How To Enjoy Playing Piano (Every Day)
Oct 19, 2024
Are you truly happy with your current piano playing ability?
-
Given the amount of time you've been playing, do you think you're far enough ahead?
-
If you're brand new to piano, are piano playing sessions a priority for you? Something you actually look forward to?
-
Do you make time every, single day to play piano?
Many aspiring piano players would answer no to these three questions – if you're one of them, it's time to experience the transformational effect of installing a consistent, daily playing habit.
(For the context of this article, I'm defining 'consistent' playing as a daily playing habit.)
The Risks Of Not Playing Piano Every Day
If you want to become a confident piano player and music composer, it's important to understand the risks associated with infrequent and inconsistent piano playing.
The Torture Of Slow Progress
Making slow progress is painful. Really painful.
If you acquire your new piano skills too slowly, the whole process can feel drawn out and dissatisfying.
Building piano playing skills requires a frequent (not occasional) immersion in the sounds you're making – and the keys you're pressing.
If you don't play everyday, it becomes harder to make the connections between the physical skill of playing the piano, and the quality of the overall sounds you produce.
Leaving a few days between practice sessions, can feel like you're 'starting again' every time.
Quitting Early
Over the years, I've introduced 100s of people to piano playing.
It's no coincidence that the students who are thriving, are those who prioritise consistent (daily) playing – as their default behaviour.
Sadly, the players who don't play consistently, rarely experience the sense of accomplishment that comes from making regular progress - (a continuous improvement in skills, knowledge, and general musical ability).
When players fail to build the momentum that comes from making fast and consistent progress, they tend to quit – before they make any meaningful progress.
The sad thing is, they could have become competent piano players and music composers - they blocked their own success because they didn't build momentum through consistent playing.
The Pain of Regret
Achieving your goals quickly feels good.
There's nothing worse than looking back at how long you have been playing piano and knowing that you've wasted time.
Knowing that if you'd played more consistently over the years, you'd be a more accomplished player and composer, today.
On a personal note, I've experienced this horrible feeling of regret – knowing that I've allowed days, weeks, and even months at a time go by without playing piano.
Trust me, it doesn't feel good – so, play everyday to avoid regret later down the line.
Why You're Not Playing Piano Every Day (Fix These)
If you intend to become an accomplished piano player and music composer (a piano composer), and you're not currently playing piano consistently (every day), It's important to reflect on why, and start making some changes.
These changes will help you increase the speed at which you build your skills (and general musicality).
Think about these simple questions:
-
What do piano composers do? (They play piano.)
-
What do people who play piano get? (Better at playing piano.)
-
What do people who get better at playing piano become able to do? (Compose – and play – original music.)
So if you're not playing consistently, you're musical ambitions might start feeling more like pipe dreams – as opposed to tangible goals that you're capable of achieving.
These are the 3 biggest reasons why you're not playing consistently (and what to do about them):
You Haven't Assumed The Identify Of A Piano Player Yet
If you see yourself as someone who is 'trying to learn piano,' or someone who is 'giving it a go,' chances are – you don't yet identify as a piano player.
You lack a vision of a compelling future in which you can play piano with a sense of mastery, as well as compose emotionally-compelling music (that you're proud of).
Whether you're just getting started with learning piano and composition, or you've been playing for a while – you need to start looking at yourself in a different light – you need to think and act like a piano player.
If you take on the identify of a skilled/successful piano player, you will:
-
Look forward to your playing sessions – you'll see the opportunity to play every day as a gift, not an obligation.
-
Prioritise your playing sessions – you'll make time every day to play, as opposed to seeing if you 'feel like it,' or, 'if you have the time'.
-
Set meaningful goals – by focusing on the outcomes you want, you'll know exactly what skills you need to be developing. This will bring a sense of purpose and calm focus to every playing session.
-
Build your knowledge, musical understanding, and skills, systematically – and with a sense of deep curiosity. This will make each playing session more purposeful and impactful, building your confidence on a daily basis.
