Tips for overcoming skill plateaus in piano learning

Many of us love starting things. Starting new hobbies or projects, especially at each year’s turn, can be oh-so-tempting as a way to grow, or even redefine ourselves.

Finishing things, however, that’s a horse of a different color. This is where it becomes so easy to get tripped up, when the new, shiny feeling of something wears off. Playing a musical instrument can be extra tricky in this regard because the beginning includes such fun, endless rabbit holes for us to go down. It's likely you'll remember this phase if you’re a pianist or other type of musician – the time when you want to learn everything possible about which instrument to get now, which to dream of later, and what accessories can shape your distinct sound.

At this time, we also begin to listen to music differently, perhaps even imagining ourselves playing in the recording or on stage. At the very least, we have discovered a way to feel a stronger connection to the actual sources of the sound. Now that’s powerful!

But for many, there eventually comes a wall when motivation is more difficult to find. If you are experiencing this, it might be what is referred to as a skills plateau.

What are plateaus?

Plateau comes from the French word plateau. Spelled exactly the same in English, the word is most often thought of in terms of either mountains, or business metrics. While it can be tempting to think about this word in terms of the height, it’s important to emphasize the flatness, or unchanging nature of a plateau. While a plateau is created by something which has steadily gone up over time, it is the sudden point of stopped growth that makes a plateau.

This idea of flatness is not only the root of the word, but the way we feel when we’ve built so much momentum building up a new skill, climbing if you will, only to find ourselves suddenly neutral. While where this comes from is not agreed upon, the result is the same: we reach a certain level of comfort with something that was once new to us, and we see our rate of progress slow or stop.

Different forms of the same phenomena

We will largely focus on how we experience a plateauing effect in skills, and specifically music learning. Rather, there are other forms of plateaus which we see around us all of the time! The nature of the word can be relatable in any moments of frustration, or periods where we feel stuck with no control of mobility.

One example of this is career. When someone is in a role with no clear "step up" at the company, this can be a version of a plateau. The lack of upward mobility in an organization can have the same effect on us as it would on a skill: we might disengage or leave the job entirely due to not having a clear goal to strive for. The years of no clear progress affect us in the same way when we practice something new for weeks or months without feeling we’ve improved.

So, if you are working through a plateau as a musician, keep the tips in this article in mind beyond just music. They could help you find more fulfillment in a wide range of aspects in your life!

How plateaus affect music learning

When we reach a plateau, especially in something that has been new and exciting to us, our "progress" feels less noticeable. The work we are putting in can therefore feel less important. We might think "this is the farthest I can get" unless, for example, we hire a teacher or try some new product. We become vulnerable both to trying to buy our solutions (we’re looking at you, guitar pedal addicts) or slowly stop playing altogether.

There are plenty of resources which frame themselves entirely around pushing you through plateaus, such as an intensive training program which was promoted to this very writer on Instagram. They are not a sponsor of this post, but somehow came to our attention at quite the opportune time as this article was being written.

Take note of the branding this program is using, placing huge emphasis on this being a problem for intermediate players, which is essential. We’ve already expressed that skill plateaus are not a topic which comes up when just starting out. On the other hand, while "writers block" never quite goes away, plateaus are not likely to be a concern for musicians who describe themselves as expert or even professional pianists.

Basic techniques to break through a piano plateau

The above training starts by defining the distinction made by the late psychologist Anders Ericsson between practice and deliberate practice. Meaning that simply sitting down the play doesn’t quite mean you’re practicing, at least in a way that your growth can feel like it did before. Deliberate practice emphasizes "rapid and quick bursts of continued improvements" rather than mindless playing without defined, evolving goals. If this interests you, start here or search further for the extensive writing already published about the topic.

You’ll want to think about mixing up your approaches when you deliberately practice. This is exactly why, if you’re learning with the ROLI Learn App, you’re able to select between scale exercises, traditional (but much more interactive) lessons, playing hit songs at a range of skill levels, and playing games.

