Piano Practice: The 1-minute-a-day Technique For Adults

When I mention piano practice, it almost always gets most students of the instrument to cringe a little...especially adults who took lessons as a kid and are thinking about starting piano lessons again.

The memories, good or bad, inevitably start to resurface. However, if you had a bad experience with the piano at some point in your life, that doesn't mean that the next experience has to be a negative one as well.

Learning to play the piano can be enjoyable and piano practice doesn't have to be boring and tedious if you have solid, realistic goals and a proven method of practice. Of course, the mere thought of piano practice may still pose a mental stumbling block for many adults who really want to play the piano.

As a result, my first goal as a piano instructor is to teach you how to develop an effective practice routine that can be accomplished in just 8 to 10 minutes a day. To do that I have to first teach you my 1-minute-a-day practice technique.

If you use my 1-minute-a-day technique, you'll get effective practice every day. However, the biggest obstacle for most students is finding time to practice. Many students believe that a productive practice session should involve 30 minutes or more of concentrated playing time each day.

On the surface that sounds logical, but the problem with this thought process is that most students really don't have 30 minutes to devote to practice, (especially many adult piano students), so their practice is inconsistent at best.

Just the thought of having to practice 30 minutes or more each day tends to keep students away from the piano. This inconsistency goes on day after day, and before you know it, the lessons and the dream of playing the piano gradually fade away.

With the 1-minute-a-day practice technique, all you have to do is commit to sitting down at the piano for 1 minute a day for the next 21 days.

Why 21 Days?

It takes 21 days to develop a new habit. Since finding 30 minutes a day is nearly impossible for most students, you really only need to find a small amount of time…this is where the 1-minute-a-day technique comes in.

Now I realize that the 1-minute-a-day technique sounds a bit far fetched and gimmicky, but it is extremely effective if used on a daily basis. The real key is doing it for 21 days, and I'm absolutely sure that 99.9 percent of the people reading this article can find one minute of piano practice each day for the next 21 days.

Of course, what you'll discover in a very short period of time is that one minute will turn into five minutes or ten minutes, and before you know it, you've achieved a good amount of productive practice time.

You see, one minute isn't a difficult obstacle for anyone to overcome. Anyone who really wants to learn to play the piano, or any instrument, can find one minute a day.

The main obstacle is the common misconception that daily practice has to be thirty minutes or more to be effective. This thought process will deter even the most enthusiastic beginner. Even more advanced players struggle with practicing.

Give the 1-minute-a-day practice technique a try for the next 21 days, and see for yourself that one minute can and will turn into five, ten, even fifteen minutes of daily practice…and before you know it you'll be progressing on your instrument and enjoying the process.

This article was written by Guy Faux. Guy has been playing the piano for 42 years, and teaching for over 15 years. He currently provides private, in-home piano lessons in Cherry Hill, NJ and is the school director at the Cherry Hill Academy of Piano & Guitar.

He has also conducted 1-night piano workshops and clinics throughout Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, and currently teaches the popular 6-week "Instant Piano For Busy Adults" class in the fall and spring semesters at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, NJ.

This class offers hands-on playing techniques in the chord piano method, allowing students to be up and playing their favorite songs in just a few weeks. Guy's ever-popular technique on how to instantly read music notes is always a big hit with his students.

By: Guy Faux

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Guy also offers online piano lessons for busy adults. You can try out a number of his free online lessons at: www.easy-chord-piano-lessons.com/freepianolessonsonline.html