Effective Practicing

Thursday, May 24, 2018 by Bonnie Jack | Piano Teaching

Learning to practice effectively is at the heart of becoming an excellent pianist, and it is also one of the most complex things we must teach our students. We wish for a simple formula that could be followed in every practice session, one that would solve every problem with ease as long as it is followed to the letter. Fortunately, there are some very good formulas and principles, but unfortunately, nearly every passage of music requires a slightly different implementation of these formulas, depending on the difficulty of the passage, the technique necessary, and the skill level of the student. Practicing effectively requires the ability to think critically about what formula/method/technique/principle to use, and exactly how to employ it. It also requires constant evaluation of the formula being used and the progress being made, so that further decisions can be made about how to continue. It requires continually setting goals, evaluating those goals, and focusing on the goal at hand.

It is our job, as teachers, to methodically and effectively teach our students good practicing skills, and to help them understand the role they must take in making their own practicing more effective.

There are four main skills that contribute to effective practicing:

1. Setting Clear Outcome Goals
2. Choosing Effective Processes
3. Evaluating
4. Focusing

These skills can be taught in a simple way to the beginning student, and elaborated on as the student advances. Let’s look at each in more detail.

Setting Clear Outcome Goals

Too often, practicing consists of nothing but playing through each of the pieces on the student’s list. The only goal the student has in mind is to get through the pieces and use up the time. Even when a student has better intentions of actually accomplishing something, he often practices in a haphazard way that does not produce good progress, simply because he does not know how to set effective goals, and/or does not have the tools to accomplish them.

Outcome goals are long- or short-term goals that clearly outline the desired finished product. Long-term outcome goals are necessary for giving the student a vision of where they would like to be. These long-term goals then need to be broken down into shorter terms. Here is an example of a fictional student’s outcome goals regarding recital performance:

• One-year goal: I will perform in 8 recitals.
  • 3-month goal: I will have my new recital piece memorized and performance-ready.
  • 6-week goal: I will have my piece learned solidly with all musical details.
  • 1-week goal: I will learn and polish 6 sections of my piece.
  • 1-day goal: I will learn 1 section during today’s practice session, with correct notes, fingerings, dynamics, and articulations.

The important thing here is that the student has the longer-term goals in mind, but is focused on immediately accomplishing the shortest-term goal, which is also the most detailed and clearly expressed.

Choosing Effective Processes

A process is a detailed procedure for accomplishing the shortest-term outcome goal—the simplest process being something like playing the right hand 6 times, left hand 6 times, and hands together 6 times. Establishing good processes may be the most important thing a student must learn in order to practice effectively. For a beginning student, the teacher must often outline each process very specifically in the assignment book. As the student matures and progresses, the teacher can begin to coach the student in devising his own processes, since each passage of music may require a slightly different and evolving approach. There are many techniques and tricks for tackling different challenges, but the following three principles provide a solid foundation for creating effective processes.

1. Start Small

When a student is excited about a new piece, he wants to be able to play the whole piece now. But effective practicing means breaking the piece into small sections, and then breaking those sections down even further—sometimes into smaller sections, and always into separate hands—for initial learning. As the student gains mastery of the notes in each hand alone, they become ready to put their hands together. As they gain mastery of small sections, they become ready to practice larger sections. Here are a few tips:

Overlap sections: always have the student play a few notes into the next section as they are drilling, so that the transition between the sections is smooth. Be sure, however, that the student doesn’t go too far into the next section, since the focus needs to remain on the section being practiced.

Include details: from the beginning, the student should ideally observe all notes, rhythms, and fingerings. Other details such as articulations and dynamics can be layered, focusing on one at a time until it is mastered before adding another.

Put hands together carefully: when putting hands together, a student must be very careful to continue to watch all the details, including notes, fingering, and articulations. Playing hands together feels completely different from playing hands separately, and requires a much higher level of focus to get everything right. This means taking it very slowly (see next section).

Gradually increase section size: as the piece is learned, smaller sections can be combined to form larger sections, increasing fluency.

Fix problems: after the piece is learned, there will be spots that need more drilling than others, whether it is because of imperfect learning or just sheer difficulty. Focus on one problem at a time, either by isolating a very small section, or by playing a larger section while focusing on one single element of the section. As the student solves each small problem, have them gradually incorporate the small section back into the larger section.