Ensuring that you are not over relying on the same methods over time is essential to so much in our lives, whether learning a language or lifting weights. Experts in the later tend to say "keep the body guessing." This mentality allows you to grow in a more all-around way, and will also help keep your interest up.

Remember when we mentioned plateau being a word used in business? Well, here’s another one: S.M.A.R.T. goals. You may have been forced to do this from someone in HR before, but this method of goal-setting can be really powerful with music. Give it a try here!

With the goals of piano learning in mind, these methods, tried and tested in other fields, can be extremely effective in structuring a practice routine that will help you break out of that rut of no progress and push you further on your musical journey.

Theory: The Aggregation of Marginal Gains

When plateaus are discussed across any type of learning or skill, the aggregation of marginal gains is generally also brought up. This idea, coined by Dave Brailsford to bring the British men’s cycling team to record-breaking achievements, effectively reframes our obsession with only the milestone moments of learning.

The takeaway is: rather than focusing on big, daunting goals in front of us, such as winning the Tour de France or creating an EP, we should focus on small improvements consistently over time. More specifically, very small improvements to as many things as possible which can affect the skill. As athletes, Brailsford went as far as improving the pillows of the riders in the development of this concept, though that might not be needed for piano playing.

…If you need an excuse to buy a new pillow though, consider this our words of support to treat yourself ☺️

Here are some other tips you can use to change up repetitive practice sessions and hopefully kick start the pattern of ascent in your piano skills and ways you can change up your learning method to serve you best.

Diversify your practice routine

Within each practice session, it could be beneficial to switch things up if your current routine isn’t working for you. Instead of going round in circles playing chords you're already comfortable playing, here are some ways to temporarily alter your practice routine when you play piano.

Experiment with different musical styles.

Do you find yourself playing the same types of piano music? Perhaps choosing different musical styles could help to break you out of a stagnant level of progress. For example, you could shift gears into learning to play jazz piano which could introduce to you new chord progressions.

Depending on what you've been focusing on learning, take some time experimenting with genres such as classical music, pop music to add some variety to your piano playing. There are many free online piano lessons for various genres that can help you dip your toe into the diverse styles of music that playing the piano can achieve. Each style requires a different set of techniques and skills. By learning from a wide range of genres, you can improve your overall piano playing proficiency.

Pay attention to your weaknesses as well as your strengths

When we play piano, or any instrument for that matter, it can be very tempting to stay in areas where we play comfortably, avoiding practicing the skills we are less adept at. While it can feel uncomfortable to approach those parts of our skill set where we are less strong, it's important to pay close attention to those parts.

To make sure that we are practicing efficiently, identifying areas of our piano playing that need improvement, whether it's hand coordination, speed, expression, or sight reading music, be sure to allocate focused practice time to go over these areas.

Remember, if you're a complete beginner, take it easy on yourself and take your time to overcome these challenges. If you're learning without a piano teacher, it is even more crucial that you tackle potentially difficult concepts like music theory, understanding music notation or reading chord charts, by breaking down your practice sessions to target specific challenges so you can make the progress that you're looking for.

Keep piano playing fun

An important thing to remember when we practice playing is not to put so much pressure on ourselves. All of us are at different stages in our piano journey, and one thing that remains constant is the need to give ourselves some grace when things don't seem to be progressing as easily as we would like. If you're struggling with your progress reading sheet music it's okay to give yourself a break.

Within the ROLI Learn app, there is the added advantage of learning piano through games. In this way, you're still reinforcing practice but can take off a slight amount of pressure.

This is especially true if you're a complete beginner; we often have a lot of frustrations with our skills but by making sure that we're enjoying every step of our journey when learning piano, we can ensure that our playing will improve at a steady and sustainable pace.

Play piano with new energy!

If you sit down after reading this to build out some S.M.A.R.T. goals and, like many, are intimidated where to start, return to this idea. If you can find a way to improve your music theory knowledge, understanding chords, finger dexterity, posture, improvisation skills, and so on by 1% at a time, your progress will add up faster than you expect.

Want more content like this? We recommend our guides on learning piano by yourself and our take on music learning as a new years resolution!