How to Practice Without Getting Bored or Frustrated 

Okay, but to be completely honest you look like you're having more fun practicing on the left of the thumbnail XD.

This reminds me a lot of the concept of 'tactical periodisation' training in soccer. Things like using the football in training even when training something completely different. Essentially training everything in a context closer to that in which it will be used. Doesn't just make training less boring, but also more effective.

This is what Chopin taught as well, according to his students. He very strongly was against non-musical practice.

Excellent advice - thank you!!!

"You need to over-compensate in order to master something" - that's revealing, thank you for pointing this out inside an instruction on how to achieve it 🍎

🍎 I didn’t figure this out when I was an instrumentalist and I *did* quit. ☹️ That was a long time ago, but this and many of your other videos have inspired me to consider going back and picking up my viola again. Thanks for your generous and brilliant insights! 💕

What have I become? I can't just hear "repetition" without my mind adding "legitimizes" now... Still that was a great video !

Me watching a video on how to practice correctly...while practicing .-.

I haven't commented before but honestly, thank you for existing. As a self-taught wannabe pianist (and long term subscriber) , your videos have always been a source of knowledge, motivation and inspiration. Hopefully, this channel will grow more, and you'll keep bringing us amazing content like this.

My university's music program is amazing, especially for piano. I auditioned as a mostly self taught musician and was accepted. Then I got there and suddenly my teacher was a superb pianist with an international career, the practice rooms reserved for pianists all had baby Steinways, and I got overwhelmed. Practicing became so difficult because I kept hearing the other students playing and comparing myself, and also my teacher told me to keep track of how long I practiced each piece (+ technique like scales) and I really didn't like that because it made me feel defeated if I felt like I'd been playing something for an hour and it turned out to be 30 minutes. She sat me down midway through the semester and told me that I should be practicing for at least 3 hours a day, but that it had to be GOOD practice, not just running my pieces over and over. Anyway, I just did my final jury for my first semester and got all As, which is a testament to my teacher, really. I'm inspired by my good jury results to do better, GOOD practicing next semester and these are just the tips I needed! I easily get bored and frustrated, especially if it's something to do with technique. I'm definitely going to use these tips next semester!!!

watching nahre practice on the piano , makes me feel like salieri at the keyboard . in the mozart movie .

This is marvelous! The bonus part of this method is that you can become a composer along the way without even being aware! 🍎

LOL this is hilarious. One time in college my piano professor came into my practice room and caught me practicing Bach while watching the office on netflix and I was so ashamed LOL. But in all fairness, it's the perfect show to watch while practicing because there's no background music!!

This is such an important tip/method/inside/enlightenment for "boring" practices.. For any skill and I don't know anything bout music other the loving it and listening to it

Active learning! All of your techniques and suggestions are very relevant to adult learning. If you engage the learner in new and interesting ways, it will help to make the learning more efficient and meaningful, thereby also improving retention! Thank you for sharing!

your videos are so well produced that they could be classified as works of art. 🍎🍎🍎

Normally I don't write comments, but this time I want to get rid of something: Since I discovered you on RU-vid, my attitude of being a musician has changed. You are a great inspiration and I enjoy your music very much. I finally got my unfinished compositions out of the shelf , which have been lying there for years, and I improvise and compose as much as I can. I have been working differently on the piano and all different kind of works since I saw your videos. And I start getting more in touch with my creativity, which makes me very happy. Thank you very much for everything. Keep up the good work! I am very much looking forward to what is yet to come :)

Nahre is so damn good. Not only does she within minutes get me at my piano bench , she also reminds of how much better I could be. In a good way though lol

Love the way she talks with her hands.

As a bassist and guitarist I find interesting to do is tapping an underlying rhythm to what I'm playing. Once I know how to play it to the original I can mix it up a little, maybe move the beat forward or back e.g. a quarter or eighth note. Apart from that humming or whistling a melody over the practice piece works too.

It's also super helpful when you aim for PERFECTION at every iteration (during repetitions). When you try to play each without making any errors with rhythm, fingering, note, articulation, dynamic, etc., your brain will be fully engaged. Which is the point of Nahre's suggestion in this video: Make your brain engaged.

