Perfect Practice Part 3: Interleaved Practice

What is interleaved practice?

Interleaving is the process of structuring practice so that students move frequently from one topic to another. As opposed to blocked practice, which repeats the same skill with little interruption, interleaved practice rotates concepts frequently, even if they’re not yet mastered.

At first glance, this approach can seem counterintuitive. Wouldn’t it make more sense to finish one thing before moving on? Research suggests otherwise. Interleaved practice increases long-term learning and retention—a phenomenon known as the contextual interference effect. Contextual interference has been studied in a variety of fields—most notably in sports—and, more recently, in music. In addition to enhanced learning, interleaved practice has been shown to boost executive functions like goal-setting, planning, and focus. (Carter and Grahn 2016).

How do we implement interleaved practice?

Understanding the benefits of interleaving is one thing; implementing it is another. Some students feel uneasy switching tasks quickly. There can be a sense of incompleteness when a passage isn’t fully polished before moving on. Many musicians were trained primarily through blocked repetition, so deviating from that model can feel unfamiliar—even uncomfortable.

As with any practice strategy, the most natural way to introduce interleaving is to model it in the lesson. When students experience frequent, intentional shifts between tasks, the structure becomes familiar rather than jarring. My personal challenge with interleaving the lesson structure is trusting that learning is happening despite a student’s in-the-moment performance occasionally decreasing. According to the literature on context interference, this is to be expected!

A Basic Interleaved Structure

Interleaving works best when practice has clearly defined topics. Each topic calls for different practice strategies, and rotating among them keeps the brain engaged and prevents practice from becoming automatic.

Common practice tasks to interleave might include:

• Technical work (in exercises or within repertoire)

• Memory work

• Improvisation

• Performance preparation

• Note and rhythm accuracy

• Sight-reading

• Voicing

• Increasing tempo

• Expressive refinement

An hour-long interleaved practice could look like this.

Student-Led practice plans

Students don’t need a formal explanation of the term “interleaving.” When the structure is modeled consistently in lessons, they quickly internalize the rhythm of shifting focus. I’ve incorporated interleaved practice even with my youngest students, and they adapt to it quickly when it’s presented as a normal part of our routine.

This student noticed that the pattern of repeated notes ends in the last two measures, so he put a practice square around them.

Marking specific practice points has been especially helpful when structuring interleaved work at home. Students identify and mark challenging passages—often with a square or removable highlighting tape—and explain why that section needs extra attention. However, the word “difficult” is something that we avoid in this context. Rather, we call difficult passages “the fun part,” “the impressive part,” or, as one of my students puts it, “the spicy part.” This reframes challenges in a fun way that fosters a positive attitude toward practice.

Students can cycle through the practice squares from all their pieces, creating context interference. The key is to practice each section only until it begins to feel easier—not until it is note-for-note perfect. This allows the brain to stay engaged and prevents autopilot repetition. From there, students can work on integrating the practice squares into the larger context of the piece.

“With blocking, once you know what solution to use, or movement to execute, the hard part is over. With interleaving, each practice attempt is different from the last, so rote responses don’t work. Instead, your brain must continuously focus on searching for different solutions. That process can improve your ability to learn critical features of skills and concepts, which then better enables you to select and execute the correct response.”

— Steven C. Pan

Real-life Results

Since actively encouraging interleaved practice, I’ve made some general observations:

• less frustrated by making mistakes and more self-compassionate

• more reflective on their work, verbalizing what they missed and why they think they missed it before moving onto the next repetition of a passage

• more thoughtful before playing rather than diving headfirst into a piece

Although a great number of factors can shape these positive behaviors, I believe that the de-emphasis on perfection inherent to interleaved practice might play a role.

Further Reading

A Short Read: The Interleaving Effect: Mixing It Up Boosts Learning

A Deeper Dive: Optimizing Music Learning: Exploring How Blocked and Interleaved Practice Schedules Affect Advanced Performance

Carter CE and Grahn JA (2016) Optimizing Music Learning: Exploring How Blocked and Interleaved Practice Schedules Affect Advanced Performance. Front. Psychol. 7:1251. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01251

Creative Ways to "Do it again!"

Repetition is a fundamental part of piano practice, but it’s not always a favorite part of practicing. These are ways that I ask students to “do it again” with flair. Each item is designed to be musically meaningful and to keep repetition intentional.

Every variation below targets a specific skill. For example, playing a passage “oppositely” highlights its intended character, and shifting octaves helps students hear something familiar in a new way. These strategies work best after students have spent time establishing accurate notes and rhythms.

1. Play while singing the melody.

2. Play the right hand one octave higher and the left hand one octave lower.

3. Play small sections with your eyes closed.

4. Play the piece at different tempos (e.g. largo, adagio, andante, allegro, presto).

5. For primer-level pieces written for one hand, play the right and left hands together in parallel motion.

6. Make the piece sound like different animals (e.g. play it high like a bird, or low like a whale).

7. Play all dynamics oppositely (e.g. loud becomes soft, etc.).

8. Play all articulations oppositely (e.g. legato becomes staccato).*

9. Play and sing the accompaniment.

10. Play and say each downbeat (beat 1) out loud.

11. If the piece has multiple voices, play while singing or humming the soprano, alto, tenor, or bass line—alternate which voice you sing with each repetition.*

12. Transpose the piece to another key.

*These activities are best suited for more advanced students

An easy way to incorporate strategic repetition is to gamify it. I write different repetition strategies on popsicle sticks and allow students to draw one at random, selecting only those appropriate for their level and stage of learning. The mystery of which stick they’ll pull keeps students eager to build the habit of repetition. The best part is that this game is easily replicated at home. Students may even get creative and brainstorm their own ways to repeat a section!

