One of the common questions we get on this channel is how do you stay motivated to practice piano
for the long term this is a fantastic question. On this channel we do lots of
tips and strategies and exercises but in a way none of this matters if you don't have that
motivation and will to practice. It's an important question, so let's dive into this today.
I personally have motivation slumps too but in this video, I want to break down for you
my thoughts on piano and motivation. I want to give you five tips you can think about to stay
focused, log in those practice hours and be amazing at piano before we get into the
tips make sure you like and subscribe to this channel to stay in touch with more of these
free piano lessons and tutorials tip number. One is to practice pieces that you love. I
know this sounds like common sense but really make it a point to pay attention to this one.
I think you really owe it to yourself to do some research on the pieces that you will love to
practice and work towards in the next couple of months or years. We live in the age of YouTube
and spotify now where all this music is so readily available. I recommend you to create a playlist of
10 to 20 pieces that you really want to aim to play. Check them off one by one, always go back
to them and get inspired by them. Tip number two for staying motivated is to track your progress
I personally track my progress in a couple of ways, I keep a journal for myself, this kind of
contains everything from my daily thoughts to my practice progress it's probably a little hard to
read here from the camera but I put notes on the bars and these work on and the different phrases I
need to get better at etc., etc.. for me there's something just so amazing about writing notes
down and tracking my progress day after day, week after week, I recommend you to also get yourself a
practice journal, another way I track my progress is through the forest app. This is not a sponsored
ad or anything, I just love them so much I've been using it for about a year. The idea is you set a
timer for let's say 10-20 minutes and you click on plant and the tree actually starts to grow
and you're not allowed to leave the app because the moment you do that the tree dies and you don't
want that because you don't want that dead tree to appear in your forest just doesn't look really
good, if you complete that 10 or 20 minutes the tree blossoms and then you know you have this nice
little tree in your forest and over time you just built this very nice looking forest, I love this
app, it gamifies my practice and it just keeps me motivated. Tip number three to stay motivated is
to learn from a piano teacher. I've gotten most of my piano games by working with a mentor or a
teacher for two reasons. The first thing is that there is money on the line because I'm paying the
teacher I feel like I'm using my own resources to improve myself I'm just motivated by not wanting
to waste any money so I practice hard as a result. Second reason why I think learning from a teacher
is a good idea is because especially when you find a teacher that you really respect and like you
don't want to disappoint your teacher, it's always a nice feeling to rock up to your lesson whether
that's face to face or online you know doing a good job and have your teachers say wow well done
so from that perspective of you know wanting the let's say the approval or the respect from another
human it can really motivate you to practice. Fourth tip for today is to find an optimal time
in the day to practice now. Every person watching this video will have a slightly different answer
but some people prefer to practice in the morning, some afternoon, some night. I used to practice a
lot in the night not due to any particular reason, I just sort of did it because it was my habit but
I was always tired and never felt like the practice was that good. Ever since about two
years ago, I started to practice in the morning, now I don't know what it's like for you but I
love practicing in the morning i just feel like my brain is such a better sponge in the morning,
it can retain and absorb things so much better. I feel like 30 minutes of practice in the morning
is equivalent to like one and a half hours in the evening, it's just a time in the day when
my brain just functions a lot better especially after a coffee. Everyone here will be a little
bit different but the principle here is you should experiment with practicing piano at
different times of the day to see which fits you the best and while we're on this note let's
also quickly talk about your environment. Is the piano or keyboard placed in a part of the house
that is suitable for practice? Is it quiet or is there a bunch of distractions around you?
If possible, place your piano or keyboard in a part of a house that's actually quiet
and gives you some space to think and practice in peace. Tip number five for today is to listen
to recordings that inspire you. this fifth one is a huge one for me. Whenever I have
any motivation or slumps, I realize it's normally because I haven't heard any good music recently.
Normally when you listen to some really awesome music on spotify or youtube, there's just this
rush of emotions that completely overwhelm me and gets me right back into the piano again, so
I really recommend you also put in that research to find some recordings that really motivate you
and really make sure you listen to them to stay inspired. And there you go, those were five
tips for you to stay motivated with piano practice pieces you love. Track your progress,
learn from a teacher, find an optimal time to practice and listen to recordings that inspire
you. if you have any thoughts or comments about these five tips, let me know in the comments
below. That's all the time we have for today, catch you in the next piano tutorial video.