Building your piano practice mindset
I think most of us have felt the pressure to be a good student and practice every day. Some people find the routine of daily practice to be really motivating. But I was never one of those people. I had to find my own ways to get motivated to practice, and today I’d like to share what I’ve learned in case it helps you!
Follow your bliss
The first thing I needed in order to feel a true joy in my practice was to believe in a deep way that I was allowed to direct my own practice. There’s a huge amount of pressure in the educational world for students to submit to the authority of teachers. This usually means that students rely on their teachers to tell them what to practice, when, and for how long.
While I believe that there is value in learning from people who have more experience than we do, the expectation that we rely on others’ authority can have a really negative impact on students. Students who have learned that they don’t have what it takes to direct their own learning instead learn to second-guess themselves. This habit of mistrusting themselves makes them more afraid to make mistakes (often leading to a lifetime struggle with perfectionism), less likely to catch mistakes when they do make them (because they’re always waiting for their teacher to correct them), and less likely to enjoy their experience of practice (because they’re more concerned with checking off boxes than joyfully learning music they’re actually interested in).
But education research shows that students learn better when they have the freedom and confidence to direct their own learning. Students need room for critical thinking, disagreement, and the freedom to explore their interests — qualities that necessarily conflict with the expectation to simply listen to others. Sadly, the structure of most formal education isn’t set up to facilitate this heart-centred exploration. In fact, teachers sometimes lean a little heavily on their authority because students’ obedience makes for very orderly piano lessons! So what do we do?
To get around this issue, we have to learn to have more faith in our inner guidance system. The way I recommend I recommend starting this is by learning to “follow your bliss,” a phrase I picked up from Joseph Campbell. The idea is that every person has an inner guidance system that is constantly trying to help that person live the most expansive life possible. That inner guidance system communicates through a feeling of bliss, the source and direction of which will be unique to each person. Following your bliss at the piano will help you recognize the things that are truly enjoyable and motivating to you, and may give you the courage to grab opportunities that might seem odd to others. But following your bliss also requires that you give yourself the permission and freedom to say no to other things, which can be difficult to do when they conflict with the advice of others.
Following your bliss doesn’t mean that you won’t ever need to ask others for help and advice. It just means that when you do, it’s because you have a heart-led purpose for doing so. Because blind obedience alone won’t help you become a better learner.
Be consistent about showing up but lenient about results
Even once you’ve figured out your bliss and what it is you want to do at the piano, the same laws of practice that apply to everyone else are going to apply to you! You are going to need some consistency in practice for you to see progress towards your goals.
But a lot of people get hung up on what their consistent practice should look like. They wonder about the best technique drills, or the best order of their songs, or the best time of day to practice. Or, they can get very discouraged when they don’t get the kinds of results they expected from their daily practice. Maybe they’re not picking up scales as quickly as they wanted, or they struggle to memorize a song.
While I see these frustrations happening the most with people who have relied on someone else to direct their practice routine, us followers of bliss are not immune to practice frustration! Humans aren’t machines, and we’re not going to see the same steady progress of learning day after day. Human learning happens more in stops and starts :) So how do we stay motivated?
My second piece of advice comes from an online friend who has supported me and my business for many years, George Kao. In one of his blog posts, he wrote, “Be consistent in showing up and lenient about the results.” That advice has been so helpful to me in many areas of my life, but I love it for learning piano specifically.
All the elements of authentic discipline are there — practicing your piano consistently will help you gain improvements in your skill more than inconsistent playing. And, if you’ve chosen a piano goal in line with your bliss, you’ll doubly benefit because you’ll feel incredible from having an opportunity to explore your bliss everyday!
But it also has elments of joyful motivation — by being lenient with the results of your practice, you don’t have to get hung up on the particulars of what you were able to accomplish that day. You can take each session more lightly, which can help you stay optimistic and grateful for all your progress. Keeping such a positive approach to your practice will make returning to your piano a breeze — in fact, you’ll probably be eager to explore your joy at the piano again as soon as possible!
Don't try to make up for lost time
My third piece of advice is inspired by James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, an influential book in the goal-setting community. James is well-known for his advice to “avoid the second mistake,” which is his way of explaining that missing a single day of practice is not as likely to break your practice habit as missing two days in a row. Avoiding the “second mistake”, or missing that second day of practice, is his way of reminding people that consistent habits do not require absolute perfection. You can catch yourself if you fall.
While that advice is pretty interesting in itself, what really grabs me is the way he talks about gearing ourselves up to getting back on that second day.
James says that when people miss a day of practice, it’s very common for them to tell themselves they’ll “make up for it” by promising to double up on the second day. So, for example, telling yourself that rather than practicing for 20 minutes today, you’ll do 40 minutes tomorrow and call it even.
Promises like this often come from a good place, as we’re trying to both permit ourselves flexibility while also staying accountable to our commitment. In reality, however, all we’re doing is piling on a bigger barrier to returning to our practice by doubling the amount of motivation we’ll need next time! The prospect of a double session will be so daunting that you probably won’t show up for that second day… therefore making the “second mistake” of missing your second day of practice!
Instead, put that extra effort that you imagine you would use on a double session to simply sitting down to a normal session on the second day. Because you’re going to need the momentum just for that!
In other words, don’t let yourself off the hook by planning to double up — just accept the day off and put that extra effort into making it back to your piano.
Good luck!