This reminds me of what my violin teacher calls "etudizing" passages. She encourages me to create my own etudes around parts I need to work on. I can adjust them to add complexity or fit specific aspects I need to work on and make it sound musical. But I am creating my own personal practice method around it.

Yes! This is just how I practice improvisation; start with a note, phrase, or chord, and start messing around with patterns.

Great advice. I am reluctant to dedicate myself to perfect repetitive portions or get my runs where they need to be... This could help.

Brilliant idea Nahre, will def be trying this out!

In the past year while practicing Bach I've been having improvised tangents, there are so many interesting harmonies / passages to expand and play with. You have solidified the concept in this video, thank you!

thank you for these ideas! As a kid practicing always felt like a boring chore, just repeating things because i *had to*. For a while I stepped away from music but a while back I came across a music therapist that helps her clients avoid pain in their hands by helping them relax by rediscovering the joy of playing. When playing is about pleasure (enjoying the sound and even just the feeling of playing) then often their pain faded away. Since then I've been trying to always focus on the pleasure and joy of just making music, and your recommendations are helping so much. thank you!

This is useful not only for piano but everything in general. Nowadays the idea of active learning is gaining steam. Btw, kudos for performing a snippet of the thirds etude which is really hard. PS. 🍎

This is really good advice. As a drummer I do this type of thing all the time. Taking basic rudiments like paradiddles and incorporating them into drum fills or even making entire grooves based around them has made practicing much more fun than just repeating the same rhythms on a practice pad.

Edited to add: 🍎 This is what I kind of do! I choose goal pieces that I really want to learn, and then I find the techniques in the piece that I can’t yet do. I then find intermediary pieces that have a pared-down version of that technique to use as a stepping stone! Like i needed to get better at left hand arpeggios for Barque Sur L’Ocean, so I learned the second movement of Beethoven’s Tempest sonata, which is full of left hand arpeggios and rhythmic isolation

This was as much a composing lesson as it was a practice lesson. Thankyou! 🍎

I've been trying to do creative practice since watching some of your precious videos, and it honestly has been THE one thing that has helped me get back to playing piano and practicing again!!

I'm a classical double bass player and I find your advice is always so focused for everyone who plays any instrument! Thank you.

I cannot express how refreshing and encouraging I find all that you say. I am an amateur, only learnt at music school for 5 years, yet I feel I am really musical. But all that I ever received from music teachers was drill, rigour, criticism and discipline. I struggle to allow myself to play and your videos help a great deal in the struggle.

I didn't know other people did this lol. I thought I was alone. Making up melody or harmony to go with my other hand that is doing measures from songs that are too hard for mee to play that fast lol OwO. I did try watching tv but then I started making mistakes.

3:44 explains the objective where repetition is the no-brainer 'drone' to the vector on your trajectory. I can see this work with Guitar and not just travis picking. Nahre, your video presentation skills, your graphic skills, your sense of humour with charming snippets, your way of simply speaking to the camera and relating the topics -- let's just say there are 20 more thumbs up RU-vid isn't allowing me to register.

Wow, this is just what I needed! It combines learning sheet music with improvisation and gets you better at both, thank you!!

I just really appreciate your message. I hope I can share this with my students as I work on this myself.

I don't even play an instrument Nahre but I'm subscribed and I watch videos like this because what you say is always so well explained and worth listening to.

As non-pianist, I enjoy your videos and I sit on the piano we have here in my house to try at least to play with right hand whenever I watch you. You inspired me.

🍎 Nahre Sol, thank you so much. You have such great talent as a musician and thinker. It is so kind of you to share your piano playing, insights, approaches and compositions. All your videos are perfection. Very best wishes to you!

It is always good to turn on the internet and see healthy piano players setting aside a little time to encourage. Society, I think, appreciates this. I seem to be following woman…. piano players on RU-vid (not intentionally) and this woman is one of my favourites. She does her job wonderfully. 🥸

The smooth and natural touch is beautiful, and I can play it as I imagined, which is very enviable. You look amazing.

