Practice Guidelines

Assignment Abbreviations

LH = Left Hand

RH = Right Hand

HT = Hands Together

HS = Hands Separate

T = Tempo

3X = 3 Repetitions

5X = 5 Repetitions

NT = No Tempo

m. = measure

ms. = measures

Approximate Practice Time in Minutes

First Year: 15 to 20 minutes
Second Year: 20 to 30 minutes
Third Year: 30 to 45 minutes
Fourth Year: 45 - 60 minutes
Fifth Year - 60 minutes and beyond

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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR A GOOD PRACTICE

Pick the same time each day to practice. Establishing good daily practice habits is like brushing your teeth. Pick the same time each day to focus on your assignment. If possible, break up your total practice time into two or three separate sessions. Your brain works the best in 10 or 15 minute increments.

Make sure to practice long enough to work on new skills! There is a difference in keeping your fingers flexible and working hard on new skills. If you are a beginner, new skills come with about 15 minutes of practice each day. Each year your practice will have to increase if you want new and better skills.

Learn pieces backwards, from the last phrase to the first. This helps prevent over-practicing of the beginning and neglect of the ending.

Three Time Rule: Play each hand three times in a row without a mistake. Then attempt to put hands together. This is for discipline and accuracy.

Mix up the tempo. Practice fast music slow and slow music fast.

Work in small increments. Work on measures that give you problems first. Take the measure before and the measure after the sticky one so that you are playing three measures at a time with the difficult one in the middle. Play perfectly 10 times before you move onto the next increment. NEVER PRACTICE YOUR PIECE FROM M. 1 TO THE END. THIS IS A POOR WAY TO PRACTICE!!

Follow the Speed Limit: No faster than you can play perfectly.