Your time is valuable! In particular, your piano practice time is immensely valuable. To prepare for piano lessons, you want to make sure your surroundings at home are in the right condition for productive practice sessions.
Here are eight ways you can optimize the physical space where you practice piano.
- Have Proper Lighting
You need to see your music without straining – particularly in the winter months when the sun sets early. Get a great lamp, or make sure your overhead lights are sufficient.
- Use a Real Piano Bench
That chair is not your friend! Get a real bench if you do not already have one. Your posture will improve, as will your hand positioning.
- Have a Functioning Music Stand With a High Back
Why the high back? You may be reading from binders, or from musical-theater scores, which are taller than standard sheet music. Don’t fight floppy pages. Have a stand high enough to support whatever music you need to read.
- Mount a Clock
Leave your phone out of it. Having an analog clock will encourage you to spend enough time practicing, without making you glance at yet another screen.
- Have a Pencil
As my former band director always said, “a musician without a pencil did not arrive prepared.” You may need to mark up the music.
- Dedicate a Notebook to Your Practices
Keep notes! Write, even if it is just for yourself, what you practiced, where the hardest parts were, and where you began to improve.
- Place a Metronome Atop Your Piano
Improving your personal timekeeping by practicing with a metronome will help you throughout your life. Your future bandmates and duet partners will thank you.
- Put Up a Whiteboard
Write notes to yourself. Maybe these are notes of encouragement. Maybe these are ideas for songs you are writing on your own. Maybe you draw the circle of fifths. It’s up to you!
Stick to these tips and get the most out of your piano practicing!