Music Video Lesson: Are You Killing the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs in Your Practice?

I'm Robert Estrin, this is LivingPianos.com asking you, are you killing the goose that lays the golden eggs in your practice? Boy, that's a horrible thought to think that this could be possible. And what am I talking about here anyway? Well, you know, it's so important to cover the most vital subjects in your practice and to work on exercises and technique. And some things are fun to work on and some things are drudgery.

And you must strike a balance or you risk the possibility of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. That is your passion and your love for the instrument.

If you make yourself do things that you know you need to do but it makes you feel like it's drudgery to sit down on the piano and you dread even touching the piano because you know the stuff you need to do is so distasteful, then what have you got left? If you don't love the instrument then you're not going to want to play it or practice it anyway.

So in your practice, of course you must do vital things and there are things that maybe you'd rather not do. Maybe you don't want to work on scales. Maybe you don't want to have to memorize. Maybe there are things that are just really, you say forget about it.

Well, you can find time for the important things and balance it out with things that bring you great joy in the instrument. So it's not all work and no play. You have to have some enjoyment. Do things just because you love to do them. Instead of necessarily falling into a routine that you think you have to do because it's important, find that balance between what is productive and what is enriching and that will take you much further than beating yourself up and beating something into the ground until you don't even want to do it anymore. But make time for what's important and if you make the time for what you love and playing and enjoying it then you'll be able to balance in the time spent in important things that maybe are very challenging that give you a little bit of a sickness in the pit of your stomach if you do it too much.

So find that balance in your practice. Let me know in the comments how many of you have faced this issue. I know it's a tough thing particularly for younger students. For kids they hate to practice. Most kids hate to practice and yet if they're made to practice and they hate every minute of it every time, what's going to happen is they might want to quit. So they have to have some fun. Maybe they want to make up some music or play some popular music and some teachers don't let them do that. You must strike a balance in whatever you do with the piano and anything else in life that you have a passion for, make sure you make time for the enjoyment part. Alright? That's the message for today. I hope this resonates with you. Again I'm Robert Estrin at LivingPianos.com, your online piano resource.

Find the original source of this video at this link: https://livingpianos.com/are-you-killing-the-goose-that-lays-the-golden-eggs-in-your-practice/

Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com

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