-
Record your playing sessions. You'll enjoy seeing your progress over time, as well as keeping a track of your musical ideas so you can develop them further if you wish.
-
Optimise your energy (sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise) – so you're able to stay consistent with your playing sessions.
-
Track all your playing sessions – being able to look back at when you practised, and for how long, will keep you motivated to show up and play, day after day. (Don't break the chain!).
If you have a history of 'stop-starting' with new hobbies and pursuits, making these changes can be hard – you haven't yet built trust in yourself to achieve what you set out to achieve.
But – you are not your past.
If you want to master piano playing and music composition, it's time to reset, and re-define your vision and identity.
When you start seeing yourself as a piano player, you'll build the skills you need to achieve your goals, and show up consistently to play – you will become the piano player/composer you imagine yourself to be.
It starts with an identity shift. See yourself differently.
You Haven't Clarified Your Process For Improvement
Are you 100% clear on your path forward?
Do you have a systematic learning system that ensures you know exactly what to work on next?
If you don't have a clearly defined strategy for success, it's hard to be consistent.
You'll likely experience short, intense bursts of productivity, followed by long periods of inactivity and apathy towards your music-making.
These productivity-apathy cycles can set you back years, gradually eroding the confidence you have about your abilities and potential.
To avoid falling victim to this cycle of despair, make sure you have these three critical things in place:
-
A progressive curriculum that systematically guides you to build the skills and knowledge needed to achieve your musical goals – an organised and expertly-sequenced curriculum enables you to trust the learning process.You will experience peace of mind that the current skills and knowledge you are acquiring will prepare you to achieve what's coming next in the curriculum.This creates a calm sense of progress that will drive you forward to achieve the musical results you want.
-
An organised and reliable practice system so you know exactly what to work on every time you sit and play – no more second guessing yourself, wondering if you're investing your time effectively.You will have complete clarity on what to do, and when.
-
A piano mentor who is also passionate about building piano skills and creating original music.Your piano mentor will keep you accountable, give you regular feedback on your strengths and weaknesses, and be someone to connect with regularly as you dare to achieve your musical goals.
When you create the best possible conditions for success, you're more likely to play every day.
You Value Other Activities More Than You Value Making Music
Actions speak louder than words.
You invest your time on the activities you value most – and if you're a human, like the rest of us, those activities are often the ones that feel great in the moment – but don't contribute to your long term growth.
Let's do a simple thought experiment.
Over the last 7 days, roughly how many hours of screen time do you think you've watched? For example…
-
Youtube
-
Netflix
-
Social Media
-
Internet Browsing
-
News
When you add it up, the total number of hours can be quite illuminating and can feel quite confrontational – you know, deep down, that the time you've spent entertaining yourself, could have been invested in building your piano skills.
I'm not saying to stop watching screens. Not at all. I just want you to take an honest look at the time that's available to you, and consider how you actually use that time.
If you invest more time on watching screens than you do on playing piano – it's safe to draw the conclusion that screen time is more important to you than piano time.
You may disagree with this on a logical level. And you may not want this to be true.
But it is true – be honest with yourself.
However – it's not your fault – human brains are wired to seek pleasure.
Instant Gratification Vs Delayed Gratification
Activities like binge-watching Netflix or scrolling social media, etc, cause your brain to release dopamine – the neurotransmitter that makes you feel good.
Your brain quickly learns that these type of activities provide instant gratification (the surge of dopamine), and so you are motivated to repeat these dopamine triggering activities.
The problem is, the positive feelings generated by these activities are short-lived, and often, they don't lead to personal growth or long-term fulfilment.
So, if you really do want to become a confident and productive piano player, your task is to escape from this habit of seeking short-term pleasure at the expense long-term fulfilment.
It's time to start valuing activities that don't provide instant results – activities like the daily, systematic process of acquiring piano skills and musical knowledge.
