How to approach a new piece of music
Today I want to share something that I wish someone had shared with me back when I was first learning piano, and that is how to bring some structure to the way you approach a new piece of music.
By structure I don’t mean a checklist that you have to get through every time you sit at the piano! I mean seeing your practice time as a series of stages or phases that give you little goals, and little wins, throughout your playing.
Why do I think it’s important to have some structure when learning a new song? Well, I notice a common barrier when my students try to learn a new song, and it’s a barrier I also faced back when I was first learning piano. It’s this: a piece that is 100% new to you can feel like an intimidating amount of work if you jump right in without a plan. Intimidation can lead to avoidance, and avoidance can lead to missed opportunities to practice and improve your skill.
On the other hand, a good plan can provide you lots of small wins that show you how capable you are, which boosts your motivation and helps you find more opportunities to practice. Those are the good feelings I want driving you along your piano journey! You’ll also see more progress in your playing – and sooner – when you know where you’re starting from and where you want to end up, which is what a structure helps you do.
The structure I’d like to provide you with gives you phases to work through so you get small wins all the way through the piece. I use it in my own playing, and think all experienced musicians do this too, without realizing it. I’ll explain how at the end, but for now, let’s get into the stages!
Step 1: Start from a place of love and confidence
This may seem like a strange piece of advice from a piano teacher. What does love have to do with piano lessons?! Short answer: Everything! Everything you accomplish at the piano starts with your mental game, and many students don’t start from a place of love. So often, when people sit to practice or learn a song, they come from a place of shame and scarcity. Do any of these complaints sound familiar to you?
“I wish I were a better musician.”
“I wish piano was easier for me.”
“I have so far to go before I become the player I want to be!”
“I’m ashamed of the beginner song I have in front of me because I’m embarrassed I can’t do more.”
I’ve heard all this and more bubble up from my students in piano lessons, and I understand because I’ve felt the same way! But believe me, thoughts like this derail your practice, not motivate it. In fact, if all you think about is how far behind you are, you’re more likely to stay disappointed in yourself no matter how much you achieve during practice because your dream skill level is likely much further ahead than what you can achieve in a single sitting.
I suggest flipping each thought around so that instead of feeling disappointed in yourself you feel proud. When you sit at your piano, take a moment to appreciate how wonderful you are. Seriously. No one on earth has the combination of experiences, talents, and characteristics you do. It also means no one has accomplished the same things as you, coming from the same circumstances. Take a moment to remind yourself of your past successes. When have you overcome something difficult? What evidence do you have that you can learn something new? The key here is to start building up evidence of your capability as a motivated individual and as a learner.
Once you’ve remembered what a strong and accomplished individual you are, we can infuse those good feelings into your music!
Step 2: Review things that are familiar to you
The first thing you should be looking for in your new music are any aspects of it that are familiar to you. And I really mean anything. If you’re a beginner, it might mean recognizing the treble clef and identifying that it means notes above middle C. It might mean identifying notes you’ve played before and can name. If you’re further along in your piano journey, perhaps you notice some intervals that look familiar, or a key signature you’ve played before.
The point here is to build familiarity with the song according to your current level of understanding. If you believe a piece is 100% new to you, it feels so much harder to get started. It’s also an incorrect assessment of your skill – if you’ve studied piano at all, you should have SOME groundwork to help you be successful. Identify it, and appreciate it.
Sometimes I like to think of a new song – or any new experience, really – like a blanket. Even the coziest blanket feels cold and unfamiliar at first! But you’ve gotta get a bit of your warmth in there so it can build up and become a place you want to be. In this analogy, your existing musical talent is the warmth you need to infuse into the song so it can emanate back to you!
Building up familiarity with the song further reinforces how capable you are as a musician because you’ve just been able to make some sense of a brand new piece! You’re no longer an aspiring musician, you ARE a musician, because this is what musicians do. You’re doing it!!
Once you’ve gained some semblance of control over the piece, you’re ready to stretch your learning…
Step 3: Review things that are unfamiliar to you
Scan your new piece and identify the things you don’t understand. Perhaps there are some notes you’ve never played before. Perhaps there’s a section of rhythm that you’re not sure how to carry out. The key here is to isolate the known from the unknown.
They say that naming a problem is the first step to overcoming it, and that is true to piano practice as well. Identifying the specific pieces that you’re not sure of makes the song as a whole less confusing because you’re putting some mental organization to it. Analyzing the song in this way is also really empowering because you’ve been able to take a new piece and make it less intimidating!
At this point, it’s REALLY important to not get discouraged while you’re pointing out all the things you don’t know. If you feel yourself getting dismayed by the limits of your skill, pull yourself back into Step 1 and remind yourself of the challenges you’ve overcome in the past and what a great learner you’ve been to this point. Pull out that evidence of your success we collected – you’re completely capable of learning this material, too!