2. Start Slow

Students often have a tendency to play much faster than their technique or knowledge of the piece allows. But effective practicing means playing at a tempo that allows the student to play every note perfectly. Here are a few tips and things to remember:

Include details: this was mentioned in the section above, but slow playing is essential to a student’s ability to observe fingerings, articulations, and other details as they are learning a section.

Observe rhythm: this is often most effectively done at a slow tempo while counting out loud and/or using the metronome.

SLOW is FAST: students will be able to accomplish more in a shorter period of time if they practice slowly. Demonstrate this in a lesson by having them carefully and slowly learn a section of a piece they are working on. Contrast the progress they made in 5 or 10 minutes, using this method, with the progress they made over the last week or two, using their own “faster” method.

"Slow practice is the key to rapid technical progress. The cerebellum is a non-judgmental part of the brain: it assumes that any repetitive muscular activity is being repeated because the conscious mind is trying to make it automatic. The cerebellum will therefore automize incorrect sequences just as efficiently as correct ones. When practicing is done at a pace too fast for accurate playing, there is very little chance for the material to be mastered. On the other hand, the cerebellum can supply all the speed wanted if patterning is correct during slow repetitive practice."

~Dr. Frank R. Wilson, neurologist

• Stutter-free practicing: stops and stutters have absolutely no place in effective practicing. Slow, careful learning will go a long way toward avoiding stops and stutters, but in reality, nobody practices perfectly, and most students end up with multiple stutters in their playing. Here are some tips for helping these students break this bad habit: 
  • The student may not even realize they have stutters in their playing. Have them count out loud and/or play it with the metronome (or with you clapping) so they can hear the stutters.
  • Many stutters can be fixed simply by slowing down, playing with a steady beat, and focusing on smooth playing.
  • Explain to the student that it is actually better to play a wrong note without a stop than a wrong note, a stop, and a right note. Stopping and fixing the note every time just means that the student has drilled the incorrect pattern of playing the wrong note and then the right one.
  • Teach the student to think of wrong notes not as mistakes, but as opportunities to practice playing through mistakes. This essential performance skill will serve them well again and again. Of course, if the same mistake continues to happen, then it needs to be isolated and fixed.
• Metronome tips: 
  • The metronome can be used as a tool to keep the tempo steady and slow when a student is in the early stages of drilling, and later as a tool for increasing tempo.
  • Do not have the student use the metronome from the very beginning of their learning. It will actually do more damage than good if they are stumbling over notes because they are trying to stay with a metronome before they know the notes.
  • When the student has learned the notes and is ready to start drilling, have the student choose a tempo that is slow enough that they can play every note perfectly. You can choose a tempo for a beginning student, but as the student matures and progresses, coach him in choosing his own tempos, since each passage will have slightly different challenges. Most students will have a tendency to choose tempos that are too fast. Continue working with them on exactly how slowly to begin, and what really constitutes perfect practicing.
  • The student should be able to play the passage at least 3x in a row perfectly before moving faster. If the student is stumbling over one small part of the passage, have them isolate that spot and fix it, rather than continuing to play the entire passage.
  • When the student is ready, have them move the metronome faster one notch at a time. Don’t skip notches. If a solid enough foundation has been laid at the slow tempo, it may be okay to play it only once or twice at each notch as they move faster, but they should reduce the tempo again if they reach a speed where it is no longer perfect.
  • The brain and the fingers are only capable of moving so much faster in a single practice session. When the student reaches a plateau, it is time to stop for the day and pick up the process tomorrow. Keep in mind that the next day, the tempo should be lowered a notch or two to allow for some review.

3. Repetition is the Key

The brain learns through repetition, whether it is internalizing a theory concept, memorizing a pattern of notes in a piece, or developing muscle memory. If a student plays a passage only a few times, it will not be learned solidly. Depending on the difficulty of the passage, true mastery may require hundreds or even thousands of repetitions.

How many repetitions? Many students do not know how to truly drill. They play the passage a few times, often with stutters and mistakes, and if they do focus on a goal of playing it perfectly, they often stop when they have played it perfectly one time, feeling that they have accomplished their goal! This is erroneous thinking, since the number of perfect repetitions must outweigh the number of imperfect repetitions by a factor of 10 (see next tip). Once the notes are learned perfectly, that’s when the drilling should begin. There is no set number of repetitions that will produce mastery. The best method of drilling does not involve counting repetitions, but simply creating a flow of playing the passage—perfectly—again and again until it becomes easy and automatic. 