3 Steps To Start Building Long-Term Fulfilment Through Music Making
Given the natural power of your brain's dopamine reward system, the process of reducing your pleasure-seeking activities, and increasing your longer-term, fulfilment seeking activities, will not necessarily be easy.
However, with an awareness of the problem and a sense of curiosity, it is possible to create change. Here are 3 things you can do:
1. Recognise Your Habits
Over the next 7 days, bring an awareness to your behaviours and habits that result in instant gratification. The point is not to be self-critical, but just to become aware of how much time you are spending on activities that don't lead to long-term fulfilment.
Track how much time you spend on these activities – write it down each day. This doesn't need to be perfect! Just get an idea of how you're actually using your time.
2. Set Clear Goals With Achievable Milestones
You need to have clarity on what to work on in any given playing session. (We talked about this earlier). Perhaps this week's goal is to learn 3 new chord progressions.
Having this clarity of outcome will help you to play consistently because, in each playing session, you will have a purpose for playing.
Accumulating the achievement of these small wins over time, will gradually start to become more appealing than wasting your time on unfulfilling, short-term pleasure-based activities.
Working towards clear outcomes and regularly experiencing mini-breakthroughs as you play each day, will feel good – and start to become something you enjoy doing.
To do this successfully, you must have clearly defined targets for each week.
3. Reward Yourself For Delaying Gratification
We've established that If you're like most people, you rely on the short-lived dopamine-release from pleasure-seeking activities, to feel good.
And you already know that these positive feelings make you feel good in the moment, but don't last for a long time.
They don't usually contribute to long-term feelings of fulfilment – in this case, the long-term pursuit of piano mastery (achieved through daily playing sessions).
When you're learning to play piano, your skills and knowledge are acquired gradually and progressively – it takes time to move through the beginner, intermediate and advanced phases of playing.
Therefore, each playing session won't necessarily result in huge amounts of dopamine release – sometimes learning can be frustrating, for example. This is normal – your brain is learning to do unfamiliar things.
Think about it this way: You can easily eat a whole pizza in one sitting and receive a huge spike in dopamine. You completed the activity, and got the reward – pizza is tasty, right?
But you can't sit at the piano, complete a single playing session, and instantly become an advance piano player/composer. Building a skill requires time and effort – dopamine won't always be flowing in abundance!
So how can you reliably and consistently show up for activities that require an ongoing, and long-term commitment, as you work towards this mastery?
Retrain your brain.
The aim is to gradually train your brain to associate long-term efforts (daily piano playing) with rewards.
You can do this by giving yourself an extrinsic reward after every playing session. (These rewards give you the boost of dopamine you are looking for, and you begin to link the reward with piano playing.)
Sensible rewards could be:
- 10 minutes to watch a comedy sketch on your phone (laughter is the best medicine)
- A square of strong, dark chocolate
As you break down your bigger music goals into smaller, weekly and daily action steps, and reward yourself each time you work towards them – your brain will begin to value this long-term effort.
The more consistently you do this, the more your brain will begin to release dopamine in response to achieving your small milestones, and the anticipation of future success.
Over time, the practice of daily piano playing itself will become intrinsically rewarding, and you may no longer need to give yourself such obvious rewards after each playing session.
Keep your rewards sensible – doing 2 minutes of piano playing followed by a 4 hour Netflix binge doesn't count. (You're trying to build a healthy lifestyle that supports you to achieve your goals, remember.)
Personally, I reward myself after each playing session by writing down the duration for which I played, as well as journalling my insights from the session. (This feels like a job well done to me, and keeps me motivated to play again.)
Apply the strategies above to make piano playing more important in your life.
When your default behaviour is to play piano every day (rather than spending your valuable time on low-fulfilment activities, you will experience a powerful transformation.
So now, it's over to you to start working on yourself to make the changes. What are you going to do today to set yourself up for success?
-
See yourself as a piano player.
-
Get clear on what to work on.
-
Make piano playing high-priority.
If you value these three principles, you'll enjoy the journey of becoming a confident and competent musician.
