When it comes to taking group piano classes or private piano lessons, have you ever wondered which the better choice is?

Today, I want to share with you my personal opinion on the pros and cons of each path so you can make an informed decision.

Let’s start with class piano.

The immediate, obvious benefit of class piano is having a peer group. When we’re alone not all of us can stay motivated to do whatever it is that needs to get done. It’s hard to see the value (yet) of developing skill at something unless we can compare ourselves to others.

So the greatest benefit a group piano class can give you is one of accountability. The pressure of not wanting to be the one holding the class back is usually enough to make the average student want to put the work in every day. That’s why mastermind groups and team sports are such powerful social incentives.

And let’s face it, the piano is the loneliest instrument you could ever choose to want to play. Unless you have a rock solid self-discipline it’s hard to keep going without other people to relate to. If you don’t have a strong internal compass, private piano lessons are going to be a tough sell for you.

As a side note, I have to admit that I was always jealous of violinists and other instrumentalists. Having the orchestra as a creative and collaborative outlet is a luxury that pianists usually can’t count on.

Now… the negatives.

Learning is not a one-size-fits-all model! If you don’t fit into the “average” standard of the group you are placed in, you’ll always stick out like a sore thumb. For example, if you’re always ahead of the curve you’ll have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up each time.

But what’s worse is if you’re the one struggling. Do you really want to be the black sheep that’s always playing catch-up? This could be potentially even more detrimental for a younger student since they are more likely to identify with their peers and haven’t developed the backbone of an adult yet. Cue the feelings of shame and embarrassment.

Unrealistic comparisons and expectations can lead to traumatic experiences.

Another thing to keep in mind is the size of the class. Did you know that the larger the group, the less likely each member will be accountable to each other? In Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence,” he talks about this rule as being the law of numbers. I’d encourage you to read that chapter in more detail. The short of it is that people are more likely to be responsible when they are fewer in number than when they are in a big group. So if you happen to have 40 or more piano classmates… good luck.

Onto private piano lessons.

The biggest advantage (provided you have the right teacher for you) has to do with choice. You can choose to progress effortlessly. Or you can work out of your comfort zone. You’ll become better at your strengths while addressing your weaknesses, all at your own pace. Most importantly, you can choose the type of music you want to play (I hope).

Of course there are many private teachers who don’t give students this option. Many of my transfer students were playing music that they weren’t interested in at all, some of them for a FEW YEARS. Talk about having their curiosity and passion ground into the dirt! In my studio I let my piano students choose all their own music. As a teacher I have a hard time understanding why you would take that freedom away from them.

Now, the hardest part of private lessons is self-accountability. In my experience, adult students struggle the most and have a difficult time being consistent. An important lesson I try to hammer home for them is that they have to be responsible for their own actions. Mommy and Daddy won’t be there to make you practice. What I desperately try to communicate is they have to both create rewards and self-punishments for themselves.

No consequences = no results.

No rewards = miserable experience.

No system in place = a waste of time.

Younger students who have the benefit of a solid support system (parents, environment + teacher) don’t have to bear the responsibility of doing it all on their own. If the right structure and incentives are in place, they will practice.

Of course you can try giving ALL the responsibility to your kid. Let me know how that one goes…

In conclusion, I don’t have anything against group lessons but in my opinion they lose their benefits quickly. If you want to use them as a quick, short-term boost, go for it. Whatever gets you start.

Yes, private piano lessons are definitely more challenging and most of the responsibility will fall on you. But do you really want to have to depend on other people for motivation?

I say rise to the challenge. It’s worth it. Because that’s what life is all about, isn’t it?

Happy practicing.

“But I played so well at home.”

So goes the story of many pianists who don’t understand the difference between practice and performance. But once you understand what that difference is, all you need to do is employ the right strategies to be as successful in performance as you are in practice.

In my opinion, the biggest difference between practice and performance is control.

There’s nothing glamorous or fancy about real practice. Imagine Leonel Messi or Roger Federer. You can bet their practice is (or has been) focusing on one single move for hours at a time until they completely master it.

Think of practice as the distortion of reality by drilling a specific move until it’s “automatic.” In practice you can repeat a certain move ad nauseam. Can you imagine calling a timeout during a game to practice a move for 30 minutes before resuming? It’s like watching a DVD at home compared to watching a movie at the theater (get it?).

In short, practice is structured, methodically rehearsed and habit-building.

Performance, on the other hand, is another beast altogether. If you practice the right way things can randomly (frustratingly) go down the gutter.

Back to this idea of control. A saying in football is that the best team is the one who manages their time the best. Think about that.

