Three Boring Practice Ideas That Actually Work
Simple habits that fix more problems than you’d expect
Most piano practice problems don’t need clever solutions. They need simple ones, done consistently.
When students get stuck on a piece, I nearly always come back to the same three ideas:
Slow down
Hands separate
Small sections
They’re not glamorous, but they work.
Find the real problems first
Before practising properly, play through the piece once and be honest with yourself.
Give each bar a score from 1–10 based on how well you really know it:
10 – fluent, accurate, confident, at full speed
1 – hesitant, uneven pulse, very slow
Make a note of the lowest-scoring bars and start there. Polishing what you already know while avoiding the awkward bits just stores up problems for later.
Slow down (it’s a superpower)
Slowing down isn’t a failure - it’s how learning happens.
Extra time between beats lets you think ahead and plan. Fluent players are always looking at least one beat into the future, often further. Slow practice makes that possible.
Keep the pulse steady, even if it’s extremely slow. A slow, stable version is far more useful than a fast, unreliable one.
Hands separate, without guilt
Hands together can hide issues. Hands separate exposes them.
Work on difficult bars one hand at a time, slowly, with a clear pulse. Sort out notes, rhythm and fingering properly. When both hands feel secure on their own, putting them together becomes much easier.
One bar plus a beat
When working in small sections, don’t stop at the bar line.
Practise one bar plus the first beat of the next bar. That extra beat teaches you how to leave the bar, not just how to play it.
When you move on, start the next section from the last note of the previous one. This overlap helps the music flow and avoids a stitched-together feel.
Repeat, patiently
Don’t practise from the beginning every time. Zoom in on the difficult bars and repeat them until they feel calm and predictable.
Practice is repetition.
My old teacher used to say:
“Don’t practise until you get it right. Practise until you never get it wrong.”
Time and persistence matter
Good practice can be frustrating and repetitive. Being able to tolerate that - without rushing - is a real skill.
Daily practice, even short sessions, leads to steady improvement. Leave it more than a couple of days and much of the next session is spent just getting back to where you were.
Slow down.
Hands separate.
One bar plus a beat.
What practice habits have helped you most - or which ones do you still find hardest to stick to?
I’d love to hear from you - if any of these ideas help, or if you get stuck on something, leave a comment below or just hit reply to this email. I’m happy to answer questions or offer a bit of guidance if you need it.
Steve