Learning an instrument is just like every other skill. Your mastery is not dependent on how many years you’ve been playing the instrument but how much of time you’ve actually put into rehearsals/learning.
I had been into music for about 11 years and considering my age and skill level, I was always been referred to as a “prodigy”. Then I came across someone much skilful that I was and asked how long he had been playing the Piano and guess what his answer was? 3 years!!!
Of course, you can imagine how shocked I was. So, I asked again and was specific to ask when he actually started learning the basics and his answer was the same. At this point I was totally confused and surprised. I mean how could I have been playing for 11 years and come across someone who has surpassed by skill in less than half of this period.
Several years passed and I finally learnt the secret to maximizing one’ skill level in the shortest period of time and I’m going to share it with you.
1. Have a practice routine
It dawned on me that in those 11 years of playing the piano, there was no consistent growth. In fact, most of those years were dormant as I learnt new stuff only in 4 months for most of the period.
It is important for us to schedule a time to practice and make it a routine no matter how small it is. You should fix a time based on your schedule. If you are very busy person e.g. a student/worker, then an hour or two in a week should be ideal for you. If not, two hours daily, would be fantastic.
2. Have a very good and experienced tutor
The importance of a good teacher can never be overemphasized as this is one of the most important components for your growth as a musician. You need a good tutor that would monitor your growth process, motivate you to practice, correct you when you make mistakes on your instrument and teach you with the best approach suitable for you.
3. Have a study routine
It is very important to have a list of topics/concepts you want to learn per time and not just jump from one concept to another if not confusion would set in. A good way to approach this is dedicate a period to learning each topic. E.g. you dedicate 2 weeks to learn how to play the major scale on all keys and then another 2 weeks to learning chords etc.
4. Be disciplined with your practice time
Your Practice time is not time to participate in other activities as maximum concentration is required in order to get the best out of the time spent practicing.
5. Practice time is not the time to sound good
There is the temptation for many people to always want to sound good when rehearsing. Therefore, they just love to play what they already know and have perfected. Practice time is the time for you to perfect new concepts and in doing this, you would make mistakes. There is no need to beat yourself up when this happens, instead perfect the mistakes and continue learning.
