An Investigation of Precollege Piano Students’ Practice Habits and Practice Strategies in China

Since the early stages of piano learning, students are expected to practice at home in order to develop their performance skills. Given that practice is critical to develop musical expertise, the purpose of this study was to examine the practice habits of precollege piano students and the factors that affected their application of practice strategies. In this descriptive study, we used Sojump, an online survey program, to create and disseminate the questionnaire to the precollege piano students from the southeast region of China. The self-report questionnaire consisted of eight items related to practice habits, 18 items regarding practice strategies, and seven items related to demographic information. A total of 188 students (n = 188), aged from 6 to 16, completed the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to indicate the frequency of their practice habits, and the practice strategies they applied using a Likert-type scale anchored by 1 to 5. The most common applied practice strategy was starting to play slowly and then gradually speeding up. Results indicated significant positive correlations between some of the respondents’ self-reported practice habits and their years of learning, attained piano grade, and parental monitoring. Additionally, we found significant positive relationships between certain practice strategies used by respondents and their years of learning, attained piano grade, and parental monitoring. Implications for piano teachers are discussed, and suggestions for further investigations are provided.