What is the difference between playing and practicing?

Sometimes I have students say that they practiced for their lesson, but I can clearly hear that no progress was made on their assignment. It isn't that they're lying, it's that they don't have a clear definition of the word "practice".

Playing through repertoire already memorized does have its uses, particularly if you are trying to secure memory for a performance, or working for a more refined interpretation. However, even those activities will require some focused spot-work in between run-throughs. It can also be useful, if you aren't sure what aspect of the piece needs most improvement, to play through it once to assess weaknesses. Likewise, playing through it once at the beginning of a practice session can tell you if the things you worked on in your last session "stuck" or if you need to go over them again before you move on to the next layer.

However, simply repeating something over and over from memory is not practice!!! Yes, you may do it for pleasure, but then it is recreation, not practice!!! Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I do feel very strongly about that, and it's not just me. ALL research related to music learning supports this, and all qualified piano teachers agree with me on this. Yes. ALL.

Also, repeating it over and over with the music doesn't do much. Sure, run-throughs have their place. You get a sense of where you are in terms of your progress with the piece, it gives you a sense of the piece as a whole, it can help inform your interpretation. But running through is USELESS if it is not followed by deliberate work to improve weaknesses, whether it's a lack of familiarity with the notes in some passage, a rhythmic or technical problem, or a need for musical thoughts and experimentation.

The real danger is that a student who mindlessly repeats can actually spend a lot of time thinking they are practicing the piano. They will develop a concept of themselves as someone who practices the piano a lot. But, their lessons will be fairly unsuccessful without a lot of positive feedback, and a very long time will be spent on music that is actually not all that challenging. That combination will cause a student to mistakenly believe that piano is particularly hard for them. They will think they work very hard for little gain, and are bad musicians. In all likelihood, nothing could be further from the truth. They simply have bad practice habits.

Music teachers can explain and demonstrate in lessons how to work on a piece of music. We can write notes in the music and in notebooks. But, we can't go home and do the practicing for you. Success at the piano requires a deliberate effort to process what was learned at the lesson and planning your own course of action at each practice session. You have to set short-term goals for each session and make a plan to achieve them. Sometimes you may fail, and then you need to think about whether the problem was your goal, or your plan. Some goals are unrealistic for one session, and some plans won't get a job done. These are skills that can't be taught, but you must master them not only for success in piano, but in any area of your life.