| September 2020 | Piano Notes Matthew C. Wiencke Piano Lessons Email: pianoinfo@matthewwiencke.com |
| Creating Beautiful Music Together – Back to School Thank you for your hard work this past month. Your persistence in learning your pieces of music is definitely noticeable as they are played through FaceTime, Zoom, and Google Hangout. Great work, everyone! Now some of us are Back to School. Hard to believe how fast summer flew by. I have put together some helpful tips on keeping up on your daily practice with the additional responsibilities of homework and studying. Quote for Thought “If you can dream it, you can do it.” ~Walt Disney |
Keeping Up Your Daily Practice
One of the best bits of advice for learning to play piano? Practice!
Sticking to a daily practice routine is the best thing you can do for yourself. It’s the best way to learn to play piano well. It will also give you a strong sense of accomplishment, keeping the routine of practicing in your daily schedule.
What are some good ways to motivate you to keep up your daily practicing?
1. Find the best time of day for your daily practice and stick to it. Every day, at that time, sit down and play. The more you stick to the same time each day, the more it becomes an enjoyable habit.
2. Take 2-5 minutes for warming up. Some ideas:
• You can run through an exercise you know well.
• Play a simple piece you know well and enjoy.
• Play a scale.
• Play the C five-finger pattern: C D E F G, both hands together.
3. Set Simple Goals
Come up with 2-4 simple goals you want to accomplish this week, one goal for each practice session.
For example, Today, I’ll learn this one line of music really well – both hands, or the left- or right-hand part.
Other examples: Today, I’ll learn the C scale with both hands. Or I’ll work on playing this one Hanon exercise better.
Make the goals clear, simple, and doable.
4. Take some time this week to study the music away from the piano. Look at the music and think about:
• where your hands and fingers need to be
• where the louds and softs are
• practice saying the names of the notes out loud
Peaceful Piano Music to Enjoy
Grieg Piano Concerto – 2nd Movement