Fixing bad drilling: Obviously it is worthwhile to make sure initial drilling is done slowly and perfectly, but mistakes will be made, and then the student must understand how to drill and fix them. They may need to execute up to ten times the number of original repetitions in order to fix a wrong note. Remember that stutters are even worse than wrong notes, and must be addressed and eliminated by slow and careful repetition.

Evaluating

Establishing effective processes is very important, but to continue to use his time as effectively as possible, the student should be constantly evaluating his processes by asking himself questions such as: 

1. What goals am I trying to accomplish? Keep long term and short term goals in mind.
   1. What is the next thing I need to do? Choose a small goal to accomplish or problem to solve.
   2. How do I accomplish/solve it? Devise an approach and begin.
   3. Is my approach working?  
      1. If not, should I do a smaller section? Should I do it slower? Do I need to focus harder?
      2. If yes, continue to do repetitions until it is easy and automatic.
   4. Am I ready to move on (to a new section, hands together, or faster tempo)? If yes, repeat from number 1.

Focusing

The final key to practicing effectively once you have the tools is focus. This can be a difficult thing to teach to a young child, but do not give up. A scheduled practice time with a consistent routine will help the young student gain focus quickly in each session. Teach the student that especially on the days that they don’t feel like practicing, staying consistent with their routine will be the most important contributor to their long-term progress. Technique/warmups are essential to the daily practice routine. If done every day, while mindfully considering posture, body involvement, and relaxation, they will quickly put the student in a focused mindset. Moving through a routine of sight-reading, method book, and literature will keep the student in that state of focus. Ending with a fun piece or free play will leave the student feeling positive and energized. 

As students mature and become ready for further techniques regarding focus, give them the following coaching:

• When drilling, try to relax and create a smooth flow of repetitions. 
  • Do not be anxious about the end goal; simply be aware of it. Rather than worrying about the long-term goal, only ask yourself what needs to be accomplished right now, and what your process will be. 
  • Focus on one problem at a time. Once it is solved, move on to the next problem.
  • Do not get upset about mistakes; just notice them and adjust your approach if necessary. 
  • Do not watch the clock or be anxious about the time. Learn to enjoy the time alone, spent improving yourself and making music. 
  • Take short (2-minute) breaks every 20 to 30 minutes, or when your mind starts to wander. Come back with renewed determination and focus.

Conclusion

A student who wants to practice effectively—one who sets goals, thinks about how to accomplish them, evaluates his processes, and focuses on the task at hand—will learn problem-solving skills that can go far beyond what we teach them in the lesson. Conversely, the student who practices carelessly will often do far more damage than good to their technique and long-term progress. Therefore, we must continue to work to instill a desire for excellence in our students, and then make sure we have given them the tools to achieve that excellence.

Memorization on the Piano

Thursday, May 24, 2018 by Bonnie Jack | Piano Teaching

Some lucky students seem to memorize pieces very quickly and naturally, while others struggle to memorize. And yet, both types of students often undertake the memorizing process haphazardly, usually by playing the piece a bunch of times and hoping it will stick. Because this method does reinforce both muscle memory and aural memory, it is sometimes deceitfully successful. However, it often fails under pressure. The best way to help students create solid, reliable memory is to make them aware of the different types of memory, and teach them how to consciously create good memory patterns.

“Strong memory skills do not result from magic, wishful thinking, great intellect, or good luck. They can be developed like any other aspect of playing.”

~Dr. Virginia Houser, KSU

Muscle Memory

This is the kind of memory we develop by drilling a passage over and over, until our fingers know the "feel" of it. It is created by pure repetition, until the action becomes automatic. It is governed by the cerebellum and once acquired, requires very little conscious attention to reproduce the action.

To create solid muscle memory, students must play the same notes with the same fingerings each time they repeat the passage being practiced. If the notes or fingerings are different each time, the muscle memory will be compromised. If the notes or fingerings are wrong, but still the same each time, they will be memorized just as effectively as if they were correct. Then it may take up to ten times as many correct repetitions as there were wrong repetitions in order to overwrite the wrong muscle memory. It is important to remember that we begin developing muscle memory as soon as we begin practicing the piece, long before we take the music away; therefore, correct patterning of notes, rhythms, and articulations must be in place from the beginning.

