Or does it? This essential area of learning a musical instrument is often rather neglected. Many students do not know how to practise. Consider the enthusiastic, budding musician who announces gleefully, “I’ve practised for two and a half hours today - played right through book 3!”  This is very commendable, but the student hasn’t been practising, he/she has been playing! There is a big difference. Playing is what you are aiming to do, the reason you are learning, the sheer joy and pleasure of expressing yourself through music. Practising is altogether different. This is your work, the graft when you are studying a piece of music.

Does the following sound familiar? Does it describe you, or perhaps other people you know? The student begins to learn a new piece of music, which may have been set by their teacher, or he/she may be tackling new material on their own. The student begins to play attentively. All goes well for a few bars, then - collapse! The student mumbles, peers at the score (“Oh, it’s F#”) looks up an unfamiliar chord, goes back to the beginning, and recommences. The same thing happens. Back to the beginning. Multiply this by several times, and as frustration is setting in, somehow the student manages to play through (she/he is not sure how) and manages a few more bars until the next stumble occurs, and the same procedure is repeated (ad nauseum!). The result? The beginning of the piece is brilliant (it has been repeated 50 times and can be played from memory!) but the rest slowly deteriorates, worsening as it goes along. Is it any wonder that practising is considered futile, and confidence erodes? What the student is doing, in effect, is practising and ingraining his/her mistakes.

Many people do not know how to practise efficiently or correctly. For adults and children alike, the efficient use of practice time is very important in today’s busy world. A firm commitment needs to be made, and the following guidelines will work For ease of example we’ll consider a piece of music in the format of two 8 bar sections. The second 8 bars will probably have contrasting material. Section A followed by Section B- binary form (means 2 parts).

Start by checking the number of beats in a bar, and the key of the piece. Play the scale and arpeggio for that key, and if you know how to, work out, chords I. IV, V. If you are apt to forget any sharps or flats, go through the music and mark them in lightly with a pencil. You can always rub them out later. Then try clapping or tapping out the rhythm of the right hand part, then the left hand part of section A. Keep a steady, unchanging beat in your head, or tap the beat, whichever you find easier. Count aloud, and really make sure the long notes, e.g. minims, semibreves, and tied notes receive their full value. Remember, if the rhythm is correct, it will sound like music, even if there are a few bum notes! (improvisation?).

Electronic keyboard music sometimes does not have phrasing marked. Phrases are the musical equivalent of punctuation, and music moves towards the end of a phrase. Mostly, they are 4 bars long. If your new music is a song which has words, then a phrase will be the length of a line of the words, most likely 4 bars again. Tackle your music phrase by phrase SLOWLY. Mark in where the phrases start and end. Sometimes there are rests that help with this.

Try this method. Good fingering is crucial. Discuss this with your teacher and work it out together. If studying on your own, work out fingering, or amend editorial fingering if it seems awkward. A useful tip is to work backwards. Decide which finger you need to comfortably manage the highest or lowest note in the phrase, or perhaps a good finger to finish on the last note of the phrase, and work from that point backwards. You may well find that your first thought about a starting finger simply doesn’t work! Once happy with fingering, stick to same fingering for that piece of music every time you practise. The muscle memory in your fingers comes into play, and you will learn the music more quickly. Organists will also need to work out pedalling.

Play the first phrase SLOWLY with your right hand. Count the beats aloud. Repeat many times, depending on difficulty, until you can manage it slowly and comfortably. Don’t even THINK about speeding up. Remember to include dynamics (the quiet and loud bits) and articulation (staccatos, slurs etc). Listen to the sound you are producing. Is it even and beautiful, or “bumpy”? With one hand only, and at slow speed this is all perfectly possible. Now repeat the process with your left hand. Organists then practise the pedal part.

Note that the phrase endings are natural “breathing” points, like comma, full stops, semi colons. You may take your hands OFF the keyboard at this point to mimic the taking of a breath, and to start the next phrase with the correct finger. This is the time to move your hand, if you need to. Your fingers need not be glued to the keys - you can let go! Now continue and practise the second phrase as already outlined.

If you have practised two phrases in this way, congratulations, you have achieved a great deal. Even if you are out of time, your time spent has been very productively used.

A word to keyboard players who are working with chord symbols. Do you know the chords? If not, look them up or work them out. Then practise and memorise any new chords with good fingering and the most convenient inversion, or write in the notes in the music to help you remember. Play the preceding chord and the chord after the new one. Are there any notes in common? Then practise the 3 chords, keeping your fingers over any notes in common.

All together now - (what, both hands????)
If you have practised diligently with hands separately, and you know each part well, now is the time to put them together. Practise very slowly, checking that both hands go down together. To achieve this you may have a pause while you get each hand ready, but don’t worry. The pause will go as you become more familiar with playing the piece. Keep counting! Repeat the first phrase several times, until comfortable at your beautifully slow tempo. If you have time, continue with next phrase in the same way. The organists have a bit more to do. Practise hands together, right hand and pedals, left hand and pedals, then very slowly all three together.

It doesn’t matter if you find time has run out before you have completed the various stages. It’s not a race! But your time will have been well used. In your next practice session (tomorrow) slowly go over what you have already done. Maybe you will just want to do that and really consolidate. But when Section A feels 100% safe at slow speed, repeat the method with section B.

The Problem Spot - annoying, this! You have practised correctly, but there seems to be one place where you still go wrong. You may need to troubleshoot with your teacher, but try analysing the problem yourself. Is the fingering awkward? Experiment with different fingerings. Are you quite sure you have correctly read the notes? Is the bar just much busier than the rest of the piece and so needs more practice? Is there an awkward leap? Once you have isolated the reason(s) then practise this place, correctly and slowly many times. And then, put it back into the music, that is, practise the phrase in which it occurs. You will need to play the phrase at the same speed you can manage the problem spot (which is no longer a problem!)

If this all sounds like hard work, well, I did say that practising is the work and studying. It isn’t the same as playing. But if you practise on these lines the benefits will be:
a)   Far fewer mistakes (if any!) because you didn’t make them in the first place, and then didn’t practise them in the second place!
b)   Your learned pieces will be very secure, and you will gain in confidence.
c)   You will actually master your pieces more quickly in the long run.
d)   You will notice the difference in your playing, and so will your family and friends.

Another important tip Start at any point in a piece of music while you are learning it. Begin with the phrase that looks the most difficult, or the most busy. In other words, don’t always go back to the beginning. Get in the habit of working from any point in the music. If you are able to start anywhere, it’s a further indication of how well you know your music.

What is the most important practice session? The one straight after your lesson, while everything is fresh in your mind, and your teacher has filled you with enthusiasm! And remember, little and often is the key to successful practising.

And finally, when it comes to practising, the proverb, “More haste, less speed” is very true. When you learn a piece, practise it slowly. When you know it, practise even more slowly. When the day of performance looms, practise it slower still. If you really know your music, inside out and upside down at a slow speed, then generating the correct speed, or any speed at all is straightforward. So does practice make perfect? Yes, correct practice certainly does make perfect!