Practicing is not necessarily the most fun part of being a musician, but it makes us good at what we do, which in turn makes what we do fun. Admit it, you always like to do the things that you are good at. The following are some tips to help you use your valuable time wisely and get the most out of your daily practice time:
- Your goal should be 20 minutes each day, 6 days per week. Always remember that you are an athlete in training. This means you are not just working on playing the right notes, but you are training all of your muscles how to move and work together in very specific ways. You will never hear of a great athlete who only practices the night before a game!
- Do not do everything every day. Try to pick one or two goals each day, and spend your time focusing on those areas of music. Each day, pick something else to work on. If you spend your practice time playing all of your songs from beginning to end, you won’t have any time left to actually fix anything.
- Ask the most important practicing question when you find a trouble spot: Is this an information problem, or an experience problem?
- An information problem means that you don’t know something such as a fingering or a symbol in the music. Use the resources in your book and see if you can figure it out.
- An experience problem means that you know what to do, but your muscles need to get used to doing it. When you find an experience problem, play through it slowly until it is really good (you can play it at least 3 times without a mistake), and then speed it up little by little.
- Always practice with a pencil (not a pen). If you make a mistake 3 times in a row, write something in to fix it. This could be counting, fingerings or possibly a circle around something that you miss such as a repeat sign or a dynamic marking. DO NOT CIRCLE AN ENTIRE AREA – markings should always show you the answer, not just point out the problem.
- Come to lessons with questions. If you are having trouble with something, come up with a specific question to ask me at lessons. Questions about your music should always start with a measure number and a beat number. Here are some examples:
- A question that we will have trouble with: “I don’t get this song. How do I do it?”
- A question that we will have success with: “In measure 23 on count 2 there is a symbol that I don’t recognize. What does it mean?”
Above all, never forget that this is a process that takes time. If it does not sound perfect right away, give it some time and some effort. You can do this!
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