When developing muscle memory, it is very helpful to play the notes with a solid tone, pressing deep into the key with strong, curved fingers. The metronome can also be a very useful tool, when set at a tempo that allows the student to play perfectly every single time, eliminating stumbles that hinder muscle memory.

Muscle memory is an essential part of being able to play a piece fluently. Without it, we would never be able to play a Chopin Etude up to tempo, or add artistic details to a Brahms Intermezzo, because our fingers would not be accustomed to the feel of the notes. However, some students will try to rely almost entirely on muscle memory, which by itself may fail them in a performance. This is partly because the movement feels different through nervous/shaky fingers, but also because if they haven’t properly trained their performance mindset, they may give too much conscious attention to their movements, which can actually disrupt the flow of muscle memory, unless sufficient cognitive memory is also in place.

Aural Memory

This is the memory of how a piece sounds. Like muscle memory, it is developed through repetition. Often we are unaware of how heavily we rely on aural memory, but it becomes obvious when trying to play a piece on an electric keyboard that is turned off. Without the sound of the music to guide us, it is easy to lose track of where we are in the piece.

To create solid aural memory, students must consistently repeat accurate notes and rhythms as they drill. Again, like muscle memory, aural memory starts developing from the beginning of learning, and repeated wrong notes and rhythms will be memorized just as solidly as right ones. Another way to develop aural memory is by listening to a recording of the piece. This does not necessarily have to be attentive listening; aural memory will be developed to an extent simply by letting the recording play multiple times in the background while doing other activities. Students can listen while they get ready for school or do homework. When they come to the piano to practice the piece, they will recall the sound of the piece as they are learning it. A third way to develop aural memory is to sing or hum the piece, initially while looking at the score, and eventually away from the score.

Aural memory is particularly useful when memorizing rhythms and dynamics, and it is important to incorporate these details into the piece as early in the learning as possible, so that the aural memory will be correct. As students gain competency in their ear training, they will be able to take more conscious advantage of their aural memory by also using it to intuitively remember melodic intervals and chords.

Visual/Photographic Memory

This type of memory involves both remembering the look of the notes on the page of music (photographic memory), and memorizing the look of the keys and positioning of the hands on the piano. Some visually oriented students will use this quite naturally, while others can be encouraged to develop the skill of visualizing each passage on the page as they are memorizing it.

Cognitive/Analytical Memory

This refers to memory that is part of the conscious thought processes, meaning we can recall things about the music without putting our hands on the keyboard, as if we were going to take a written test about the piece. This type of memory is the hardest to develop, but the best way to be sure of secure memory during a performance.

Cognitive memory is developed by analyzing the music, by observing harmonic and melodic patterns, and by using words to describe what is happening in the music. It involves making connections and finding ways to file away musical details in our brains for later recall. It is almost as if the student is tying a string to each memorized detail, or hanging it on a hook that will allow them to grab it when they need it. Many students resist this kind of memory "work," but after memorizing a passage together with you in the lesson, they will often admit how good it feels to really know the passage, instead of just hoping they will make it through based on their muscle memory.

Some useful tools for developing strong cognitive memory:

