What do you guys do to practice?

First of all, do you practice, or just play? Do you do arpeggios and scales or Hanon stuff? How often (how long) do you practice? Do you practise for solos and improvising?

Partcularly interested in hearing from those who use a combination of weighted and synth-style keys.

I've been all over the board as far as practising and am noticing some things getting harder to pull off... hence the question.

Cheers,

Jerry

Well, I don't practice in the conventional sense (I never was good at that, anyway), but I do try to play the piano for at least an hour or more every day in the spirit of practicing.

I do play through the Hanon book every once in a while, though; and I try to pick up new pieces on a fairly regular basis.

dB

I've never been a professional keyboardist, so my answer may or may not have any value. I practice piano for an hour or so most days, and my warmup includes some Behringer finger patterns and one of the etudes in Hanon Revisited (a cool book in which the existing Hanon lines are harmonized with counterpoint lines in the other hand -- much more challenging).

I've heard people say you should practice on the keyboard you'll be performing on. But if you've got a piano and you'll be gigging on an unweighted action, practicing on the piano will probably be less problematical than if you were to do it the other way around.

--Jim Aikin

Funny you should mention practice. I've been asked to play the organ at a friend's wedding in February. While I had grown up playing the classical organ, and had even studied more as an adult, it's been a good 6 years since I've sat down to one with serious intent. Tonight I had that opportunity. I dug out all my old favorites (heavy on the Bach) and slowly tried to work the sludge out of the joints, relying on ears and muscle memory--and failing miserably. It took every bit of 2.5 hours before stuff started to sound even tolerably good. What a revelation. And the funny thing is, I do make my living as a professional keyboard player. Oy! I promise I'll practice more, and certainly before February comes around.