Why you are practicing the piano too long

We’ve all heard it a million times. To be good at something, you have to practice.

It’s true. There is no way around that.

Matter of fact, the truth is, to be good at something, you have to practice A LOT!

For most people, the piano is an extra-curricular activity. We all have jobs, school, friends, sports, Netflix shows to catch up on, and we’d like to get some sleep in there too if possible.

How are we supposed to fit in piano practice? Even more, how are we supposed to fit in A LOT of piano practice?

Here is the answer.

Stop practicing so long.

So many of us think that in order to get good at the piano, we have to sit there and practice for hours on end. In a perfect world, yes that would be great. But here is what happens in the real world.

You tell yourself that in order to get good at the piano you have to practice at least an hour a day. You start off strong, but then life gets busy. Next thing you know, you have one full day after another and you can’t find an hour anywhere to practice. So instead of practicing a little bit, you blow it all off saying something like “If I can’t get my full hour of practice in then what’s the point?”

After a few weeks of that, you stop trying. Eventually, you don’t even touch the piano anymore. You quit taking lessons because you are frustrated and not making the kind of progress you wanted to.

Sound familiar?

Here is the truth that most people won’t tell you.

You don’t have to practice for an hour for it to count.

You don’t even have to practice for 30 minutes for it to count. Little chunks of practice go a long way.

What if you could practice 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there? Do you think you could find that time? Of course you could.

And you know what else? You would probably enjoy yourself more because you feel way less pressure to sit there for an hour torturing yourself.

And guess what? 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there still adds up to the same amount of practice. Matter of fact, I guarantee you will actually get MORE practice in this way because you are not blowing the whole thing off because you can’t get a full hour of practice in.

So here is your permission to let yourself off the hook. Stop telling yourself you have to practice an hour every day. Stop telling yourself if you don’t, then it’s not even worth practicing at all. It’s not true.

You don’t have to practice as long as you think you do.

You don’t have to be a piano practice superhero. Try getting in 10 minutes before and after work or school. Those 10 minute practices will add up fast and by the time you are sitting at your next lesson, you will see some serious improvement.

And remember, the whole reason you got into this piano thing was to have fun. Let those 10 minute practices be a break from your busy day. A little mini-musical meditation.

I’ll take 10 minutes of peace over 60 minutes of torture any day.

Why You Should Practice Piano With Your Eyes Closed

We get a lot of questions from students and parents about piano lessons and how to practice. With so much information out there, it’s hard to know the difference sometimes between what is worth your time and what is a waste of time.

I thought it might be helpful to do some blog posts answering some of our most frequently asked questions about piano and piano lessons.

This is the third blog post in our series of answering these frequently asked questions.

FAQ #3: How do I get a better feel for the piano?

This question comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s “How do I play the piano and keep my eyes on the music?” or “How do I get more confident at playing the piano?” or “How do I play scales and chords without messing up so much.”

There are obviously many answers to these questions. The most obvious is that with more practice comes more confidence. But I want to give you a specific way to practice that will boost your confidence, increase your accuracy and help you keep your eyes on the music at all times.

Practice with your eyes closed.

Here is what I want you to do. Start practicing your scales first with your eyes closed. This teaches you to trust your ears and your fingers instead of your eyes. The key thing to remember when doing this is that it is ok to miss some notes. You are going to for a while. But that is exactly how you learn and get a better feel for the piano.

Just go for it and don’t overthink it. Close your eyes and play your scales. When you miss a note, don’t sweat it, just keep going. Do this every day that you practice. Over the course of a week or two, you will find that you can do it without any mistakes. That means you are learning to trust your fingers and you are getting a good feel for the piano. This will open up so many doors for you while playing!

Once you have mastered your scales, I want you to work on playing arpeggios with your eyes closed. This is the next level because now you are skipping notes whereas a scale has notes in succession. Don’t worry though. Just start doing it and don’t overthink it.

Again you are going to miss a lot of notes. That is the point. But again, over a few weeks, you will notice you are making less mistakes and your arpeggios will be a lot cleaner.

If you want to take it to the next level, try memorizing a simple piece and practice playing that piece with your eyes closed. This will take some more time but you can totally do it. Once you learn to trust your ears and your fingers, you are free. You will play cleaner. You will learn things quicker. You will have so much more confidence at the piano.

