effective piano practice
blog posts

Teach music confidently without the stress

Recent Guitar Pedagogy Creativity Repertoire Beginners Studio Business

Amplify and Elevate New Student Practice Routines in Your Piano Studio

by Nicola Cantan

For most piano teachers, September brings a whole slew of new piano students through the doors. This is both an exciting and a super busy time in a piano teacher’s calendar. It’s also an opportunity to start fresh – to make practice happen from the get-go. In my experience, students that practise regularly in the ... Amplify and Elevate New Student Practice Routines in Your Piano Studio

09/18/2018 Read more

What The Research Says About Piano Practice and Motivation [Book Review]

by Tim Topham

I’ve learnt a few things about piano practice and motivation in my time as a musician and music teacher. Here are some of them: The most important thing we can teach our students is how to practice effectively Students need to be taught about practice methods including spaced practice, chunking, interleaved practice, etc. We all need to ... What The Research Says About Piano Practice and Motivation [Book Review]

08/15/2016 Read more

1000 Hours to Competence « Music Teacher’s Helper Blog

by Tim Topham

Should 10,000 hours really be the benchmark? You’ve no doubt heard rule of thumb that it takes approximately 10,000 hours of practice to become a master of something. The statement originated in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” and, even if you haven’t read it, you’ve no doubt heard the statistic. It has since been used by many authors in discussing high-achievement and ... 1000 Hours to Competence « Music Teacher’s Helper Blog

12/22/2014 Read more

Take a track walk: getting students to slow down

by Tim Topham

Slow practice: the importance of precisionI was chatting with a colleague at the end of last term regarding teaching students about slow practice. He let me in on a great secret about F1 racing drivers that we should all share with our students...especially the speed demons! At this time of the year in Australia most students ... Take a track walk: getting students to slow down

09/22/2014 Read more

Chopin Scherzo 3 in C# minor Op 39: 20 practice tips for 2nd theme

by Tim Topham

Chopin Scherzo 3 Tutorial I recently uploaded a YouTube giving 20 practice tips for the tricky rapid descending broken chord patterns in the second theme of Chopin’s 3rd Scherzo (about bar 155). Feel free to share with any students who might be interested!

06/20/2013 Read more