I love this concept so much. I'm a guitar player, but before I started with guitar as a kid, I tried both piano and violin, and couldn't stay focused on either one. I never understood why until recently, when I realized that while my piano and violin teachers packaged their lessons in that dry, dull, monotonous fashion, my guitar teacher always packaged his as little songs, and that kept me way more focused and engaged. I've been using this trick to teach myself piano as an adult, and it's such a huge difference maker. Fantastic video!

This is such good teaching 😍 articulating what some people have kind of been doing (ie me) but also extending it so it’s more explicit and I feel I have more direction rather than vaguely doing it. Thank you!

I admire so much that you are so creative!....always able to reinvent yourself as a musician. You send us all off on/to the Right path. Thank you so much.

Watching this video, i felt grateful to discover that I've always instinctively been applying this method to my music practice sessions. Now that I can call it 'creative repackaging" i can stop feeling like i'm procrastinating and fooling around by not being more strict and sticking the exact exercise at hand.

This is by far one of the best vids I've seen on this subject and piano playing in general. Great work!

Thank you for inspiring us, I really love to hear such practical advice, and entertaining, and it’s wonderful to hear you play and explain

🍎And me, who is new to the piano, I find that this way of practicing opens up possibilities for me towards composition. Learning while having fun is definitely more effective.

I've been watching your classes on youtube and even though I play classical guitar, your daily study tips have helped me dedicate myself more seriously to the guitar.

Really interesting, it's funny cause I was just talking with a friend (We're both Jazzy Hip Hop producers) and we were mentionin all the the producers that inspired us to do what we do, we realised that some of them used to entirely reproduce instrumentals from other artist that inspired them, wich involve another way of repeating things to improve as an artist, personally when I wanna reproduce a beat (kinda like an hommage to dope artist) I end up doin things a lil bit defferently than the original track, it stimulates the creativity and the love of doin what you do instead of doin the exact same thing, thx for sharing, peace out from France!

Nahre, this is so so good. Thanks for sharing your creativity with us.

You are such a good teacher, Nahre. Thank you!.

I loved this video -- it's so cool hearing the looped versions for practice you come up with and I'm excited to try it for myself!

Yes to all of this! It is so good to hear you reiterate some of my thoughts and practice strategies (since I am fairly newly obsessed with the piano). You also brought up several other great mindsets to have while practicing. I believe this can apply to all skill levels as well.

This is exactly how I usually practice. But I always felt that it is actually a bad habbit. I often end up altering the passages and add a little here and there. I thought to be taken away by my play instinct and creativity means I lack discipline. Now, I feel a little more positive about it, thank you!

thank you for getting straight to the point!! i clicked on the video and immediately got what i wanted! you’re amazing!!

I understand the part about checking out if something isn't interesting.

thanks great advice, with the countless hours you spend at the piano and your passion on the subject this coupled with the way you play ....you have won me over..massive thanks..

you are my favorite classical music composer and communicator. I sincerely wish you all the best, success and satisfaction. You deserve this and more. Thanks for your wit and fun I've always thought that the way you share is the best way to study the technique: by creating something but no one had ever told me that... and in such a smart and amusing way. I'm thinking of starting to study piano again after many years... and you are really a great encouragement. Thank you

One of My favorite Videos of you, Nahre! Since I‘ve seen it for the first time I’ve been practicing Chopin Etüde n.5, like this, especially its middle part. That works just great!

I take the same approach for my drumming students. I’m glad you’re passing it around 😊👍

The video is fantastic as always Nahre! Thanks for sharing

Rhythmical variation is usually enough to keep me engaged with the material, but I still love to use this method on arpeggiated passages. Picked it up from a video of yours 2-3 years ago and it profoundly changed the way I think about practicing. As for slow Bach pieces, I like to try and improvise a Busoni-style arrangement. That way I’m much more conscious of what is going on harmonically and it is also significantly less boring than just practicing the voices over and over. Anyways, thanks so much and keep up the great work!

Love this! Sidenote, someone is going to sample Nahre’s practice compositions and rap over them. Ha

thanks Nahre! the quality of these videos keeps getting better

I have just discovered your videos today, and I’ve left comments on a couple of them, but after watching only 30 seconds of this one I am already so uplifted by meeting a kindred spirit! I do this exact same thing when trying to practice and I am nowhere near the pianist that you are. To make tedious things in one hand feel at least like part of a musical creation to keep me more interested is a wonderful concept. Thank you !

