From time to time, students ask this question in various guises, either generally…
"What else should I be doing in addition to my Musiah piano lessons to maximise my progress?"
Or specifically…
"What exercises in addition to Musiah’s instruction are recommended to develop the skill of…"
Whether asked generally or specifically, the answer in most cases is the same...
You don’t need to do anything – except your Musiah piano lessons.
99 times out of 100, my recommendation is to stick to your Musiah lessons and try not to get too distracted by other activities.
Why? Because the good news is that Musiah is designed to enable you to acquire all these skills and more in the shortest possible time frame.
So while other alternate activities (when considered on their own) may be beneficial, if they reduce the time you would otherwise spend progressing through your Musiah piano lessons, they will quite often slow down your overall progress rather than increase it.
This particularly applies to time spent on learning supplementary pieces outside the Musiah syllabus.
Yes, I know, all learning is beneficial, and we’re all human.
On the one hand, it’s hard to believe that a single course of piano lessons really is designed to holistically provide all these benefits... and on the other hand, many of us tend by nature to flit from one activity to another rather than really focusing on one thoroughly.
But in terms of acquiring the skills to read sheet music and play piano proficiently together with the many various skills that combine to give you this ability – working solely on Musiah really is your best bet!
It depends on the skill you are seeking to improve.
For example, if you are really keen to learn a particular piece / song outside of the Musiah syllabus, at least practice it on your own time, i.e. in addition to your allocated Musiah practice time, NOT instead of your Musiah practice time.
If you want to improve your note reading and note playing skills, supplementary activities you may find useful to do for a few minutes each day include the Note Identification Game and the Note Playing Game in the Games Area of the Musiah app.
For ear training, there’s also the Ear Training Game.
And for memory training, there’s even a Memory Training Game – all within the Games Area of the Musiah app.
So many of the commonly queried skills (in terms of supplementary activities) are included in the Musiah app's Games Area.
The benefit of these games is that they are quick and easy (so they don’t take much time) and they are consistent with the Musiah teaching method.
In all honesty, these are addressed comprehensively within your Musiah piano lessons, so there is little to be gained in terms of trying to develop these skills by playing material outside of the Musiah syllabus, though doing so will quite likely slow down your progress.
For example, the Musiah syllabus is specifically designed to help you develop coordination in terms of the ability to play different rhythms with both hands at the same time.
If you're interested, this article explains briefly how the Musiah syllabus achieves this.
Brain Training: How Learning Piano / Keyboard Online With Musiah Boosts Academic Results
The point is that the Musiah course really does have a unique focus on this area that simply does not exist elsewhere.
Similarly, the other above-mentioned skills are addressed comprehensively in your Musiah piano lessons, so no need to look elsewhere.
Sometimes folks ask about where to learn more music theory outside of Musiah, e.g. to reflect on while learning piano with Musiah.
If your goal is mainly to play piano and read sheet music, then you don't have to do anything else other than your Musiah lessons as they really will teach you everything you need to know.
That said, as mentioned above, we do have a Games Area which focuses on Note Reading, Note Playing, Ear Training and Memory Training so students can choose to work on developing their skills in these areas independent of the lessons.
Plus, in your Musiah piano lessons, theory tends to be slipped surreptitiously into the lessons so most of the time, you won’t even notice you are learning theory.
However, if you are still interested in learning more about music theory, my recommendation is this…
First, because this will help you think about theory / approaches to note reading while learning with Musiah, I recommend the following videos / articles because they give some good insight into the Musiah method and how it will assist you particularly with reading sheet music – which is of course where theory really begins.
The Best Piano Method - Compare (video / article)
A Definition Of The Musiah Piano Method
Then, if you'd still like to learn more about theory, there's one book you really can't go past... it's kind of the bible when it comes to explaining music theory to any student:
For the sake of completeness, there is one more question I should address.
The initial question, “What else should I be doing in addition to my Musiah piano lessons?” inevitably leads to…
“Assuming success with Musiah, what do you recommend for further piano skill development?” (I would like to be able to play pieces such as Chopin's Minute Waltz,etc.)
The good news is that the Musiah course (on its own without anything else) will take you to the point where you will have the ability to teach yourself pretty much any piece (within reason) – and it will do so in the shortest possible time-frame.
Following Musiah, for most students, I recommend trying to find the right balance between self-teaching and / or a live teacher to suit your individual circumstances and goals. More in-depth guidance in this area is available here:
What level of playing skills will I gain learning piano with Musiah?
So, just to re-cap…
I guess I could have said that at the start, but a one-word answer would have meant no article… and giving a little context to “nothing” hopefully counts for something.
I hope you found the above thoughts helpful. And if you (dear reader) would like to commence your own piano lessons journey, I warmly invite you to take our 14 Day Free Trial.
Thanks for reading,
Brendan Hogan L.Mus.A, A.Mus.A.
Piano Teacher & Musiah Inventor
Online Piano lessons – Do They Work?
Piano Lessons For Adults
Piano Lessons For Kids
Piano Lessons For Beginners
Advanced Piano Lessons
Free Piano Lessons (on piano technique)
The Best Piano Method
The Best Piano Learning App
Learning To Play Piano As An Adult – Why it's easier than you think!
