What Good Piano Practice Actually LOOKS LIKE

Summary

In this insightful video, David Lane, a music educator, challenges the misconception that effective practice should be smooth and steady. He illustrates the actual process with a graph, emphasizing two distinct stages: the initial 'Learning Phase' characterized by slow, deliberate effort, and the subsequent 'Practice Phase' where familiarity and subconscious mastery take over, leading to rapid progress. Lane advises patience and segmented practice for optimal learning, debunking the myth of instant proficiency and encouraging enjoyment of the learning process.

Takeaways

• 🎼 Practice Progress: The script explains that progress in learning music is not a smooth, steady line but rather occurs in two distinct stages.
• 📈 Learning Phase: The first stage involves a learning phase where the focus is on accuracy and consistency over speed, which can be slow and exhausting but is crucial for building a strong foundation.
• 🔄 The 'Click': There is a point in practice, referred to as 'the click,' where everything starts to come together, and the process becomes less tedious.
• 🔑 Practice Stage: The second stage is the practice stage, where the subconscious begins to take over, and the music becomes more familiar, leading to faster and smoother progress.
• 🚀 Subconscious Power: The subconscious mind plays a significant role in the second half of practice, allowing for the automation of familiar tasks and making them feel easier.
• 🚦 Common Mistakes: Two common mistakes are identified: mistaking the 'click' for the end of necessary practice and rushing through the first stage, leading to clumsy and error-prone playing.
• ⏱️ Time Distribution: The two stages of practice are not necessarily equal in time spent, with more time often spent in the first half.
• 📚 Incremental Learning: Breaking down the learning process into smaller segments, such as measures or phrases, can make the entire process feel more manageable and quicker.
• 💡 Realistic Expectations: The script sets realistic expectations for the learning process, emphasizing that even advanced musicians will experience the same two-stage process when learning new music.
• 🔍 Individual Variation: The time spent in each stage can vary from piece to piece, indicating that each learning experience is unique.
• 🌟 Continuous Learning: The script suggests that as musicians advance, they will be able to learn some pieces more quickly, but the fundamental process of learning remains the same.

Q & A

What does David Lane suggest is the first stage of effective practice for pianists?

The first stage is the Learning phase, where pianists engage their senses of sight, hearing, and touch, focusing on difficult passages, correct fingering, and smooth transitions.

How does David Lane describe the visual representation of progress during the Learning phase?

The Learning phase is represented by a graph with barely noticeable progress, where the x-axis shows time spent practicing and the y-axis shows progress, resulting in a slow and seemingly unproductive incline.

What is the term David Lane uses for the point where everything starts to feel like it's coming together during practice?

David Lane refers to this point as 'the click,' where the practice transitions from being tedious to becoming more cohesive and easier.

What is the second stage of practice according to David Lane, and how does it differ from the first stage?

The second stage is the Practice stage, where the focus shifts to using what has been learned. It is more enjoyable and involves mindful repetition, increasing tempo, and allowing the subconscious to take over, making the practice faster and smoother.

Why does David Lane suggest that the idea of smooth and steady progress might be a myth for some musicians?

He suggests it's a myth because if the music being learned is significantly more difficult than the musician's sight-reading level, the expected smooth and steady progress will not occur, and practice will initially seem much slower.

What common mistakes do students make during the practice process, according to David Lane?

Two common mistakes are mistaking the 'click' at the end of the first half of practice for the end of all necessary practice, and rushing through the first stage to get to the second, resulting in confident but clumsy and error-filled playing.

How does David Lane recommend breaking down the practice process to make it more manageable?

He suggests applying the practice process to smaller sections of music, such as eight measures, four measures, or even one or two measures at a time, which can lead to a quicker mastery of the entire piece.

What is the significance of the 'click' in the practice process, as explained by David Lane?

The 'click' signifies the transition from the Learning phase to the Practice phase, where the musician starts to internalize the music and it becomes more familiar, leading to a more rapid and enjoyable practice experience.

How does David Lane define the term 'practice' in the context of learning a new piece of music?

He defines 'practice' as the stage after the initial learning phase, where the musician uses what they have learned, with the term being related to 'practical,' which means applying knowledge in a familiar context.