If You Ever Doubt That This Will Work, Remember This…

If ever you doubt that any of this is possible, just watch Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles play the piano. Stevie was blind from birth and Ray was blind from a young age. They both learned how to play the piano without any eyesight. And I think we can all agree that they are both exceptional piano players. If they can do it, so can you. They didn’t get good at the piano by some miracle from above. They got good by practicing, never giving up, and building confidence at the piano by trusting their ears and their fingers.

Learning piano is a lifelong journey. It is an ongoing process. You don’t have to be Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles. You just have to be you. If you are better this week than you were last week, then you are succeeding. You are doing it! And that’s huge. You should be really proud of yourself.

Try this technique of playing with your eyes closed and leave us a comment. Let us know how you did!

How Do I Practice Piano?

I get a lot of questions from my students and from parents about piano lessons. Do any of these sound familiar?

How often should I practice?

How long until I am really good?

When should kids start taking piano lessons?

Am I too old to take piano lessons?

How do I practice the piano?

I thought it might be helpful to do some blog posts answering some of our most frequently asked questions about piano and piano lessons. So here we go…

FAQ #1: How do I practice the piano?

You know the joke. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Practice. PRACTICE!”

It’s true. One of the most important things you can do for your piano career is work out a regular time to practice. Really what it comes down to is discipline and building a new habit.

Here are 8 ways to set up a practice routine that will make you a rockstar in no time!

1. Practice at the same time every day. Schedule your practice time. Put it in your calendar. You have to treat your practice time as a sacred time. If you have a job, you have to be there every day at the same time. Piano practice needs to be the same thing. If you want to be a great piano player, then you need to show up. Every day. On time.

2. Warm up. Start with scales and arpeggios. I know these are not the most fun things to practice, but these are the techniques that are going to make everything else come a lot easier. There is so much that happens when we practice scales and arpeggios. It warms us up, sure. But it also makes our fingers stronger, programs muscle memory so recalling this information later happens automatically, helps us learn our key signatures, helps us learn chords and so much more. If you want to be a rockstar piano player, learn how to LOVE practicing your scales and arpeggios.

3. Learn how chords work. The thing that really made music fun for me was learning how chords work. If your teacher is not already teaching you this, ask him or her to. Learning about chords is a game changer. It makes learning songs so much easier. If you want to speed up your progress, then learn how chords work.

4. Work on repertoire. Whether you are learning songs out of a book or you are learning songs by ear, keep learning new material. Each song you learn is performing double duty. First of all, you are building your library of tunes. Next time someone asks you to play something on the piano, you will have that much more to pull from. Secondly, you are learning lots of “mini-lessons” from each song you learn. Fingering technique, chord structure, key signature, rhythms, and more. Never stop learning new songs!

5. A little goes a long way. In a perfect world, you would practice piano for 2-3 hours every day. But let’s be real. You have a life. Even your kids probably have enough of a life to make that a challenge. What a lot of people do is tell themselves that unless they can get in at least an hour of practice, it’s not worth it. This could not be further from the truth. Even ten minutes here and there adds up. Your practice time does not have to happen all at once. Get in ten minutes when you can. I promise if you do that enough, it will add up to amazing results.

6. Be accountable to your teacher. One of the best things about piano lessons is learning discipline. That is why it is so great to start kids young. It gets them into a routine early. It shows them the value of committing to something. And it allows them to feel the pride of a job well done. When you want to blow off your practice time, remember your lesson time is coming. You are going to have to sit down and play for your teacher. Make sure you are ready and it will make your lesson a much more enjoyable experience!

7. Make sure you are learning things that are fun to you. It is super important that your lessons include things that are fun for you to learn. If you are not learning things that are fun for you, tell your teacher. A good teacher will adjust your lesson plan to include music you love. If you are a gamer, ask if you can learn a song from your favorite video game. If you are a movie buff, learn a song from a movie you love. Having these kinds of things added into your practice routine will make it way more fun and motivate you to practice more.

8. Have patience. Learning any new skill takes times. It takes A LOT of time, so be patient. Be kind to yourself. You don’t have to master it in one day. All you have to do is show up every day and over time you will see how far you have come. You are going to get there if you never give up!

You can truly be the piano player you want to be. Just follow these 8 steps and you will be there in no time!

Have any suggestions on how to practice piano? Or do you have any questions about piano practice? Leave us a comment below and let us know!

Piano Lessons Online

The internet is an amazing tool. It has become a crucial part of our daily existence. I mean, can you imagine the world with no internet?

Me neither.

I have used online tutorials to learn so much about music, marketing and more. YouTube alone has supplied me enough information to get a doctorate in multiple subjects.

