I would very much appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on the following question `Do you consider practice to be preparation for the lesson , or the lesson to preparation for the practice?` I have to write an essay considering the previous statement and any comments would be really helpful.

-- Claire Rabin (c120ss@ntlworld.com), April 24, 2003

Answers

Claire, I have no real answer for you, but what a wonderful question! The best I can come up with is that a student stops being a beginner and graduates to being a pianist when he changes from considering the practice to be for the lesson and uses the lesson as useful preparation for practice. I certainly am looking forward to learning what the seasoned professionals here have to say! Good luck!

-- Shirley Gibson (sacgibson@juno.com), April 24, 2003.

I think there is some of both in every lesson. Ideally, when we present new material, we present it in such a way that the practice (when thoughtful), is successful and efficient. My first goal with a new student (notice I said "new", not "beginner") is to make sure that they know HOW to practice. I am often quite surprised at students who have studied for years, yet know so little about how to practice.

The best situation of all is a beginning student who has no practice experience. We have the golden opportunity to teach how to do it. I make sure that effective practice is modeled in each lesson.

There is also room for seeing and hearing the results of the previous week's practice. That allows us to both extend the learning to the next level and also to correct any deficiencies in the practice.

-- Arlene Steffen (asteffen@fresno.edu), April 27, 2003.

I'm new to the site (found it yesterday) but Arlene mentions that students don't know how to practice and this is exactly why I went searching for information. Can anyone point me to a source that describes how one should practice? Thanks for any info--I'm taking a group class and haven't been able to elicite this info.

-- Janice Santos (jsantos@jps.net), April 28, 2003.

Check out practicespot.com - lots of great practicing ideas.

-- Laurie (lauriesmusicstudio@yahoo.com), August 04, 2003.