stage to not expect perfection but simply do your best and be exposed to a lot of music.

Of course a person can over practice. Breaks are good. Many beginners over practice to the point of injury. Listen to the body and rest when the body complains. It also seems like most of the practice is focused is on learning the newest piece. Someone in book three has a whole slew of older pieces.

There is also theory, technique and musicianship to work on. By changing tasks, the mind can become refreshed. Some modest time spent on scales, arpeggios, sight reading, ear training, old pieces, technique, metronome work would all likely be time well spent. Those that focus entirely on learning the next new piece are missing out.

I'm going in the same tangent as Morodiene. What do you understand under practicing right now? How do you practice from day to day, and on a particular day? And has your teacher told you anything about this.

There is another thread here where someone has just had a major breakthrough simply by learning a new way of practising. The same thing happened to me some years ago. I took lessons on another instrument for a number of years, working on the pieces and scales that I was assigned, without ever having an idea that there are ways of practising. I was told to make sure certain notes were correct, or that a section was tricky, and the usual things. But not practising strategy.

Edit: See https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...20practice%20has%20been%20transform.html

Is playing pieces you already know and play well, practicing? In a broad sense I think it is. After all, you are refreshing the piece, your mind, your fingers, your expression perhaps etc.

The tougher practice is likely be the newer pieces or challenging areas of pieces you are working on that need to be overcome.

Mix it up then with both play/practice as long as you are of clear mind and decent concentration to do so. Piano of course is a mind exercise more then a physical one with your fingers. Don't damage your fingers or hands of course, from over exertion. But, you are far more likely to run out of brain power before this happens. As soon as it is no longer fun, or you can no longer focus, go have some wine ...

Great advice here! Whizbang started it out with a good overview, and others stepped right up.

My experience parallels theirs - if I practice wrong I end up with tennis elbow, or problems with the palm of my hand - wrong meaning with tensenesses, for one thing, and also, as others said, without being aware of what I'm doing or how, so that's it's just robotic repeats, or with mistakes each time.

But when I'm doing it right - see all the good stuff here - well, I've added a couple of new pieces faster than I've ever been able to do that before, I can practice more in total than I've ever done before (no boredom, no injuries) and with greater musicality. What a win!

So, yes, I think one can practice too much if one is not practicing right, and I think that learning to practice right brings so many rewards that it's worth it to learn to do that, and the posters here have great ideas.

I think you asked the right question, in the right place

Cathy

Just last week, a student came who clearly does not practice correctly, so I once again tried to show her. I have given her handouts on how to practice, copies of articles, and showed her over and over.

So I explained that I would use a simple piece not specifically to learn, but rather as a teaching example of how to practice.

It went like this:

We started with a simple piece, quite a bit below her level, and I explained how I would practice it, i.e. first examine the piece (time signature, basic structure, etc).

Next, find a logical small chunk to work on. Next, play one hand thru very slowly 3X, followed by the other hand 3X

Finally, play both hands together even slower.

Then I had her sit at the piano, and said, "do just as I did", whereupon she blasted thru the section hands together! (With several mistakes, and unrhythmical, at a tempo faster than the piece should be played when learned).

Sometimes I wonder if it is something in the water that makes people unable to learn how to practice correctly.

One basic thing:

Playing a piece over and over is not practicing. It is playing. Practicing is learning, fixing mistakes, and polishing. Then you play it, and carefully, so as not to get sloppy and introduce new mistakes. I treat music I have just learned like a new baby...carefully, gently, until it is so mature in my learning that I can trust it. And then I am careful to not abuse it.

Yes.

practice to much what?

Wow! I here my teacher in your posts. I never ask how often you be should practicing. I practice my lessons about 2 to 4 times per day. 10 to 30 minutes. Sounds like the norm. I only had a few lessons so it sounds like i on the right track.

He's here? Then why are you asking us????

I'm so confused!!!!

"I hear my teacher in your posts." means "The things you are saying remind me of what my teacher says." or "It's as if I'm hearing my teacher talking when I read your posts."

I call it: They forget to take their medication.

I don't know how to much at all. How did you start muching?

Will we become much of a muchness if we all practice muching together?