5-Minute Piano Lessons

Practicing Piano Scales is Most Worthwhile when Done Smartly

I don’t know why I was surprised when the site’s “analytics” (the statistics that tell me each week what folks have been interested in reading) told me that the “big draw” recently was practicing scales – something I only rarely assign to my piano students. This interest makes sense, however, considering that music teachers have been pushing scale practice for centuries. This is sad to me, because more time and attention is wasted on lousy and inefficient scale practice by aspiring hobbyist pianists than almost anything, other than lousy and inefficient practice routines in general. I’d like to set the record straight on this topic and hopefully save you readers time and frustration.

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More Explanation of the Psychology of Nervousness and Possible Solutions

There is more you should understand about the psychology of your nervousness at your piano lesson. I’ve been teaching adult piano lessons for over two decades and during that time, I’ve seen countless examples of the following “cycle of fear”  in adult students: (more…)

Too many piano students do poorly due to ineffective piano teaching

Previous essays have explained why many current methods are really “snakeoil” methods which promise much but deliver next to no piano skill. I also spend time discussing how this approach to learning to play piano was made attractive by the years of grinding, boring, and frustrating “teaching” on the part of piano teachers who turned making music into drudgery. Many folks have a stereotype of the piano teacher as a little old lady forcing kids to play endless scales while they’d prefer to be elsewhere, anywhere on a Saturday morning.  Very unfortunately, this stereotype is fairly accurate. This essay explains why learning the piano doesn’t have to be this way.

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Once the basics are well learned, this method gives excellent results

I’ve written often about HOW to practice piano effectively. You should follow my guidelines – for the simple reason that they work. Once you have done this and know the fundamentals of the piece, you may want to polish it up. One way, not particularly efficient, is to play the piece over and over and over and…. There is a better approach to polishing piano pieces and here it is. However, use it ONLY after the majority of the music is already well learned. (more…)

Too many piano students do poorly due to ineffective piano teaching

Previous essays have explained why many current methods are really “snakeoil” methods which promise much but deliver next to no piano skill. I also spend time discussing how this approach to learning to play piano was made attractive by the years of grinding, boring, and frustrating “teaching” on the part of piano teachers who turned making music into drudgery. Many folks have a stereotype of the piano teacher as a little old lady forcing kids to play endless scales while they’d prefer to be elsewhere, anywhere on a Saturday morning.  Very unfortunately, this stereotype is fairly accurate. This essay explains why learning the piano doesn’t have to be this way. (more…)