Plant The Seeds And Reap The Rewards!
Where learning the piano or any musical instrument is concerned, a consistent daily routine for focused, goal-oriented practice is recommended for progress.
It is in the small actions we take on a daily basis that lead to significant outcomes in the longer term, even if we don’t notice the progress we make day to day or week to week.
Kind of like the curve in the graph… showing the effects of compound interest below, the magic will start to happen after considerable hard work planting the seeds with daily practice in the early years.
After this point, the ‘return’ you get from consistent daily piano practice is significantly increased and you’ll notice how much you’ve improved as a pianist and how much easier it is going forward!
It will have crept up on you.
It won’t take 25 or so years though per the graph, it should be much sooner than that but also dependent on how much effort you put into practice.
The point is to illustrate the long term nature of learning the piano and to keep going to reap the rewards!
“Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.” (
It is unclear who this quote came from, although sources suggest Bill Gates, Tony Robbins, Arthur Clarke, among others).
Inspiration And For The Love Of Music
Playing the piano, or any musical instrument, takes time and hard work, there is no getting around that.
Inspiration comes and goes so it’s not such a good strategy to wait for inspiration to strike before sitting down at the piano.
Looking for shortcuts to speed up the process won’t work either as the lack of solid foundation will be reflected in the playing.
The tip is to stay focused, be patient and keep going with your daily practice!
Let the love of music keep you going, despite any setbacks or feelings of boredom or frustration.
Great things take time and effort to develop.
While piano practice is repetitive and hard work, keep in mind that every day of practice is contributing to the building of a strong skill set.
It is often stated that 10,000 hours of practice in any field is what is required to develop mastery in that area.
Another thing to keep in mind is that daily practice will lead to a better outcome than one intense practice session lasting several hours.
The time in between daily practice will allow muscle memory to develop and strengthen learnings from previous days’ practices.
Practice And Routine Is Key!
Make your daily practice session as simple as possible! It should become a habit like brushing your teeth, something that is automatic for you to do every day.
Practice at the same time every day for the same duration, and have some goals in mind for how you want to structure your practice and what you want to achieve every day.
Often, the hardest part of any task is getting started, but once you’ve sat down at the piano at your regular daily time and you get into the flow it can be easier to get on with it.
You may find that you really look forward to your daily practice once you’ve established your routine! Keep up with it for a few weeks until it has firmly established into a set habit 😊.
If you skip practice one day, it’s no problem. But if one day of no practice turns into 2 days then 3 days, then another habit has been formed.
The key is to remember to practice the next day and get back on track.
Remember your main reason for wanting to play the piano and keep plugging away at it, day by day with your longer term aspirations in mind!
In time, you will look back and realise how far you’ve come on your musical journey and appreciate all the steps you took to get there 😊
Enjoy your piano practice!
Sunny Cho (Piano Teacher)