What role does the subconscious play in the second half of the practice process, as described by David Lane?

In the second half, the subconscious begins to take over, handling what is familiar and routine, allowing the musician to play more effortlessly and with less conscious thought, making the practice smoother and faster.

Why does David Lane emphasize the importance of patience and enjoying the process during practice?

He emphasizes patience and enjoyment because the process of learning and mastering a piece of music involves both challenging and tedious stages, and maintaining a positive attitude throughout is crucial for effective learning and progress.

Outlines

00:00

🎼 The Reality of Musical Practice Progress

David Lane introduces the concept of effective practice for pianists and composers, challenging the notion that progress should be smooth and steady. He uses a graph analogy with time spent practicing on the X-axis and progress on the Y-axis. He explains that the initial phase of learning a piece of music, which he calls the 'Learning phase,' is slow and requires careful attention to detail, often feeling tedious. This phase is characterized by incremental progress that may seem barely noticeable. The second phase, referred to as 'the click,' is where everything starts to come together, and practice becomes easier and more enjoyable as the subconscious mind takes over familiar tasks. Lane emphasizes the importance of foundational work in the first half of practice to ensure a smooth transition to the second half, where progress accelerates towards mastery.

05:02

🚴‍♂️ The Subconscious Role in Learning and Practice

In the second paragraph, David Lane expands on the role of the subconscious in the learning process, particularly in the second half of practice. He compares learning to riding a bicycle, where initial conscious effort eventually gives way to subconscious habits. Lane explains that the subconscious handles familiar tasks, making them appear and feel easy. He discusses common mistakes made by students, such as mistaking the 'click' for the end of necessary practice or rushing through the first stage, leading to clumsy and error-ridden performance. He also touches on the flexibility of applying the practice graph to smaller sections of music for more manageable progress and emphasizes that the time spent in each stage of the graph can vary. Lane concludes by addressing the question of when one might bypass the tedious first half of learning, stating that it is inevitable as long as the music being learned presents a challenge, but the more advanced a musician becomes, the quicker they can learn pieces that are close to their sight-reading ability.

Keywords

💡Practice

Practice, in the context of this video, refers to the deliberate and structured approach to learning and mastering a musical piece. It is central to the video's theme, illustrating the process of learning from the initial stages to achieving proficiency. The script mentions that practice should not be smooth and steady but rather involves a learning phase and a practice phase, with the latter being more enjoyable as the subconscious takes over.

💡Progress

Progress is the advancement or development in learning music, which is visualized in the script as a graph with time spent practicing on the X-axis and improvement on the Y-axis. The video emphasizes that progress is not linear but rather occurs in stages, with a significant leap after a period of intensive learning.

💡Learning Phase

The learning phase is the initial stage of practice where the musician engages in detailed work on the piece, focusing on accuracy and consistency. It is described as slow, tedious, and requiring a lot of attention, but it is a necessary step before the music can be played smoothly. The script uses the learning phase to illustrate the foundational work that must be done before moving on to the practice phase.

💡Click

The 'click' is a term used in the script to describe the moment when the musician's understanding and execution of the music start to come together. It signifies the transition from the learning phase to the practice phase, where the music begins to feel more familiar and less laborious to play.

💡Subconscious

The subconscious is the part of the mind that takes over tasks once they become familiar and habitual. In the context of the video, the subconscious is responsible for making the music feel easy and effortless after the initial learning phase. The script explains that the subconscious creates shortcuts that bypass awareness, allowing for smooth and error-free performance.

💡Sight Reading Level

Sight reading level refers to the difficulty of music that a musician can play immediately upon seeing it, without prior practice. The script mentions this concept to differentiate between learning music that is at or slightly above this level, which might be perceived as smooth learning, and music that is more challenging, requiring the two-phase practice process.

💡Mistakes

Mistakes are errors made during the learning process, which the script warns against if the musician rushes through the learning phase. The video emphasizes the importance of not making these errors by taking the time to learn correctly before moving on to the practice phase.

💡Foundational Work

Foundational work is the essential groundwork laid during the learning phase, which includes accurate fingering, correct notes, and smooth transitions. The script highlights that this foundational work is crucial for the success of the practice phase and the overall progress in learning the music.

