I'm sure not all piano students are the same, but I've found that I tend to fall into a routine when it comes to my practicing and that my lessons also seem to follow the same sort of patterns as well. Some of these habits aren't exactly admirable, but if I'm being honest with myself, they happen almost every time I sit down at the piano. I must say that I truly enjoy piano, it's just that I have particular frustrations that come with the joy. Here is my thought process throughout my practicing and a glimpse at how my lessons usually go.
While practicing:
1) Ugh, I wish my favorite practice room was open. Oh well, this one will do fine.
2) Oh wow, this piano sounds super tinny. I should've gotten here earlier to get that corner room piano...
3) Yay, let's learn a new section of my piece, I love piano!
4) Whoops, I should probably warm up a little first.
5) Okay, I'll try some scales, maybe pull out that book of warm ups I have at the bottom of my bag.
6) Nah, I can wing it.
7) *After five minutes* Okay, bored, time to work on my piece!
8) I love this beginning section and I've worked on it the most so it sounds really good!
9) This middle section is tripping me up. I should probably stop and work on this for a while.
10) *Goes back to first section that I know much better and plays that three more times.*
11) Okay, now I'll work on that tricky part.
12) *Slows down to a glacial pace.*
13) *Plays hands separately.*
14) *Leans forward and squints at the music as if that will somehow help me read it better.*
15) Okay, that seemed like a pretty good improvement, now let's try it for real!
16) *Butchers section.*
17) Alright, I'll come back to this. Let's work on another song!
18) *Repeats steps 8-16.*
19) Time for a break! *Sits there contemplating life without playing for a good 5-10 minutes.*
20) *Plays that song I have had memorized for five years that I played in a recital one time in high school.*
21) Well this is still sounding good! That seems like a good note to end on, I think I'll stop for the day.
22) *Leaves, pretending to have forgotten to practice that other piece that's really hard that I don't even like to begin with, and hoping my professor will forget too.*
During a lesson:
1) Professor: So how was your week? Get a lot of practicing done?
2) Me: Well, this was quite a hectic week (*says every week*) but I did get to practice a couple times!
3) Professor: Okay, great! I'd like to start with the piece we haven't looked at yet if that's alright. Did you get a chance to work on it?
4) *Screams internally.* No that's fine! Of course!
5) *It becomes clear after 30 seconds of me stumbling through the piece that I have not practiced enough.*
6) Professor: Okay, so there are some things to work on here, let's start at the beginning.
7) *Spends the majority of the lesson on four measures.*
8) Professor: Here's a challenging but fun fingering!
9) *Cries because my fingers will never bend that way.*
10) Professor: Let's try to better understand this gesture here. What key is this in?
11) *Panics and forgets everything I've ever known about music theory, finally answering after four drawn out um's and a silence far past acceptable.*
12) Professor: Right! It's in B Flat, so the chord progression goes from IV to I.
13) *Suddenly everything becomes clear and the piece has an entirely new meaning.*
14) *Plays through those four measures significantly better than at the start of the lesson.*
15) Professor: Excellent! Now that you understand it so clearly, maybe you can run through the whole piece by next lesson!
16) Me, a terrified smile spread across my face: Uh huh!
17) *Yet walks out smiling, because it always goes better than I anticipate.*
