Struggling to master a difficult passage? Try this fun practice game to train your fingers faster and more accurately.

It was 2007 and I was 6 months into an intense Freshman year of college. Ms. Engel, my teacher, had been working me to the bone learning early Baroque music. Between crossing my fingers, playing wrong notes and speeding up the tempo, I had all sorts of issues. I was frustrated and disappointed and Ms. Engel could see it. She goes “I’ll tell you what. Let’s play a game.” I’m thinking “Oh great. Here comes the torture session.” Little did I know she would introduce me to the most effective practice method I have.

Ms. Engel took out a ruler. My eyes widened. She placed the ruler on the piano desk. I sighed in relief. She then took a pencil and a sticky note pad and placed them next to the ruler. Pointing to 1 measure on the paper she said “play that passage right there. Every time you get it perfectly, I’ll take away an item. When all three items have been removed, then you can move on to the next part.”

“Easy” I thought.

“Wait, but there’s more”, she said. “If you get the passage perfectly twice and then make a mistake the third time, all the items will go back on the piano”.

“Oh”I thought. “Still easy I guess”. Boy was I wrong.

For the next 10 minutes I struggled getting that passage correctly 3 times in a row. But when I finally got it right and all the items were off the table, I felt like I had accomplished something amazing. Which in part I did. My mood had gone from defeated to revitalized and I was ready for the next challenge. I had so much fun trying to beat the game that when I did I couldn’t even remember feeling disappointed. Another thing I noticed was that the finger crossings, wrong notes and tempo changes had worked themselves out while I played the game! That’s why Ms. Engel was a great teacher. She was able to pinpoint my REAL problem, which was an emotional one and fix it with a children’s game no less. honestly I’m 36 years old and I STILL play this game when I practice and come across a very difficult passage.

I want to teach you the same game. See sometimes when we practice our brains are telling us we need to shake things up. Sometimes the solution is to go make a sandwich or do the laundry (restorative mind tasks that take away from the monotony of repetitive practicing at the piano). NOT tv or social media as those will just distract you. But also sometimes the answer is to play a little game 🙂

🎵 How to Play the 3 Items Game

🎯 You’ll need: 3 small objects (coins, paperclips, anything!).

1️⃣ Place all three items on the piano.
2️⃣ Choose a short but difficult passage and play the passage once—if you get it right, remove one item.
3️⃣ Keep going! If you make a mistake, all items go back.
4️⃣ If you play it correctly 3 times in a row, you’ve mastered it! 🎉

🔥 Why This Works: It turns practice into a game, making repetition fun and rewarding.

Try it and watch your accuracy skyrocket!

Want more practice tricks? Join my FREE video course.
👉 https://mypianobyear.com/free-starter-piano-course/