How to Set Up a Practice Plan | Intermediate / Advanced Piano Lesson | Pianist Academy

If you are practicing anything from a single piece of music to a full length recital program, today's video is for you! Charles presents 4 major points about efficient practicing: Recognizing your own limits, being specific, maintaining 100% focus, and organizing goals.

► Here are today's 3 Goals:

Goal #1: Recognize your practice limit and take breaks often. Doing so will help you stay the most focused during practice.

Goal #2: Write down, as detailed as possible, what you should accomplish during your practice sessions on a daily, weekly, even monthly basis, so you always use your time wisely.

Goal #3: Give every moment of practice focus, meaning, and purpose. When you aren't able to achieve this anymore, just take a break and come back later!

Charles Szczepanek is an international prize-winning pianist, has collaborated with GRAMMY Award winners, and has taught music for over 20 years to everyone from his next-door neighbor to finalists on NBC's America's Got Talent. Through Pianist Academy, he now brings that wealth of knowledge to you: the beginner, the intermediate, the professional, or the fellow music teacher.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:07 - Time Questions and Priorities
02:02 - Exploring Your Practice Time Limit
03:23 - Exploring Musical Practice Tasks
05:01 - Focus and Mental Engagement
06:20 - Example of Practice Plan
07:20 - Plz like and subscribe!

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[frankiewinters]

Super interesting! I've always found the C major scale to be the most difficult and always had this belief that this must be the reason why both Liszt and Chopin almost never compose anything in that scale, it's almost always sharps and flats because in reality it's actually easier that way once you've studied the piano for a while. I love your insight into how your hands fit the keys more ergonomically when combining black and white notes, I never really thought about it that way but some pieces which sound really difficult can actually be quite easy to play and vice versa! It all depends on how the notes you're playing fit with your hands. People have very varied hand sizes (especially depending on gender) and also finger ratios which I think is a least one reason why some people find certain pieces easier to play than others. Of course, this is mostly mental, yet I think your physical hand shape definitely does play a part

[WSJade]

OMG the intro had me dying of laughter. 🤣🤣🤣 Well done!! I also really appreciate your outro ("practice smarter, not harder") and audio mixing through these vids, e.g. the cadence at the end—so satisfying.

[aBachwardsfellow]

EXCELLENT! All of the best suggestions and tips -- simply and clearly presented!.

Among other things I'm a big fan of breaking practice into smaller sessions with specific, targeted, limited goals-- some as short as 20 minutes, not many longer than 40 minutes (they don't all have to be the same) -- and try to have some non-musical space between sessions to let the brain assimilate the practiced material without competition. In some cases a 20-minute session on only 4 - 8 difficult measures may be the most effective practice for that, while a 40-minute session for playing/polishing a finished piece may be best.

[Novvadiaries]

you are an amzing teacher, thank you very much !

[-yhg]

Great video especially for people like myself who are struggling to make progress on the piano, Sidenote : I personally think the background music in this video should be lower it was quite distracting at times😅

[tjackson]

Hi: I was at your live today Wednesday Sept. 13th, 2023 and decided to look at other videos of yours. I became mesmerized by the song playing in the background. Would you please disclose the name? Thank you.

[erichollis]

Thanks for the tips, Charles. Very helpful. I'll put this into practice today...(Yes, it was a pun...sorry.)

[bilgeyts]

0:17 i was literally like this watching this video

[OsakaJoe]

The info sounds useful but the piano music in the background is rather distracting. I found myself having to rewind the video to listen.

[hamzadlm]

0:15 I jumped cause that is me hahahhahaha

[aoall]

Can I consult your for my own practice method for my kids? I made the schedule but never have a satiafactory answer, even from my kid’s piano teacher.

[steveg.]

So how do you learn the material without practicing?

[PetulaGuimaraes]

I find it easier to practice longer, so I can match my brain vs physiological progress in the day. Plus, I literally take time to start "working", like a car that you need to crank 😂

[lawrencetaylor]

This is out of my pay grade since I am a beginner pianist. But I hope the You Tube Police don't come after me since I listened to this video and tried to get something out of it.
I come to the piano with two main problems, holes. Not wholes, as in whole notes. I have a hole in my shoulder, which I can do nothing about. For now. Despite that hole in my shoulder, I have very strong hands and fingers. I developed that by treating other people's shoulders over the years. That helps with the piano.
And I have a hole in my head. I don't have music in my head that I'm trying to get out. I think that might be beacuse I wasn't wired that way, or it was a reprogram due to some traumatic events with my music education. Actually, because of my singing voice (no pun intended) I put up barriers to learning anything about music since the choir directors told me to move my lips and never make a sound.
I've realized that when I start doing two handed coordination patterns at the piano and it starts to work, I'm listening to the music as if it's not in my body. I haven't found out how to adopt that feeling of listening to music and realizing that it's me doing the effort to make it happen.
Hmm, I have to incorporate the music into my body, which is exactly the origins of this word.
Any suggestions?

[nachhilfehvm]

BRO STOP WASTING TIME GET TO THE POINT