February 2025 - Do It Again!

“5…6…7…8!”

I studied ballet for three or four discouraging years, as an elementary school student. I went to a class once a week at the American Academy of Ballet in Williamsville, NY, which in hindsight is not very much at all. No wonder I wasn’t very good. I remember the lead instructor telling us one day to work on our choreographed dance for the upcoming spring concert at home. Practice ballet at home? I remember thinking. Why on earth would I do that? Home was for home stuff, ballet class was for ballet. 

An important element of every dance class was repetition. “Again!” The count-off “5-6-7-8” will sound familiar to anyone who’s ever been in a musical, or learned a dance routine of some kind. That count-off mentally prepared us for work, and though the voice was external, our brains and bodies were conditioned to respond.

Students need more exposure to repeating a task over and over again to achieve optimal results. Humans have become accustomed to instant gratification in every aspect of our lives, and we’ve lost the skills of inquiry, searching, exploring, and waiting. We can tap a phone screen and receive instantaneous feedback. No more eagerly anticipating next week’s installment of our favorite TV show - now we can binge-watch entire seasons. And even though editing and splicing has occurred in the recording studio for decades, it’s only been recently that technology has evolved to the point where every performance can be polished to perfection. Unless we actively seek out live music, we are only exposed to flawless studio performances which give the impression of minimal effort, so we come to expect that.

As a piano teacher, I do my best during our lesson time together, but keep in mind that most of a student’s time at the piano needs to be on their own. Never assume that playing through a piece once is sufficient. I hesitate to assign a practice duration or number of repetitions per session, because music doesn’t always adhere to arbitrary rules such as “practice this ten times and you’ll improve!” but it’s a place to start. Every student should practice the same number of minutes as  their lesson time, most days. One exception might be very young students who would do best to break that practice time into smaller, more focused chunks.

A great resource for practice suggestions is Nancy O’Neill Breth’s The Parent’s Guide to Effective Practicing, and The Piano Student’s Guide to Effective Practicing (for intermediate/advanced students). These convenient guides are constructed like restaurant menus, and contain dozens of tips, tricks, and ideas for improving practice habits.

You can also access Ms. Breth’s practice video library on her YouTube channel. An accomplished pedagogue and teacher, she’ll be visiting Rochester in June as a part of the RPTG Piano Pedagogy Workshop at Nazareth University.

Stay curious!