1. Analyze the music. Identify chords and scales. Find patterns. Analyze the form. Obviously, the better a student understands music theory, the more useful this analysis will be in developing cognitive memory. However, even beginning students can find patterns in sequences of black and white keys, intervals, and directions (whether notes move up or down). As they begin to use words to describe the music, they will be able to file away these details in their memory.
2. Memorize in sections. Start with small sections and then combine sections as you constantly review. Overlap sections so that memory flows from one section to the next. Try playing each section once with the music and then two times without the music.
3. Don’t let the student be too quick to glance up at the music when he can’t remember. Obviously it is important to check that the memory is correct, but if a student always allows himself to look at the music whenever he feels insecure, he will never exercise his memory muscle and will never be secure in his cognitive memory.
4. Memorize hands separately. Playing each hand alone deprives the student of part of his muscle memory, and requires him to think more consciously about the chords and patterns in the music. How many times have you had a student stumble on memory and say, "I just can't remember the left hand here." Cognitive memory work on the left hand alone will often completely solve many memory problems. Continue to have students review the memory of each hand alone as they approach a performance.
5. Put hands together carefully. Once the music is memorized hands alone, putting it together requires very careful, slow, deliberate thinking. The brain literally has to take the two lines and weave them together, through a process of thinking of one hand and then the other, and then the one, and then the other, etc. until it is clear how they fit together. If the student tries to skip this careful thinking and just hope the two hands will each “do their thing,” then the hands-separate memory was a waste of time.
6. Memorize from back to front. If the last section of a piece is the first to be memorized, the student will find that as they play through the piece, the upcoming section will always feel even more secure than the current section. Contrast that with the student who memorizes the beginning of the piece first, and then feels less and less secure as they play to the end.
7. Begin cognitive memorizing earlier in the learning process. Especially as students become more advanced, it may be appropriate to have them memorize from the very early stages of learning a piece. This avoids wasting time by learning a piece and then basically having to learn it again while memorizing. It also means that muscle memory develops alongside cognitive memory, so the student is less likely to “cheat” their cognitive memory by relying too heavily on their muscle memory.
8. Do plenty of review. After memorizing a small section, have the student take a break to work on something else, but come back to the newly memorized section after a few minutes to review it. They should do this a few times during the practice session. If possible, have them review it one more time before going to bed that night. And they should always come back to it the next day, at which point they may need to review each hand alone to remind themselves of their memory “hooks.” It may take a few days of good review before a section becomes completely secure.
9. Allow enough time. Strong memory results from memorizing small amounts over an extended period of time. Even if good memory techniques are used, cramming a large amount of material into memory in a short amount of time will result in poor retention.
10. Drill similar sections back to back. When one section resembles another, but is in a different key, or ends in a different way, or just has a few different notes or rhythms, these can become memory traps. The best way to solve these traps is to analyze exactly what the differences are, and then drill each section while watching for those specific differences. Drill one section until it is completely secure, then move to the similar section and drill it until it is secure. Go back to the first section and drill it again, understanding that there will need to be some review. Continue to go back and forth between the sections until you can alternate between them with ease and play each perfectly, with a clear understanding of which details are different.
11. Use pickup points. These are places in the piece where a student can just "pickup" and play from memory. Having several of these in a piece requires the student to think a little bit harder about the form of the piece, the chords that begin each section, and other patterns that will help their memory. It also gives them a safety net to fall back on in case their muscle memory fails them during a performance. Test your students' ability to start at any of their pickup points (not necessarily in order) during the week or two before a recital. The interesting paradox is that when a student has prepared sufficient pickup points, they will rarely need them. Having the assurance that they can make it all the way through the piece in case of a memory slip usually gives them the confidence they need to not over-think their performance, so their muscle memory can work unhindered by too much attention. Two obvious pickup points need to be the first notes and the final notes of the piece. Have the student memorize these two places so thoroughly that they can tell you the notes without touching the piano.
12. Do mental practice. Have the student try playing on a tabletop, on an electric keyboard with the sound turned off, or with their eyes closed. Also have the student play through the piece mentally—away from the keyboard—remembering notes and chords by name, and visualizing the page of music as they audiate (mentally “hear” the music). This kind of mental or “shadow” practicing can also be done just before falling asleep at night.
13. Play from memory slowly. Use the metronome to slow the piece down to half tempo. This will disrupt muscle memory to some extent, will not allow stops, and will be extremely useful in finding memory problems. If the student can play perfectly from memory at half tempo, you can be certain their memory is quite secure.

Long-term Memory Encoding

The process of memorizing is just that—a process. It is not going to happen in an instant, or even overnight. Muscle memory, aural memory, and visual memory happen over time and through thousands of repetitions. Cognitive memory develops over a period of days and weeks as the brain begins with short-term encoding and then moves the information to long-term storage through constant review. After an early-stage memory practice session, the student will likely find that the memory fades by the next day. Having the student review each day’s memory work just before going to bed can minimize this problem. But even so, the student will need to cognitively review/re-memorize material each day for a few days before it sticks. Warn your students of this, and assure them that this is just part of the process, so that they don’t get frustrated and give up. Also reassure them that, just like any skill, they will get better at memorizing as they do it more.

Conclusion

Most students will have a natural strength in one or two areas of memory. By all means, you should allow students to use their strengths to their advantage, but don’t neglect to work on all types of memory in order to give each student the best possible chance at a strong performance.

And here is a fantastic Tedx Talk that covers this same topic!