I've always enjoyed your way of digesting music and knowing that you check out when you find things boring is quite reassuring. I love music and wish to take it further, but am often not rigorous enough on the technical practice/music theory. Making it fun in this way is something I can see will be very helpful 🍎

Thanks Nahre! Tips like these help me improve my skills. I appreciate you! 😄

I love this way of thinking of practice! I wish this was all applicable as a cellist haha although the general idea of changing things up while repeating what you need to is good

Thanks! Just rushing off to the piano now to try this! It’s also reassuring to see that even good pianists need to use repetition to master tricky bits. I like your down-to-earth approach to viewers - not elitist and show-offs. Very helpful. London

I think this is the single best advice for practicing piano I’ve heard

Nahre coming up once again with the 🔥 videos!!Thank youuu🙏🏽

Thanks for your amazing job Nahre!

This is exactly how I honed my improvisation back when I joined jazz band not having a clue what it was.

Your video magically popped up 🍎 on a day where I’m reassessing my practice habits! Thanks for sharing your insights. Big fan of your videos, music, playing and creativity!

Missed your content, idk how I didn't visit your videos since a past few months, hope you're doing well , glad to see you again💕

I’ve learned a lot of practice methods, but yours are all new to me. Can’t wait to try some of these out in the practice room!

Nahre, your creativity is fantastic!!!

You do such a good job entertaining us. Smart, approachable, fun and musical

This is so great!

Yes. And yes. Today I began, on guitar, with Csus4. After a bit something I've never done before occurred. Through the transients and borrowed notes appeared Dmin11. From there it was a smile. There were Gs and whatnots afterwards, yet the point was, as you say, explore and go for it. There is nothing dull lest we make it so. Well done, you. Thank you for this.

This video is absolutely fun. 😄🙌🏽 Thanks, Nahre! 🍎

As usual, so so helpful! Each time I'm stuck I got a magic notification on RU-vid with your great advices, and after that I'm ready to rock thank you 🙏 🍎😉

I appreciate the points you are making here. I might have denied myself to music in my youth but I didn't do so for several reasons, one being that I couldn't imagine myself tolerating the boredom of endless rote repetition in practicing on order to gain the skills to, for example improvise freely with a high level of skill. I knew where I was and where I wanted to be but the path from one to the other looked like more torture than I was willing to endure. I might add (more generally) that there have been a lot of learning-related problems in my life and psyche that could have been solved by improved pedagogy and/or more creativity in my personal learning strategies. Even now, this remains true. I've been thinking about the subject this morning and your video emphasizes some valuable points and suggests others. Thanks.

These are fantastic suggestionsa, many thanks.

I enjoy you videos so much. Always something to learn from them. As a flutist I do this while playing along a recording or track. Thats how I learned to improvise. Thanks again.🍎

I’m not practicing piano, but you’re a great teacher and this will help me a great deal. Thank you.

Great tips! I will dive into this, keep your video open while working on certain passages as a reminder. Now been going for that dry practice, which kinda helps, but this makes it a whole lot more interesting and exciting!

SO SO SO smart! BRILLIANT strategy. Thank you!

Soo helfull, and magic at the same time. Just started to get a kind of bored while practising some trills. Great teaching-Thank you!

These videos are such an incredible resource.

I really LOVE your videos here ! ! !

🍎 I’m still dreaming of having you as my piano teacher 😊. Please keep doing these kind of videos about practicing and other kinds of piano playing tips. I found it very enjoyable and inspiring to watch. And I would also love to hear more about your piano/musical journey.

Thanks Nahre, nice tip,I think for me it will also help me get a better grasp of music theory, experimenting with what I can add in here and there to the piece.

Absolutely. I've always done this and come up with some fairly good ideas for compositions in the process. Sound advice as ever Nahre

I have watched several of your videos, They are very helpful and inspiring. Thanks for them.😀

Lovely clear explanation and a deep understanding of motivation, thanks for your inspirational videos

FANTASTIC SUGGESTIONS !!!!