But if you find yourself overwhelmed by the work you see ahead of you, it may be a good idea to evaluate what the known-to-unknown ratio is for this particular song. My advice is that only 10% of new material should be unfamiliar. That means that for every notation or rhythm that you don’t know how to do on sight, there should be nine things you can do easily. If you’re noticing too many things you don’t know, it may not be the right piece for you right now. Perhaps find an easier piece, so you can continue to build your skills at an enjoyable pace.
But if you feel this song is within your current capability and just need to sort out a few tangles, you’re ready to move on to…
Step 4: Pick one thing off your list that you can learn or work on
This will constitute your practice goal for the day. The point here is to pick something specific to tackle rather than just “working through” a piece. This will grow your skill in a measurable way and you will actually notice your progress over time.
Which challenge should you pick? Whichever one energizes you today. Really. Remember, we already acknowledged what a capable learner you are! Chances are, you already have some intuitive sense of what would be good for you to work on next. Scan your piece and see which challenge interests you. What section makes your heart beat a little faster? If you like, you can consult your piano teacher or an experienced musician for ideas, in case they have some additional insight. Certainly a teacher can help you improve your performance after you’ve done all you can think to do. But don’t get too hung up on waiting for other people to tell you what to do. You’ve got this. Really.
Sometimes my students are afraid of choosing their own goals because they’re afraid they’ll pick something that’s “too easy.” I remind them that picking “low-hanging fruit” doesn’t mean the skill itself is easy, it just means it’s easy for them because they have so much skill that they can see their way through the challenge before they even try it! Identifying low-hanging fruit is actually a testament to your skill as a musician because it shows that you can analyze and categorize the work ahead! So please don’t ever disparage what you choose to work on today. Celebrate your progress instead!
If you keep coming back to your piano, you’ll eventually get through all the challenges you identified. Bigger challenges won’t seem so complex down the road after you’ve picked off a few of the easier challenges. So trust your talent, and get comfortable asking yourself, What do you want to work on today?
Step 5: Share your accomplishment with someone!
Don’t let turning off your keyboard/closing up your piano be the end of your practice time. Music and learning are both the best when they’re shared with other people! Share what you worked on with someone who supports you, like a friend, family member, or your piano teacher. You could play them the measures or just talk about what you worked on. The point is to name out loud what you accomplished.
Social media is also a really great way to share your progress. You could just write a post about it, but most people get more fun and engagement out of sharing a video. The benefits are two-fold: people are often very eager to like and comment on progress posts, and you also get a written record of your accomplishments! Win-win!
What if you didn’t achieve what you wanted that day? I still say share your effort with someone. If you’re stuck on something, take a moment to identify what your barrier is and see if you can form it into a question that you can ask someone else. Perhaps you need to ask your teacher to explain or demonstrate something. Or, if the barrier is concentration because of a noisy household, you might ask the people you live with to support you by giving you more quiet time.
Regardless of how your practice time turned out, it’s important to share and acknowledge your hard work.
How experienced musicians use these five steps
I wrote earlier that I believe experienced musicians use this structure, too, even if they don’t really notice it. Here’s what I mean.
To be fair, most experienced musicians I know don’t consciously review their successes before they learn a new piece of music. But that’s because their confidence is so ingrained that they don’t need to. They’ve learned music in the past, so they know they can learn music now. I don’t think they’d be experienced musicians if they had to debate this every time they sat at their instrument. So even if they don’t consciously move through this step, I believe they do start by having this confidence in place. But don’t be fooled – even if it looks easy, they had to work at this mindset early in their musical journey as much as you do now.
Next, when an experienced musician scans a new piece of music, they do first look for what’s familiar to them. They’ll look at the key signature to know which groups of keys they’ll be playing. They’ll also look for groups of notes or rhythms that look familiar or similar to something they’ve played before. When musicians are able to “hear” a melody in their mind just by reading the notes, what’s happening is they’re identifying musical patterns they’ve encountered before – patterns they’re familiar with.
Once they get a sense of what’s familiar, they’ll move on to what’s unfamiliar. At a certain point, an experienced musician will have encountered every note and rhythm grouping under the sun, so those individual things aren’t really what they’re looking for anymore. Instead, it’s usually the overall composition or unfamiliar arrangement of those familiar notes and patterns that they will focus on.
Within this new, unfamiliar arrangement, an experienced musician will typically tackle one new challenge at a time. At first they might run through the melody committing the proper fingering to memory. Another time they might work on maintaining a steady pace throughout the song. Typically, however, an experienced musician knows to pace themselves with one learning goal at a time, as it is much more efficient in the long run.
Last, experienced musicians share their progress with others. Musicians love to talk to each other about what they’re currently working on. It’s a great way to commiserate, compare battle wounds, and celebrate victories. Without these gab sessions, music would be a very lonely hobby. Musicians also sometimes perform for each other and for their audiences. Sharing one’s progress is as motivating for an experienced musician as it is for a beginner! That rush never leaves you :) And observing someone else’s progress can be inspirational and give you ideas for your own progress, too.
So there you have it! My five-step structure for learning a new piece that I think is as important for beginners as it is for experienced musicians. I hope it helps you develop some smaller goals and easier wins for when you approach a new piece of your own. Good luck!