Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. Today we’ll be discussing two methods of piano practice, and one is clearly better. I’m wondering which one you do. What are these two macro-methods of piano practice? One is the shotgun approach, and the other is the band-aid approach. I want to explain what each of these methods entails and why one is clearly better than the other.
What is the shotgun approach?
Some of you probably like to sit down at the piano to practice your music and go through the whole piece. Then you start over, and you go through it again. You try to work through the whole piece because you want to cover everything. I would describe this as a shotgun approach. You’re kind of covering everything because you know everything is important.
What is the band-aid approach?
You start your piece, but instead of going through the whole thing, you zero in on where you know the weaknesses are and focus on what needs work. Then, after you’ve gotten that section nailed down, you can go back and try to connect it with the previous section. After that, you can go back further. As soon as you come to a section where something doesn’t feel secure or doesn’t sound quite right, once again, you’ll focus your attention on that. The band-aid approach is strategic practice.
You don’t need to practice everything equally!
You will get so much more done using the band-aid approach. I know it’s gratifying to play the music and try to cover all your pieces because it makes you feel like you’ve really accomplished something. But it’s definitely not the most efficient way to get things done when your time is limited, which is the case for most people. I know that when I sit down to practice, I want to get as much done as I can for every minute I’m practicing. So I go right for what I know needs work. I spend the vast majority of my time that way. It’s the 80-20 rule: spend 80% of your practice on 20% of the material. Perhaps it’s more like the 90-10 rule. You could spend 90% of your time on 10% of the material. It makes a world of difference to gain security where you really need it.
Remember: avoid the shotgun approach!
The shotgun approach is not in your best interest most of the time. Occasionally, you will want to go through all your music as a check to see where to focus your next practice session. Then you can use the band-aid approach, as I described. What practice method works for you? Let us know in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube! We have thousands of videos and articles about almost every subject you can imagine! You can also consider joining our Patreon, where we make videos just for you! Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin, here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
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6 thoughts on “2 Methods of Piano Practice: Why One Is Better”
My teacher emphasizes the same point. She also suggests working backwards, measure by measure.
Of course I find myself often falling back on the old shotgun method and have to consciously return to the Band-Aid one.
You may find this interesting: https://livingpianos.com/should-you-learn-a-piece-of-music-from-the-end-to-the-beginning/
I can think of two types of passages to regularly work on even though they may not be technically difficult(1) the start of pieces — the first 6-8 mss of all pieces on the program. (2) emotional passages, including the climactic section of each piece on the program–emotions can be extra tough to control during a performance.
Those are excellent suggestions. Any changes of tempo or texture can also be good places to zero in on.
I think you are right, but when you start out, into the early years, everything in a piece may worth practicing. As you get much better technically, why waste time on sections that seem easy or repetitive and from which won’t help you progress very much? It’s just that when you start out, nothing is easy. So I’d make that addition to your valid point.
When first learning a piece of music, it’s important to work section by section methodically. Taking small chunks of music hands separately and mastering them and putting the hands together and connecting sections as you go is the most productive way to initially learn a piece.