Whenever I want to learn how to use some new software, I go to YouTube. Whenever I have a question about business or marketing, I go to YouTube. Knowledge is power and all the knowledge we can handle is right at our fingertips.

Can you learn how to play piano through YouTube videos?

There is certainly no shortage of piano tutorials on there. If you want to learn how to play a chord or figure out a specific voicing in a song you love, YouTube is a great solution.

Sometimes more does not mean good. Sometimes we can be oversaturated with information. There are so many different piano how-to videos on YouTube, how would you know where to begin? It’s extremely overwhelming.

I have had many students come to me because they tried to learn on their own but soon became confused and stressed out by all the information out there. It seemed like to large of a mountain to climb on their own. They also needed someone to encourage them and keep them accountable. YouTube won’t do that for you.

Look, we just can’t take in every video on YouTube. No one has that kind of time. So what is the answer?

We need a guide. We need someone who has been down the path that we want to travel to show us the way. We need someone to put the chaos into order. We need a plan. And we need accountability.

And that is what a great piano teacher can do.

I love the internet. I love YouTube. But I also love my mentors and coaches who have guided me along life’s path. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them and I will continue to have teachers in my life to help me sift through all the information that google leaves on my front door. With the combination of a good teacher and all the information the internet has to offer, I know I can conquer the world. And so can you.

If you are having trouble wading through the chaos of YouTube piano videos, we can help. Hit the button below to get some more information about piano lessons in St. Louis.

P.S. Do you think STL Piano Lessons should offer online piano lessons?

Piano Lessons Near Me

Have you heard of this new thing called “the internet?” It’s all the rage in Europe. ;)

One of the best things about the internet, is finding products and services we need so quickly. I don’t even remember how we did that before the world wide web, but it is pretty amazing.

All you have to do is type in the thing you need with the words “near me” and you will get hundreds if not thousands of suggestions.

Need a new lawn mower, it’s there. Need a pizza STAT, it’s there. Need piano lessons for your kids, it’s there!

Before I start sounding too much like an old man and start asking you to help me program my VCR, let me get to the point. If you type into a search engine the words “piano lessons near me” you are going to get a lot of great options. In any city, you will find so many great teachers. And I know this is no exception in St. Louis.

St. Louis is a vibrant music town. It’s one of my favorite things about this city. The musical history alone is so full and robust, let the alone the current scene we have today. There are a lot of amazing musicians in this town, and what do most musicians do during the day?

They teach.

We are blessed with so many great music teachers and STL Piano Lessons is proud to be amongst them! And while some schools offer many different types of instrument instruction, we focus solely on piano because we want to be the best. It’s important for us to have the best teachers in town. And it’s important for us to value you as a student and to do all we can to help you reach your musical goals!

So the next time you type in “piano lessons near me,” know that we are proud to be a part of those search results. It can be an overwhelming process finding the right teacher, so we hope you will reach out to us with any questions you may have. We are more than happy to help you find the perfect teacher, whoever that may be.

Be sure to take full advantage of this whole internet thing. I think it may just be a fad like fax machines and cell phones, so who knows when they will take it away. Better enjoy it while you can!

Piano Lessons For Kids

You are never too young to start learning about music. And when your kids get to 5 or 6, it is definitely time to start piano lessons!

When I was 5, my parents made me take piano lessons. It was the last thing I wanted to do. All I wanted to do was play outside with my friends. Every day my parents would make me practice before I got to go play or watch TV. How dare they?!

But then something strange started to happen. I started to like it. And once I got a little older, around 7 or 8, I started figuring out how to play the songs I liked on the piano. I would record songs off the radio onto my little cassette player (yea, remember cassettes?). Then I would sit at the piano, play the tape, figure out one note of a song. Then rewind the tape and figure out the next note. I did this over and over again until I figured out the whole thing. I was playing Bon Jovi songs on the piano and that is when it became a whole lot of fun!

I can’t imagine where I would be now if my parents didn’t make me take piano lessons. I am a full-time musician as well as piano instructor. I run a record company called Soul Motivation Records and produce inspirational hip-hop music. I talk music. I breathe music.

Music is my life. And I owe it all to my parents. :)

I always tell parents that you should MAKE your kids take piano lessons. At least for a couple of years. Once they have been at it for a while, if they still don’t like it, then let them pursue other things.

Sometimes when we are kids, we don’t know what we want. Our interests can change daily. But I have talked to enough adults who tell me they really wish they stuck to the piano when they were a kid to know that most kids will grow up to regret giving it up so quickly.

Now is the time to get them started. Music can change their life, you just have to give them a head start!