Practicing Piano in Phoenix, Arizona
By Daniel S. - Phoenix Piano Teacher
I love that Phoenix is such a musically saturated city. The Arts abound all across the Valley. I've taught piano lessons in Phoenix for about a year now and I've had a lot of great teaching experiences. Most of my students have been working professionals who really felt that, even though their schedules were extremely busy, they needed to have music in their lives; not just listening to their favorite artists, but learning how to play those songs on the piano and learning to make music of their own. For this reason, they would come to me to take piano lessons in Phoenix.
You may have heard the phrase "Practice makes perfect." You might even tell yourself that when you sit down to practice the piano (or clarinet, or guitar ...). I don't know who first thought of this concept, but I wish I could go back in time and stop them from saying it. It's not true! Instead, the phrase should be “Practice makes permanent."
See the difference? Every time we play the piano, we form habits; some are good, others are bad. Just because you are spending a lot of time practicing a piece that you are working on does not mean that you will get any better at it. We learn mistakes just as quickly as we learn the right notes. That’s why when my students come to their piano lessons in Phoenix and say something like “I practiced this a lot, but I still can’t get it,” my response is always “How did you practice?” I have them demonstrate how they practiced at home and it is always the same problem - they are practicing too fast!
It is always more difficult (and sometimes not as much fun) to practice slowly, but it is worth your time and effort. Practices your songs slow enough so that you don’t make any mistakes. If you never practice mistakes, you will never play mistakes.