💡Mindful Repetition

Mindful repetition is the process of consciously repeating the music to reinforce learning and move into the practice phase. The script describes this as an exercise that allows the musician to increase tempo and improve fluency, facilitated by the subconscious taking over familiar tasks.

💡Graph

The graph in the script is a visual representation of the progress made during practice. It is used to illustrate the non-linear nature of learning a musical piece, showing a slow start with barely noticeable progress, followed by a rapid increase as the musician becomes more familiar with the piece.

💡Patience

Patience is the quality of being able to wait without becoming frustrated or annoyed, which is highlighted in the script as a necessary attribute for musicians during the learning process. It is emphasized that patience is required to endure the tedious learning phase before the music can be played smoothly.

Highlights

Good practice in music learning may not be as smooth and steady as commonly perceived.

David Lane offers techniques and strategies for pianists and composers to improve their craft.

A visual representation of effective practice involves a graph with time on the X-axis and progress on the Y-axis.

The initial stage of learning involves placing the 'present reality' dot at the bottom left of the graph, signifying no prior knowledge of the music.

The 'point of satisfaction' or the eventual goal is marked at the upper right of the graph, representing mastery.

The misconception of a linear progression in learning is debunked; effective practice is not always smooth.

The first stage of practice, the 'Learning phase', involves intensive engagement of senses and careful drilling of difficult passages.

The 'Learning phase' can be slow and exhausting, requiring significant attention and patience.

The 'click' is the pivotal moment when the learning starts to come together, transitioning from tedious to familiar.

The second stage, the 'Practice stage', is where the subconscious begins to take over, making practice more enjoyable and efficient.

The subconscious mind handles familiar tasks, making them appear and feel easy, unlike the conscious mind that manages new and unexpected tasks.

Common mistakes include mistaking the 'click' for the end of necessary practice and rushing through the first stage.

Breaking down the learning process into smaller sections can expedite the journey from mystery to mastery.

The two stages of practice are not necessarily equal in time spent, with the first half often requiring more effort.

The graph represents a realistic expectation of learning, but the approach can be adapted to the complexity of the music piece.

As musicians advance, they can learn more challenging pieces more quickly, but the foundational process remains essential.

David Lane encourages patience and enjoyment of the learning process, emphasizing the importance of foundational work.

