Consider the following scenario: You overhear your child practicing a lesson piece. It starts out fine, but seems to fall apart shortly thereafter. Why is it that the beginning of the piece is often learned more securely than the rest of the piece?

Which is the better way to respond to this situation:

A: Gosh, it sounds like that piece needs more practice; you'd better get busy!

- or -

B: What a nice way to start the piece! You were so sure about it at the beginning. How will you practice it, so the rest of the piece is just as secure?


If you said B, good for you for saying something positive first. When we learn a new piece, we usually start at the beginning, so it's no surprise that the beginning is learned best. It's not such a bad thing, either. We want the beginning of the piece to be comfortable.

Encourage your pianist-to-be to use whatever practice steps his or her teacher recommends for the rest of the piece. Often, pianists find it useful to begin practicing somewhere in the middle of the piece first. It's also fun to practice the very end of a piece (or the most difficult part of it) first during the practice session, when concentration is the strongest.