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How to Practice
Getting the Most From Your Practice Time
If you ask any experienced and accomplished musicians
about practicing one thing that most will tell you is that they
are now able to get more out of the same amount of practice than
they were able to as a student. In part this is due to the fact
that they are better musicians now and can simply move through more
material faster, but in this is not the only reason. Practicing,
like performing, is a skill that gets better the more you do it.
Since we want get the most out of our practicing we should not only
be learning the art of performing, but also the art of practicing.
Many of us don't have as much time to practice during
the week that we wish. Even those of us who are blessed with an
abundance of practice time often don't utilize that time effectively.
What follows below is some advice on how you can maximize results
from your practice session and get more benefit from the time that
you do have available.
General Advice
Probably the most common difficulty music students
have with practicing is just getting around to it. College students
have a lot of required work to accomplish, and for those taking
private studio instruction, the amount of academic credit they receive
just doesn't add up to the amount of work required. In addition,
rehearsals and performances can drain the student's energy to the
point of where practicing can become a chore. In many ways practicing
should be like a rehearsal or athletic workout, something that you
do whether or not you feel like it. If you can schedule regular
practice sessions and stick to it you will be much better off than
if you just practice when you feel you have the time and energy.
Often times we can have a sudden burst of inspiration
and energy and want to get a lot of practice in during a short period
of time. Or we might have an important performance or audition coming
up and we want to be prepared. The impulse can be to try to do a
lot of practicing in one long session. This is actually less beneficial
than more practice sessions that last a shorter period of time.
Studies have shown that humans learn best when materials are learned
in regular repetitions over shorter periods of time. Instead of
practicing for three hours straight, break them up into 3 one hour
sessions with some time in between away from your instrument.
Similar studies also suggest that the human mind can
only really focus for periods of 20 minutes before attention wanders.
To help combat this, break up your practice sessions into periods
of around 20 minutes with a short 2-5 minute break in between. When
you return to practicing your mind will be better able to focus
on the music.
Set Goals and Organize
During your practice session you want to practice
efficiently. It's important before even beginning to practice to
have some goals for your practice session. In fact, it's good to
set goals over longer periods of time as well. Barry Green and Timothy
Gallwey, authors of "The
Inner Game of Music," suggest keeping a notebook of practice
goals to help maximize your efforts. Write down long term goals
(what you'd like to accomplish in 5-10 years), medium term goals
(what you want to accomplish in the 1-5 years), short term goals
(what do you want to accomplish this year).
If you can't answer some of those questions you may
want to give this some concentrated thought. Once you have an idea
of where you are headed, you plot daily and weekly goals that will
lead to the longer term goals. Writing down what you want to practice
also has the added benefit in that they are more likely to get accomplished.
Keep track of what you want to accomplish during the
week and each step you take in your practice sessions to get there.
You will notice that often times we spend a great deal of effort
on the same things that we can already do fairly well, but neglect
to work on other materials. Use your notebook as a way of organizing
your practice sessions efficiently. If you miss materials one day
be sure to make note of that in your notebook and you will remember
to spend time on those materials later in the week.
If you know that you have a certain amount of time
to practice in a day you should structure that time to hit a little
bit of everything, but emphasize materials that you or your teacher
have chosen as important goals for this time period. For example,
you could spend 1/3 of your time practicing fundamentals and routine
work, 1/3 of your time on solo repertoire, technical studies, and
other lesson material, and 1/3 of your time on materials for ensembles,
sight reading, or other important topics related to playing music.
What to Practice
You can break down the types of things to practice
into three different categories:
1. Materials you can already play well
2. Materials you can almost play well
3. Materials you cannot play well
The bulk of your practice time should be spent on
#2 because the type of effort involved in working on materials just
beyond your ability is what is usually most effective. You should
also spend some time on the other two categories as well. Working
on things that we already play well helps to reinforce good habits
as well as give us a mental boost if we feel frustrated. Spending
time on materials you cannot play well can help us see how close
to our goals we are, encourage us to work harder, and perhaps even
surprise ourselves as to how well we can actually play.
Be sure to alter your practice materials accordingly.
If an etude you have been assigned for a lesson is too hard, simplify
some of it or break it down into smaller sections to make it easier.
