Learning how to play the piano requires more than just taking lessons. Your child also needs to practice playing in between meeting with their teacher. This helps to reinforce what they’ve learned and creates the muscle memory needed to be really good at playing piano.
If your child is enrolled in piano lessons in Orlando, you need to make sure they have a practice routine (and are sticking to it).
The first thing you, your child, and their piano teacher need to do is to discuss your child’s goals. Children should always have a goal in mind with their playing.
While their main goal is to learn the instrument or to become better at playing, they should have smaller goals that are easier to measure. Learning to play specific songs or practicing a certain number of times a week, for example, are clear goals that are easy to measure.
Here are a few different schedules that may help your child get into a routine and reach their goals.

1. A Simple, Effective Practice Schedule for Beginners

If your child is new to piano, this practice schedule will help them create a highly effective 30-minute practice. When they sit down at the piano, they should spend five minutes warming up. Play the scales, chords, and inversions. Early on, players may only know the scales, but they can add a new chord every couple of days to expand their knowledge.

2. Go Over The Music

Next, your child should spend ten minutes looking at the pieces they’re considering and the ones they’ve been working on. They should go over the notes, beats, tempo, and other parts of each piece, making notes of anything they find particularly difficult or that they need to work on.
Then, they should take five minutes to play through the piece they’re working on for this session. It doesn’t have to be perfect. They just need to play it as slowly as necessary to in order to play the notes correctly.

3. Work on the Hard Parts

For the next ten minutes, your child should focus on the hardest parts of the piece. This is the real “meat” of the practice session—the better they get at the hard parts, the better they will be at the song.
They shouldn’t play the entire song, though. Instead, they should only play the parts that they find difficult. They should work on them over and over. Once they do, they will be able to go through the entire song with less difficulty.

4. Practice Regularly

Now that your child has an idea of what to do for their 30-minute practice sessions, it’s time to set your child’s practice schedule. You want to be realistic here.
Some kids have the time to get in 30 minutes every day, every week. If your child doesn’t, that’s okay. Aim for four or five days a week if that’s what’s realistic and achievable.
Your child’s piano teacher may give them specific songs or skills to work on for each practice session, so if they miss one, they’re going to be behind. Being consistent is more important than trying to practice every single day.
Extra practice time one day won’t necessarily make up for missing the day before, either. “Binging” for two hours on Saturday isn’t the same as practicing four times for 30 minutes during the week.

Let’s Set up Lessons Today

If your child is ready to begin piano lessons, give us a call. Our instructors come to your house, so your child learns in a familiar, comfortable environment. Call us today to schedule the first lesson.