Transcripts

what does good practice actually look

like it might not be what you think

especially if you're thinking it should

be smooth and steady let's take a look

at how your practice should flow if it's

going well my name is David Lane and I

like to help pianists and composers with

techniques and strategies that will help

them build their craft so if you're

practicing correctly what should it look

like I mean visually if you were to draw

a graph with an X axis and a y AIS where

the x axis shows the time you spend been

practicing and the Y Line shows the

progress that you're making we start

with the present reality and our

eventual goal present reality the dot

goes here we haven't yet practiced and

we don't yet know the music so this

first dot goes in the bottom left of the

graph our eventual goal we practice as

long as it takes and we improve the

music as well as we can now I don't

think musically learning actually has a

finish line but let's call this the

point of

satisfaction and that dot goes here at

the upper right point of the graph now

how do we connect the dots if you

haven't been effectively practicing for

a very long time there's a chance you

think it looks like this a smooth line

from start to finish you practice a

little you progress steadily until you

eventually get there is that actually

correct though no the only time it's

correct is if you're trying to learn a

piece of music that isn't much much more

difficult than your sight reading level

what if there's a piece you're trying to

learn where the first time you try to

play it you can't even play it half

Tempo the smooth and steady progress

graph is going to be a myth in this case

and if this is what you're expecting you

won't be disappointed later you'll be

disappointed right away practice is

going to seem so much slower than you

were expecting and that's because of the

way good practice is supposed to look

again assuming the music you're trying

to learn imposes at least a moderate

challenge correct practice actually

happens in two stages stage one is what

I call the Learning phase we could call

it the stage where you are learning

drilling carefully engaging your senses

of sight hearing and touch you're

working on the difficult passages you're

working on consistently correct

fingering and watching for not only only

the correct notes but smooth transitions

to make playing the correct notes more

likely it's exhausting it's slow it

doesn't seem like you're even making

much progress it demands so much of your

attention that it honestly isn't very

fun unless you have full faith that this

is a natural part of the process and

that things are about to get a whole lot

better this fairly tedious stage of

practice lasts roughly half of the time

needed to improve prove what you're

practicing so if you draw this line of

barely noticeable progress and continue

to project this forward you'll see that

you're much further from your goal than

you thought it's going to take forever

to learn this music or so it seems

however if you've practiced well up to

this point that is to say if you've

practiced slowly and carefully

prioritizing accuracy and consistency

over speed really paying attention to

what it looks like what it sounds like

what it feels like when you play it

correctly repeating it often enough that

you're starting to get an understanding

of it then you're about ready for this

point I call it the click the click is

the point where everything starts to

feel like it's coming together it's no

longer tedious it might still be slow at

first but you're getting it now so

what's next this is where the fun part

begins it's the practice stage or the

getting more familiar stage yes I called

it the practice stage after you've

already been supposedly practicing but

I'm taking the word literally practice

is related to the word practical which

means using what you know when you start

learning a new piece of music guess what

you don't actually know it yet so the

first stage is a learning stage not a

practice stage now once you're getting

it you begin the practice portion and if

you always thought as a Young musician

that practice is tedious well true

practice is actually the fun part I have

a podcast called the musician toolkit

which gets shared every Monday to this

Channel and on this episode in the upper

right of your screen I talk about the

power of the subconscious the conscious

part of your brain is the part that has

to be aware of everything as you're

doing it it lives in what is new and

unexpected the subconscious takes care

of what is habit and routine in other

words what is familiar take riding a

bicycle when you're learning you're

trying not to fall off the bike you want

to get the pedals moving and you want to

keep your balance after a while you

don't think about anything but just

getting on the bike and going you're

still doing all the things to keep

balance and keep the bike moving but

your subconscious brain has created new

shortcuts that bypass your awareness the

things we do with our subconscious like

walking like riding a bike like driving

a car and like playing a piece of music

with which we are already familiar these

things always look and feel easy so the

second half of what correct practice

looks like this is where the

subconscious is beginning to take over

you're familiar enough that all we need

now is mindful repetition exercise

allowing the tempo to increase and then

practice just takes

off it gets faster and easier and

smoother rather quickly our second half

of practice shoots up to our goal but it

only does this because we did the proper

foundational work in the first half of

our practice graph here are a few

important additional thoughts first

there are two common mistakes that many

students make the most common is

mistaking that click at the end of the

first half of the practice for actually

being the end of all necessary practice

students who do this are playing

everything correctly but still thinking

really hard about everything it's going

well but it's slow and it's far from

effortless the other mistake is rushing

through the first stage to get to the

second this is when the music is

confident and maybe even fast but it's

clumsy and it's littered with mistakes

the second thing I want to mention is

that this graph represents the realistic

expectation of practice but that you can

choose how much you apply it to at once

if you try to learn an entire piece at

one time this will take seemingly

forever but if you apply this to eight

measures four measures maybe even one or

two measures at a time you'll find that

you can get through the the entire graph

of mystery to Mastery in rather a short

amount of time the third thing is that

the two stages of this graph are not

necessarily

50/50 in terms of time needed I think on

average you'll spend more time in the

first half than the second but how much

could vary from piece to piece the final

thing and it's a question that I get

especially from older students the

question is at what point will I be able

to not have to go through this tedious

first half and just learn things

smoothly the answer is as long as you

are trying to learn music that is at

least a little challenging never this

graph shows the reality of learning

something new and trying to make it

familiar the exception is if you are

trying to learn music that is at or

barely above your ability to site read

well that is music that you can perceive

as learning smoothly or rush through the

first half of the graph the good news is

that the more you learn and the more

advanced you get the more pieces there

are in the world that you can learn

quickly if you found this helpful I'd

appreciate it if you would please

subscribe hit the like on this video and

feel free to share it with someone who

might find this helpful also let me know

in the comments what kind of videos you

would like in the future again my name

is David Lane good luck practicing be

patient enjoy the process