Best Practice Routine

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As a beginner, I am curious as to your thoughts on the "best" keyboard practice routine. Undoubtedly there will be a variety of opinions. But I would be interested in your thoughts on what I have been doing for the past few months. Each day after a 5-10 minute warmup with scales & arpeggios, I generally do one of two things. (1) I will spend my time playing maybe 2 or 3 pieces -- trying to better perfect my ability to play those pieces as they were intended by the composer or the arranger or (2) I will spend my time working my way through some new pieces -- based on the idea that in doing so I will put myself in situations to learn new styles, finger movements & techniques. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
 
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Thank you kindly. The good news is that I have been using these practice techniques.
 
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Great.

There is no right or wrong only what works for you.

Only thing that I would say about your existing routine is that you seem to spend a lot of time on learning pieces which is fine but there is a lot of pure muscle memory involved so do involve variation and analysis.

Look at a score for a few minutes and visualise playing it, then try, do not get carried away going over and over the same piece, 15 min max. Then move on to a different score and repeat. In time your sight reading skills will improve and speed up.
 
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Your point is well-taken. I agree. I will spend maybe 10 minutes on a single piece working on a specific section that I find difficult. I do so primarily to develop new finger motor skills & hopefully solidify them in my muscle memory. Doing so will ideally benefit me as I transition into different pieces.

As a backdrop to my practicing, I always keep in the forefront of my mind that I am learning the keyboard entirely for my own personal enjoyment.
 
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RIZZO

What is your goal? Do you want to be a note reader or a note player. What genre are you most interested in playing: classical, blues, jazz, rock or something else? Do you want to be able to sit down and play several songs from memory or rely on sheet music or maybe just accompany a wonderful singer or eventually join a group of other musicians.
 
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Tahitijack: I can't speak of the future since goals & aspirations can change. As for now, my goal is to be able to read sheet music & be able to play pieces the way that the composer/arranger intended. Toward that goal, I am using a book by Hal Leonard of 50 easy classical works. Although classical music is not my favorite genre, I figured that it will enable me to better understand the "language" of reading sheet music that I can transition into possibly jazz, etc. I have no intention of accompanying other musicians or singers. This is simply for my personal enjoyment. Me time.
 

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