Practice Tips
How to practise for a concert
Performing or playing for others is different from playing during lessons. It is a separate skill that needs to be practised to be good at it. Which is why you can play brilliant for yourself or during lessons and yet play less than optimal when you play for others.
Practise full run-throughs once a day for at least 7 days where possible.
1. Practise Full Run-Throughs
Perform for an audience
Family or Friends: Invite a small audience to listen to you play. Treat it like the real concert, including bowing before and after.
Virtual Audience: If in-person isn’t an option, perform over a video call.
Pets or Plush Toys: For younger students or beginners, even an audience of stuffed animals can help create the feeling of being watched.
Record Yourself: Use a camera or phone to record your performance. This simulates the pressure of being watched and helps you identify areas for improvement.
Play straight through: Play your pieces as you would in the concert, without stopping for mistakes. If you mess up, keep going.
Order of Pieces: If you are playing more than one piece, practice in the exact order of your program to get used to transitions between pieces.Dress Rehearsal: Wear the outfit and shoes you plan to perform in to get comfortable with how they feel while playing.
Page Turns: If you’re using sheet music, practice turning pages smoothly or ensure you have a page-turner if needed.
2. Post-Practice Reflection and Refine Trouble Spots Separately
Do not fix mistakes or change fingerings 1 week before the concert unless you are an experienced musician.
After full run-throughs, make notes of areas to tweak and create a plan for your next practice session.
Watch your recordings to evaluate your playing
Isolate and address specific tricky sections of your pieces. Use slow practice and hands-separately practice to solidify challenging passages.
3. The day before and the day itself
The day before the concert, do a final run-through but keep it light. Avoid tackling new or stressful challenges.
On the day itself, you can play through your piece(s) once if they are short. If they are long, play extracts. Don’t overpractice right before the concert; it’s important to rest so your mind and hands are fresh.
Bring and wear gloves to keep your hands and fingers warm before you play. It is a good idea to bring a hot beverage to drink while waiting for your turn to play.
Other tips
1. Work on Nerves and Focus
Mindfulness and Visualization: Practice calming techniques, like deep breathing, before starting. Visualize a successful performance.
Simulate Nerves: Do jumping jacks or run in place for a few minutes before playing to mimic the adrenaline rush of a live concert.
2. Prepare Mentally
Plan the Pre-Performance Routine: Decide how you’ll approach the piano, sit, and take a deep breath before starting.
Visualise the Venue: Picture the concert setting while practicing, including the audience and stage.
Visualise your entire performance that went superbly well.
Pick any one tip and try just that tip for a week, weeks or a month. It takes time for an idea to take root and grow.
Tips for parents
Make it easy for the child to spend time at the piano e.g.
Place the piano / keyboard in a place that is easily accessible. If it is kept in a box or placed on a shelf, that may reduce the motivation of a person to play it.
Make it fun for the child to spend time at the piano e.g.
Keep piano time fun.
Encourage your child to learn his favourite pieces other than those learnt during lesson. He can do it by ear, youtube videos, music sheets, etc.
Be enthusiastic about the pieces the child is playing and ask to hear them.
Sit with the child often, Depending on his personality.
Listen with your child to mp3 and/or Youtube of material learnt during class. You could play the music in the car.
Encourage improvisation.
Help your child to learn at the piano e.g.
Suggest going to the piano / keyboard several times during the day in a relaxed tone.
Help your child learn to play each piece accurately. However, if the child changes the pieces intentionally (this is called improvisation which is encouraged), accept it and help the child recognise the difference between a learned piece and an improvised piece.
What to practice?
work on the following in this order:
Learn new material e.g. listening and reading skills, new pieces, technical studies, scales and arpeggios.
Improve on existing material
Revise old material e.g. a piece you learnt last term
Tips on tricky sections
Marie: I find that if I walk away from a piece I’m finding tricky it’s easier when I go back to it, later that day or even the next day. Going over & over a piece that I’m not enjoying doesn’t work for me. I always take a break, even after 10 minutes, & try again when I’m ready.
Niki: focus on the difficult parts/section first.
Abigail: repeat 7 gazillion times a day
Joseph: record yourself on a video / sound recorder using a smart phone and replay yourself.
Tips to play fluently
Danny: memorise music to play fluently
Tips on motivation
Various parents: have a chat with the teacher if your child is losing interest in piano and be patient
Joseph:
Have parent and child play duets. It's fun.
Learn music that the student likes at his own time
Go to a live performance
How long to practise?
How you practise is MUCH more important than how long you practise. For example, you could practise a piece incorrectly for an hour and still play it incorrectly.
Of course, the duration of practice will make a difference if a student has catching up to do, is practising for a performance / exam, is very unfamiliar with the material being learnt, or is at an intermediate / advanced level of playing, etc.
In spite of the above, a lot of students and parents nevertheless prefer a duration based approach to practising. Here is a suggested minimum amount of accurate daily practice time
Pre-grade (intro) / Keyboard Games A / Village Musician 1 – 5 mins
Pre-grade(higher) / keyboard Games B / village Musician 2 – 10 mins
Grade 1 – 15 mins
Grade 2 – 20 mins
Grade 3 – 25 mins
Grade 4 – 30 mins
Grade 5 – 35 mins
Grade 6 – 40 mins
Grade 7 – 45 mins
Grade 8 – 50 mins
You can go to the piano several times a day. If a student struggles even with 1 minute of practice daily and is at e.g. grade 1, start with 1 minute for a few days / a week before increasing it to e.g. 2 minutes a day. Make your practice goal so easy and enjoyable that you are motivated to continue with it, instead of despairing at an insurmountable task.