Manage your time because you can’t control your outcome.

For the 2015 season, there was no NBA team that scored higher than a 50% in terms of field goal percentage (shots made). That means they miss half their shots! Every NBA team! Do you think that applies to their practice? Of course not, that number’s usually 100% if not 200%.

And don’t forget luck.

If you look at the most pivotal moments in professional sports, sometimes it comes down to pure dumb luck. The ball literally bounced their way.

So knowing what you know now, how do you practice for performance?

It’s simple, really. Practice performing.

What does a team do when they want to simulate the game experience? They scrimmage. But remember that scrimmages are a very small percentage of their practice. It could be 5% or 10%.
If you scrimmage too much, you will lose the valuable skills and knowledge you gained through practice. So make sure your run-throughs (performances/scrimmages) are just to evaluate where you’re at.

Here’s a formula that will help: 10 practices = 1 successful scrimmage. 10 scrimmages = 1 successful performance. So that’s 100 practices and 10 scrimmages just to get 1 good performance.

Now all that’s left is for you to execute.

Happy practicing!

When it comes to having a successful piano recital performance no one can deny the importance of consistent practice and performance rehearsal. But there’s one thing you can do that doesn’t even require a piano to enhance your success.

Bow.

That’s right, a simple bow.

It’s funny to think it can all basically depend on looking at the ground. So let’s dig deeper and you’ll understand that this one thing makes all the difference in the world.

Many concert artists have said that performance starts before you even play a single note, that it starts the moment you set foot on stage.

The moment the audience sees you.

So, everything you do before you even sit at the piano affects your piano performance (a.k.a. “stage presence”).

In the book “The Creative Habit” the author talks about “keystone” habits. This single “master” habit lays the foundation from which all other actions, plans, and strategies lead to success.

One single habit. One starting point.

So think about your bow, the way you walk to the stage, and even your posture as keystone habits. Rehearse them until it’s completely automatic, completely natural. This will be your secret weapon against nervousness.

And nobody will know but you.

In my last “How to Make Piano Practice Automatic” post I talked about making practice into a habit. So when your pre-performance routine is a habit, it becomes something familiar and something to depend on for when your nerves get the best of you.

And the opposite is also true. If you don’t feel confident when you bow (i.e. you haven’t rehearsed it enough), it can create negative momentum that spirals into a poor performance.

Also, give some serious thought to starting a keystone habit for yourself first thing in the morning. That one thing you do as soon as you wake up will set the tone for the entire day. It could be something as simple as making a cup of coffee or a quick mantra.

Do it every morning and you’ll see a difference in your day.

So what else can you do before playing that first note on the piano? Do you have a specific routine for your day?

Sharing is caring, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

As always, happy practicing!

I’m going to confess something. I’m a practice nerd. Like Star Trek nerd. I get super excited about practice, man. We talkin’ bout practice. Today, I just want to share a few practical strategies you can use right away.

Now when I say “automatic,” I don’t mean to become a mindless practicing robot. What I really mean is that practice is just a habit. You can make practice feel as natural as tying your shoes or brushing your teeth (unless that’s not normal for you… ew).

The journey to get there is tough… but the reward is oh so sweet.

First, set up your practice “environment.” Make it conducive to you wanting to practice. Why do you think restaurants are dimly lit at night? I read about a study saying low lights make a person more hungry or comfortable enough to stay longer. I don’t know how much truth there is to that but all fast food places seem to be as bright as the sun 24/7 (think about that).

So hang posters, quotes, pictures, pretty much ANYTHING you can think of that will inspire you to practice. Get rid of ALL distractions, your environment is supposed to be 100% motivation. If phones are ringing, a TV is on in the background, or even the kitchen is luring you towards its refrigerator (FROZEN PIZZA!), that’s a no-no.  I remember my most influential piano teacher actually had a practice “shed” in the backyard away from the main house.

Next, start small. You have to walk before you run and crawl before you walk. Too many people overwhelm themselves by setting gigantic, unrealistic, impossible goals. You’re not going to conquer Mount Everest on your first hike. Progress is made by baby steps, not huge leaps. Start as small as 5 minutes if you have to. When that feels normal, add a minute or two. If that’s too much, back off and try again.

Small wins lead to huge victories.

Now for those times you don’t feel like practicing. Two things are inevitable in life: death and taxes. In your pursuit of excellence, there’s a third one to add: plateaus. When you’re trying to build consistency over the long run, you will hit a wall guaranteed. It’s inevitable. But remember that you can climb over it and resume your journey.

So when you reach a plateau, remember to try something simple. Just sit on your piano bench/chair. That’s it. Literally just sit there and wait… set a timer and stay for at least 5 minutes. I’m pretty sure you’ll get down to business within a minute or two though.

