Piano Teacher Sindy Chu (Mobile +65- 8100 2896) has 10+ years experience in teaching piano and vocal in Singapore.

She provides some advices to make piano practice more efficient and enjoyable.

1. Try to allocate a certain time (or times) each day when practice is part of your life (much like brushing your teeth).

2. Place the keyboard at a prominent position such as the living room or dining room, where it is easily accessible and where the mere sight of it will serve as a reminder to do your practice.

3. To practice piano for as long as you can before you start to become mentally tired. For most piano students, a reasonable amount of practice is around 30 minutes per day, and for adults, doing this in one sitting may work. For some students, especially kids, 1-2 short sessions of 10-15 minutes per day is usually much more effective.

4. Make it your goal to try something new during each practice session to keep things interesting. Many students get excited with they feel like they have just made some progress in their piano practice, and so they continue to play what they just learned rather than make the effort to learn something new and uncertain.

5. Allocate some time for ‘refreshing’ your memory , at least once a week, by revising some of the pieces you have already learned – not so you can get out of practicing / learning something new, but for the specific purpose of maintaining a repertoire that will enable you to share what you have learned with others.

6. Using correct fingering, by deciding upon a set sequence of fingering for each piece, and using that fingering consistently, you are calling upon your muscle memory to help you learn and perform each piece with stability.

7. Whenever you are about to play a piece through from beginning to end, look through the sheet music and find the most difficult section. Hear it in your head and take not of the tempo.

8. BY targeting the later or ‘weak’ sections within the piece, taking you through each piece in a methodical fashion from start to finish, your practice sessions will become much more efficient, and will promote a much more consistent level of proficiency throughout each piece.

9. Practicing go SLOW. Give yourself a chance to take a mental note of each note, event or phrase within the given section. When you have it clear in your head at a slow tempo, then you can gradually try increasing the tempo.

10. When looking down at your hands, try not to move your head. Rather, just look down your nose at your hands only moving your eyes. Then when you look back up at the sheet music (only moving your eyes – not your head) it is much easier to find your place on the sheet music.

11. Counting out loud, especially during slow practice during the early stages of learning a piece, is a very effective way to develop your sense of rhythm. Plus, by linking your voice and your hands, this technique often helps you to master the coordination between the two hands as well as the timing of the piece.

12. Do 1-2 bars; Left Hand 5 times, Right Hand 5 times, Both Hands 5 times. It is much more effective to take a small segment of 1-2 bars, and within that segment play the Left Hand 3-5 times until you can play it comfortably. Then play the Right Hand (just within the current segment of the piece) 3-5 times until you can play it comfortably. Then play Both Hands slowly 3-5 times until you can play the segment comfortably before advancing to the next segment.