Piano Practice Makes Perfect?
Practice makes perfect or does it?
Several times a year I give my adult piano and organ students the option of playing on student recitals. The recitals are planned as a time to share music each student has prepared with their friends and fellow students. The events are promoted as a non-judgmental sharing of their music. The students have developed a real cohort and are tremendously supportive of each other. All levels are represented from beginners to advanced and all levels in-between.
Most of my students are studying to enhance their piano and organ skills either for their own personal enjoyment or because they are church musicians. Each student creates their goals for a series of lessons and I act as a facilitator for the goals, a teacher of skills, an encourager and even as a counselor. Many of the students include in their goals a desire to perform on the student recital.
So does practice make a perfect recital performance for each of my students? Practice does help a person become better at playing the piano or organ, but in most cases it does not make for a perfect performance. Most of my students are diligent and hardworking students who practice regularly. And some of my students practice many hours a day. But, we did not hear any perfect performances last week, or did we?
What is perfection? The definition of perfection is really quite interesting. The closest definition to preparing a performance is the process of perfecting music which is defined as the process of becoming or making something perfect.
The definition of perfect is without errors, flaws, or faults or is excellent or ideal in every way. So, were any of the performances perfect? No, but the students were striving for perfection and were in the process of creating or making their performances perfect. Therefore, we heard many wonderful performances.
So, back to the question, does practice make for a perfect performance? Some of my piano and organ students practiced hours and hours and endless hours only to back out of the performance at the last minute because their pieces were not perfect in their ears. When in fact, the student in their striving for perfection was actually attaining it degree by important degree but just not ready to accept those small but important milestones of perfection.
Learning to practice in creative ways with the right goal of perfection in mind is important. Striving only to play a piece perfectly is not the answer. Few of us will ever attain a 10 from a panel of world-renowned adjudicators, but we will attain perfection in the ears and minds of our friends and family. More importantly, we ourselves must accept degrees of perfection as they are attained.
A person learning to play the piano or organ is confronted with the necessity of practice to ever attain the goal of making music. Physical skills are necessary to attain any level of satisfaction in playing. Therefore, diligent focused practice is of utmost importance. Yet, more importantly is accepting those small victories, those small moments of perfection as you strive to create the perfect performance on the organ or piano.
Several times a year I give my adult piano and organ students the option of playing on student recitals. The recitals are planned as a time to share music each student has prepared with their friends and fellow students. The events are promoted as a non-judgmental sharing of their music. The students have developed a real cohort and are tremendously supportive of each other. All levels are represented from beginners to advanced and all levels in-between.
Most of my students are studying to enhance their piano and organ skills either for their own personal enjoyment or because they are church musicians. Each student creates their goals for a series of lessons and I act as a facilitator for the goals, a teacher of skills, an encourager and even as a counselor. Many of the students include in their goals a desire to perform on the student recital.
So does practice make a perfect recital performance for each of my students? Practice does help a person become better at playing the piano or organ, but in most cases it does not make for a perfect performance. Most of my students are diligent and hardworking students who practice regularly. And some of my students practice many hours a day. But, we did not hear any perfect performances last week, or did we?
What is perfection? The definition of perfection is really quite interesting. The closest definition to preparing a performance is the process of perfecting music which is defined as the process of becoming or making something perfect.
The definition of perfect is without errors, flaws, or faults or is excellent or ideal in every way. So, were any of the performances perfect? No, but the students were striving for perfection and were in the process of creating or making their performances perfect. Therefore, we heard many wonderful performances.
So, back to the question, does practice make for a perfect performance? Some of my piano and organ students practiced hours and hours and endless hours only to back out of the performance at the last minute because their pieces were not perfect in their ears. When in fact, the student in their striving for perfection was actually attaining it degree by important degree but just not ready to accept those small but important milestones of perfection.
Learning to practice in creative ways with the right goal of perfection in mind is important. Striving only to play a piece perfectly is not the answer. Few of us will ever attain a 10 from a panel of world-renowned adjudicators, but we will attain perfection in the ears and minds of our friends and family. More importantly, we ourselves must accept degrees of perfection as they are attained.
A person learning to play the piano or organ is confronted with the necessity of practice to ever attain the goal of making music. Physical skills are necessary to attain any level of satisfaction in playing. Therefore, diligent focused practice is of utmost importance. Yet, more importantly is accepting those small victories, those small moments of perfection as you strive to create the perfect performance on the organ or piano.