But what if you sit there for the full 5 minutes and leave? Well… you got bigger problems I can’t fix buddy!

I actually got this idea from fitness. There would be days where I would rather count the hairs on my dog than exercise. When I was feeling this unmotivated I simply made it a point to change into my workout gear. That’s right, I made changing my clothes THE goal. And it worked because at that point you pretty much have no choice to exercise since changing back into your day clothes will make you feel as embarrassed as that time you peed your pants at school (everyone’s been there).

Also, make sure you get a calendar. Not an app, an actual physical calendar. There’s nothing more satisfying and motivating (notice a theme here?) than seeing your progress visually. When you “x” out each day of successful practice, you’ll naturally feel tempted to keep the chain going. Famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld did this. One day he woke up and made a commitment to write one joke every day for an entire year. Think of how accomplished he must have felt when he looked up and saw 365 consecutive X’s on his wall.

Lastly, make the commitment to do it 30 days straight. This will be your toughest challenge but once you accomplish a whole month it will be smooth sailing. If not, you’re going to struggle and your practice routine will resemble a roller coaster ride (not the good kind). Scientifically speaking, it takes about 30 days for your brain to register something as a habit, a.k.a. “normal.”

So to wrap things up, making something “automatic” does take some work. You want to think of it as a pyramid of little tasks that you do every day for that one big goal. Remember, it’s a mountain you have to hike one step at a time. When you get there it’s as easy as pie.

Hope to see you at the top.

Think of a time you really wanted something. You just had to have it. Did it seem as if the more you wanted it the further away it got from you?

Now think of a time when you really didn’t need something, but it would be nice if you got it. Did you seem to get “that” more often and more easily?

Funny how it works.

What was really happening is you were thinking of either process or results.

Compare a popular dude to a guy who obsessively wants a girlfriend. The desperate usually don’t get what they want. The “abundant” usually do.

Take a sports game for example. Usually a team gets out of sync when they’re thinking of results. They play “not to lose.” They’re afraid of losing and as a result actually lose the game (too much focus on results). The team who ends up winning is the team who is in a flow, the team who actually looks like they’re having more fun than trying to win (focus on process).

That’s why good coaches reward hustle, no matter the end result. Because when you work hard you get good results. When you work for results, you usually don’t work hard (or you work harder than you have to).

So when you sit down to practice piano, or whatever it is you do, let go of the results. The point of practice is not to get every note right. Focus on enjoying the action as much as possible.

A composer loves to compose, she doesn’t aim for the result of a composition. The composer loves the journey of writing the music because she knows the destination of finishing the composition is over in a heartbeat.

Love the act of creating more than the creation itself.

Think process over results.

“What am I looking for?” is the question that will lead you to the right piano teacher.  In general, it’s always better to reverse-engineer your problem. Instead of finding a piano teacher and adjusting to their needs, a better strategy would be to find someone who’s more suitable for you or your kid.

So what are you looking for? Do you want someone who knows music fundamentals like the back of their hand? Do you want a fun and enjoyable experience? Someone who’s good with kids? Is it important for your child to build a personal connection or do you want the focus to be on a “music education?”

Once you clarify what you want, the next step is to accept that no teacher can deliver 100% of what you’re looking for. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses and that applies to professionals as well. Shaq was one of the greatest big men to ever play the game of basketball… and one of the worst free throw shooters of all time.

So make a compromise and think of the top 2 or 3 qualities you want a piano teacher to have and pay attention to the following caveats:

Don’t assume a good piano player makes for good teaching, and vice versa. Being a better performer makes you a better performer, not a better teacher.

Someone who both plays and teaches well is an exception.

Also, be careful when a teacher has a talented student. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a good teacher. Know why? Because it’s EASY to teach talented students. They’re more or less what you would call auto-didactic, students who are really good at teaching themselves, or self-learning. These students will thrive in any environment and most likely with any teacher. I have a few of them and I’ll tell you the most important thing is to not get in their way.

Here’s the most important piece of advice: look at the teachers’ roster of students. If you’re looking for someone who’s good with kids and beginners, make sure their studio is packed with kids who are beginners and have a great connection with the teacher.

People are who they surround themselves with. Every studio reflects their teacher. It’s just like how a professional football team will take on the personality of their head coach.

So when looking for the right piano teacher, make sure you take your time and do your research. Your wallet and your child will thank you later.

It’s obvious you have to go through endless repetition to get better at anything. Legend says it took Thomas Edison 10,000 tries to invent the light bulb(!)

