Bear with me for a moment, because this is kind of a strange thought: I want an artificially intelligent piano coach. I’d like to be able to sit down at the piano and practice, and have a friendly AI listen and watch and make suggestions.

Let’s call him Ludwig. He understands something about me and what I’m trying to achieve, and what makes for effective practice. He doesn’t need to have a full personality, nor be particularly creative. I just want him to remind me to do the things I want to do (like stop when I make a mistake), point out when I fail to do so, and ask relevant questions at the appropriate moments.

Let’s say I’m practicing a Beethoven sonata. I want to practice slowly and in small sections. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t, and get carried away playing, even though I know it’s not productive. I’d like Ludwig to notice, and say “hey, slow down!” Or if I’m not sure what fingering would be best, maybe I could ask him. “What else could I try here?” “Well, maybe use your fourth finger instead of your third?” With some knowledge of the anatomy of human hands and access to a database of solutions from published scores…maybe it’s conceivable?

These are the kinds of things that a teacher can do. But even if you could afford to have a teacher sit next to you every time you practice, you wouldn’t want to. It would be cruel. This kind of coaching is also really hard to do for yourself. It takes a strong will to be deliberate, mindful, and reflective all the time.

You might object that Ludwig is counterproductive. That he actually weakens will-power, because you no longer need to summon all of the discipline from within. I don’t think so. I think that, done well, it’s just like any other coach. They don’t substitute for discipline. They catalyze it.

If I were Demis Hassabis, now that I’ve conquered Go, I might explore this. Because a technology like this would be extraordinarily powerful. An alarm clock. A personal trainer. A tutor! I’m not sure it’s meaningfully easier than creating a fully generally intelligent machine. And I’m not equipped to find out. But what I can do is write stuff. So I made an ultra-low-tech analog of my fantasy piano coach:

It’s a stack of cards, with helpful reminders and suggestions. I keep them by the piano, and flip through them before I practice to remind myself of my intentions, and whenever I get stuck, for inspiration. It’s not Scarlett Johansson, but it’s something.

If you’re a pianist and you want a copy, you can download them here:

You’ll have to print and cut them out yourself, and they won’t talk to you. But I hope you find them helpful.

Scott Forman has been playing the piano for more than two decades. He is currently a guide for OneRoom’s Classical Piano Practice Group.↓