Perfect Practice: Part 1

Five foundational Habits for Stress-Free Practice

Most piano families understand that practice plays an essential role in progress. What is less clear is how practice should unfold at home. Like piano playing itself, practicing is a skill—one that develops gradually with guidance.

This post begins a Perfect Practice series (a nod to pedagogue Elvina Truman Pearce) and outlines several foundational habits that foster consistent, effective practice at home. The trick, ironically, is to aim for consistency over perfection. There is simply no such thing as truly perfect practice!

Practice Starts in the Lesson

Effective practice begins before the student ever leaves the lesson. In my teaching, practice strategies are introduced and modeled during lesson time. When expectations are clear, and students are confident that they can meet them, they practice more readily. For each assignment, students use specific techniques for at-home practice, and I have students replicate those techniques for me so I can be sure they will be successful at home.

For younger students, parent observation can be especially helpful. Some parents take notes; others record a short segment of the lesson for reference. Even occasional observation strengthens communication between teacher, student, and parent.

Choose a Time and Stick with It

A tried-and-true rule for productive at-home practice is following a routine. When treated as a negotiable part of the daily routine, piano practice often lands at the end of the day when both parents and students are too tired to be productive. Elvina Truman Pearce outlines this topic in The Success Factor in Music Teaching: Making Practice Perfect. She makes two great suggestions:

• “trying out” different practice times (before or after school, before or after dinner, etc.) for at least five days each to see which one clicks best with everyone.

• splitting up daily practice into two or three short sessions.

I promise this won’t be the case. ;) Source

It’s important to note that, while practicing may happen at the same time each day, practice length may vary. I encourage students to use practice time wisely to ultimately spend less time practicing. There are certainly broad practice time suggestions for different age groups that are helpful for new piano students, but these are starting points—not rigid guidelines.

Create a Supportive Environment

The ideal practice environment sets the student up for success. Things to consider include:

• Is the room quiet enough for focused listening?

• Is the piano located away from heavy foot traffic?

• Are materials organized and easily accessible?

When the environment reflects shared respect for practice time, students are more likely to value it as well.

“The point is that if practice is to become important to the student and a regular part of [their] daily routine, then a suitable environment for it must be created and respected by the entire family. This indicates to the student that all members of the family respectfully support its importance.”

— Elvina Pearce, The Success Factor in Piano Teaching: Making Practice Perfect (193)

Remember that Children are Still developing

Children are still learning to recognize and regulate their emotions and behaviors. They need patience and guidance as they learn the self-regulatory skills necessary to direct their behavior toward a goal. Self-regulation includes a complex set of abilities developed gradually from infancy through middle-childhood (up to around age 12) (Ziv et al. 2017). For piano students, self-regulating includes planning practice, changing the plan if something isn’t working, and thinking about what went well and what didn’t. That’s a lot of work for a developing brain!

It is both normal and expected for younger students to need reminders, structure, and encouragement—even when they genuinely enjoy piano. There will be strong practice days and challenging ones. Understanding this helps parents respond with patience and realistic expectations.

Deep Dive: freedom within a framework

As students mature, independent, self-motivated at-home practice is an important goal. Experts agree that autonomy plays a significant role in motivation (Gandhimathi & Anitha Devi, 2016). The meaning of autonomy is twofold. In an educational sense, it refers to students’ ability to guide their learning; in general, it can refer to independence or freedom.

We can think of both definitions of autonomy as two unique components that work together. For students to be interested in their learning process (autonomy), they need to feel in control of their goals (through freedom and choice).

Who makes most of the choices in the context of piano lessons? Parents of younger students usually decide when practice happens; the teacher decides which practice techniques to use (or how) to practice; method books, even when supplemented with outside music, can largely dictate what is practiced. While it’s essential to keep a steady and organized practice routine, it’s equally important to allow students to have a say in their learning. Some strategies for providing choice and facilitating independence include:

• allowing the student to plan the order of tasks within their practice session.

• incorporating improvisation into every practice session.

• using tools that help students keep track of meaningful repetition independently (see example below).

• encouraging the student to reflect on their progress.

• asking the student which practice assignment they feel needs the most attention.

• encouraging the student to keep track of questions that arise during practice.

Use Iwako erasers to track repetition—each time the student plays the target passage correctly, move an eraser to the other side of the music stand.

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The next Perfect Practice installment will explore practice attitudes, how to deal with difficult practice days, and thoughtful use of reward systems.

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Sources

Gandhimathi, S., & Anitha Devi, V. (2016). Learner Autonomy and Motivation - A Literature Review. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(3). https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234674899.pdf

Pearce, E., Sale, C., & Blickenstaff, M. (2014). The success factor in piano teaching: Making practice perfect. Kingston, NJ: The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy.

Ziv, Yair & Benita, Moti & Sofri, Inbar. (2017). Self-Regulation in Childhood: A Developmental Perspective