However, there are 3 important distinctions to be made: focus, quality and consistency.

First, concentrate on one single thing at a time (which is what focus really is). It goes without saying that multitasking is a myth. What people think of multitasking is really just their brain rapidly shifting from one activity to the next. So when you’re listening to a lecture on audio, writing a paper, and texting on your phone, all at the same time, it’s no surprise you don’t see great returns on your investment of time.

Just remember that Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

Number 2, quality of repetition is a game changer. Look, if you hustle your butt off and take massive action good things will happen to you but that’s only if you’re taking the right type of action. Just saying hello in the mirror 10 times in a row isn’t automatically going to make your introduction better. After each repetition, focusing on things like inflection, projection, clarity, and intonation will make a difference.

Last but not least, keep in mind consistency of repetition. 10 free throws make or miss do not improve your percentage. But 10 in a row does. Try thinking about your favorite restaurant. I have one, and the reason why I go back time and time again is their customer service and quality of food is always consistent.

If you want to be a Jedi at what you do, volume + quality + consistency of repetition are what will lead the way.

On the surface, being a “perfectionist” is considered a good thing. But when you really dig deeper, it’s really just another obstacle standing in your way.

Think about perfection in music. First of all, what’s a perfect practice session or performance? Is it playing every note right? Getting every beat? “Perfect” goals like this lead to the most mechanical (a.k.a. boring) performances ever.

We’re not robots.

Truth is, you only get better through learning experiences. That means messing up. A LOT.

Practice is problem solving and if you’re perfect, there is no problem is there? There’s no reason to even practice! The very act of practicing is admitting you aren’t perfect. We learn through mistakes and if you’re “perfect” you’ll be afraid to even make one in the first place.

It’s the same idea as getting an A+.  Does that mean you learned the material? Raise your hand if you ever walked out of a classroom the day you took a test and immediately forgot everything you studied for. But if you did remember, maybe it’s because you enjoyed the class and took time to learn the material well instead of aiming for a “perfect” test score.

We’re not meant to be perfect, and if you don’t feel that way you won’t be happy. “Perfectionism” is a road to feeling inadequate for the rest of your life.

But the worst reason for perfectionism is this: it gives you an excuse to quit. You’ll never finish that project or accomplish your goal because it will never be perfect. And if you’re waiting for the perfect situation or circumstances you probably won’t even start!

So realize you aren’t perfect, never will be, and aren’t meant to be. You’re actually “perfect” just the way you are.

It's the most common question I get from parents and seems pretty straightforward. But to get to the answer you have to think deeper, think beyond numbers. A more telling question is: what's his/her learning style?

Imagine you have a kid who can sit in one place, repeating the same action over and over for a long time without a single complaint.

Now imagine the same scenario, except that they're moving constantly, thinking out loud, struggling with repetition and taking twice as long.

Both children are on 2 different paths that lead to the same destination. One is just slightly bumpier and longer.

Keep in mind that if your kid is more of the second type, there's another question you have to ask yourself: how much time, effort and resources am I willing to provide to give them the support they need?

And if your kid is the first type, well you're a lucky parent aren't ya?

By the way, learning styles can always change and so can kids. How they learn today may not be how they learn tomorrow. And most of the time, if you can stay out of their way, they're smart enough to sort things out for themselves. Kids are a lot more intuitive and intelligent than most adults give them credit for. It's important to give them the space to freely express themselves.

So always remember, "age is just a number."

Think back to the last time you were in class, or in a piano lesson, and you felt this void between yourself and the instructor. If you really, I mean really, struggled in that class no matter how much effort you put into it, did you ever wonder why you just couldn't "buy in" to what he or she was saying? And let's say this is on top of the class being very interesting to you!

I believe this is the #1 thing that many teachers forget to do that ultimately sets themselves up for failure.

Teachers can sometimes get too excited and caught up with the material. Sometimes they're just there to make sure the student "absorbs" all the information.

But they never consider the fact that they forgot to MAKE A CONNECTION.

The most powerful motivator for people is feeling valued as a human being. If you're a parent, make sure your kid feels appreciated. If you're at your job, make each and every customer feel special. If you're a boss, develop meaningful relationships with your employees.

Even though I love my parents to death and am extremely grateful for how they raised me and provided for the family, I always longed for those words of praise and encouragement instead of having to do something to "be a good student" or "be a good son." It's something I take to heart and have made the #1 priority in my studio. Before they play a single key on the piano, and before you teach them anything music-related, make the student feel important no matter what.

If you're struggling to get your message across, remember to first value your student, child, brother, mother, employee, boss or friend. They'll thank you for it.