If other assignments are too easy, transpose them to more challenging
keys or change other aspects of the music so that you must make
a greater effort.
Break Down Challenging Passages
Everyone is faced with musical passages that are too
challenging to play correctly. By isolating aspects of that passage
that we struggle with we can work out the problems individually
so that a phrase that was previously unplayable can become easy.
Figure out what makes that passage difficult for you,
then remove that aspect. For example, if the tempo is too fast for
you to play the phrase accurately play it slowly or even without
any tempo at all. Or perhaps the range of the example is too high
or low for your to play comfortably. In this case you can work out
the sound by changing the octave you play it in. Once you feel comfortable
on the phrase remove an aspect you know you can play and add back
the difficult one. Eventually you will be able to incorporate both
into the passage and feel comfortable.
For phrases that are just too awkward to play you
can try this trick. Start at the end of the passage and play just
the last couple of notes or so. Loop that little bit over and over
until it feels comfortable, then add the previous note. Keep working
by adding one or two notes until you feel like you can play the
entire passage. Working backwards can often be more effective than
doing the same thing from the beginning of the phrase because it
forces you to think about the phrase differently and changes your
perception of the passage.
Listen
Music is an aural art form. To paraphrase Thelonious
Monk, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
Music notation and written and spoken words can only approximate
what music sounds like. You cannot develop a good tone without knowing
what a good tone sounds like and you cannot learn how to play a
piece stylistically correct without hearing how that sounds. Time
spent listening to music will always benefit the time spent practicing.
Listen to ALL kinds of music, but focus on music that
includes your particular instrument. Avoid too much pop music! While
popular music can be fun and even artistic, most is composed, performed,
and recorded with a formula dictated by the recording industry for
the purposes of making money. The true artist who stretches the
boundaries of art music rarely, if ever, becomes popular because
his or her music takes time to understand and appreciate. Pop music
is designed to be easy to understand so that it sells, not broaden
the artist's and listener's horizons.
Tape Yourself
While we are actually in the process of making music
we have a tendency to not hear everything we're playing. Also, when
you are the one playing the music your ears aren't in the optimal
spot for really hearing what the music sounds like. If you tape
your practice sessions you can often times gain insight into what
is sounding good and what needs more work that you wouldn't receive
just from practicing. You don't need an expensive tape recorder.
Even if the sound quality is less than ideal the tape will not lie
about things like intonation, tempo, wrong notes, and incorrect
rhythms.
Some people like to tape themselves every day. For
other people once every week or so is enough. If you find that listening
to yourself on tape is frustrating, tape yourself less frequently.
We can often be our own harshest critics, so don't beat yourself
up.
Have Fun
If you don't enjoy music enough to want to practice,
rehearse, and perform, then you should reevaluate why you are studying
it. Playing music takes a lot of concentrated effort over the long
term. If you don't enjoy this effort, then your progress will be
limited.
Try to keep each practice session fun. This can be
difficult, because often we are assigned materials we don't find
interesting. If you are stuck working on a piece of music you just
don't enjoy twist something around to make it enjoyable. For example,
practice a concerto with swung eighth notes or along with a drum
machine playing a rock groove. Put a recording of the piece on and
play along with it. Then go back to practicing it in the "correct"
manner and you might find it more interesting.
Be sure to reward yourself for getting through unenjoyable
materials by always ending up a practice session with something
you find fun to play.
Have Hobbies
You will need to take time away from music to allow
yourself to come back refreshed. Find something you enjoy doing
that isn't related to music and have fun doing it. When you come
back to music, you will appreciate what you missed that much more.
Healthy hobbies, like running, yoga, dancing, reading,
and playing chess are great ways to take your mind off of music.
Other more indulgent hobbies, like video games, chocolate, drinking
coffee, and watching TV, are also good to help you "charge
your batteries up" for your next practice session.
Find What Works For You
Lastly, be sure to evaluate your efforts and results
in a personal manner. Every individual has a unique way of learning,
developing, and retaining musical information. Even the same musician
can change how he or she learns best in a matter of days or even
hours. If something just isn't working for you, change it. Try coming
back to those materials or that manner of practicing later and see
if works better. Over time you will be able to better judge how
well you effort is being spent and become one of the experience
musicians who says, "I can get more results from less time."
Good luck!
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