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Here’s a guide to better practicing. I use these quick tips myself and prescribe them to my students. Although many of the ideas listed may seem like common knowledge, you have to ask yourself, “do I actually do this when I practice?”
This list is meant as an inspiration to practice well rather than any kind of “answers” or “tricks.” The truth is, if you ask any professional musician about how they learned to practice they will usually answer with something like this:
“I learned to practice by studying with excellent teachers. Every teacher gave me some of their years of experience and after some time I learned to incorporate them into my own practice philosophy.”
Use a timer and get to work (not play):
Timing yourself is one of the best tips in the book. Remember to set a short time, your goal is to create a time of condensed and concentrated effort, not to slave yourself into practicing a long time. During this time you do work, not play. Work is when you are tackling problems and practicing solutions. Play is when you are just running material. Save the play for the end after you’ve practiced.
Make your work positive:
Reward yourself when you actually get to work. It’s not all about self-discipline. Make your practice sessions into something special. I usually treat myself to a gourmet coffee, which I get to drink when I actually sit down to practice. Others might take the time to get away from everyone and have a bit of quiet time just before practicing. Whatever you do, consider making it a habit that will encourage you to sit down and get to work with a smile, because starting is the hardest part.
Here’s another tip: make your practice session positive by working on ultra-small amounts of music, but very playing well, and exactly the way you want it to sound. If that means only being able to play one tiny half bar of music at a time, then so be it. Choose your ideal aesthetic and make it happen in your playing. This is a way to make sure you feel good after every session, and a way for you to know that you’re on the right track. Reach your full potential, if only in small amounts—it will become easier to get through more material at this new high level of quality each time your try it.
Practice well – problem solving and efficiency:
I already mentioned this briefly but I thought I’d expand on the idea. The best students are the ones who don’t repeat their mistakes. That’s one reason why we have teachers. Teachers teach students to learn how to solve problems and introduce alternative ways of approaching issues based on their own experience. When I teach students how to practice, I tell them that they must isolate problems and get to solving them right away. Find out what the aesthetic is (the particular sound, style, or ideal) and try accomplishing it in small amounts. Make a mental list a of your “problems” and tackle them one at a time. Don’t waste your precious time again and again by repeating mistakes.
Every time you make a mistake or play something in a way you didn’t intend, you are training your muscle memory to repeat that mistake. In essence, you are training to make more mistakes. So make sure you practice well at all times during your condensed and concentrated timer session.
The great classical guitarist John Williams once said that as a child he only practiced 30 minutes a day. John Williams is one of those flawless players whom I would have expected to have been a strung-out child addicted to practice by age five. But instead, he only practiced 30 minutes a day? I can only imagine that during those 30 minutes he used his time ultra-wisely. I tell my students that you don’t have to practice very much, but you do have to practice very well. Here’s a video of John Williams playing.
Get inspired:
Before you practice you need to remind yourself about why your are practicing in the first place. It’s probably because you love playing music and taking part in this great art form. Maybe it’s because you like creating music by combining your own interpretive ideas with that of mastermind composers such as Bach.
Reading material can be great too. Maybe it’s this blog or maybe a book about practicing, but whatever you read in needs to get you inspired to play. Maybe even better is watching YouTube videos of professionals. Sometimes just watching others can inspired us and teach us on a subconscious level.
Keep at it:
My students have taught me a lot about the importance of routine and consistency. They show up to lessons every week and practice on average 45 minutes to one hour each day. After a year of lessons, they are good little classical guitarists—they’re happy, I’m happy, their parents are happy. All they had to do was practice regularly. They didn’t doubt themselves in their practice sessions because practicing is like brushing their teeth—you just do it every day. Whether you’re practicing for 4 hours a day or just 45mins, be consistent.
Some of the greatest people in history weren’t the smartest ones or the most talented—they were people who simply did whatever they set out to do. While the rest of us were watching 1000 hours of Star Trek episodes, those guys were out there practicing. So get to it and “make it so!”
Keep a practice journal:
Practice time logs are useful but I often burn out keeping track of time in log. I just try to play a consistent amount everyday. However, one neat thing about a timed log is to measure your progress during a week in relation to your amount of practice. If you practiced a ton and your feel like a better player..well then you know there a connection there. I prefer a practice journal. In your journal I recommend you:
Write down the problem you are planning to solve and where it occurs in the piece of music. Make sure to revisit it if it wasn’t solved to your satisfaction.
Make a list of technical exercises to work on that outline a weakness in your foundational skills. So, for example, if a legato scale passage is a problem, you might need to focus on practicing legato scales.
Keep a list of goals you’ve actually completed. Being able to say “I really did get better at that today” is wonderful thing to say at the end of your practice session.
Maintain a balanced technique routine:
All I can say about this is that if you want to feel good and positive about your sessions you have to keep your technique in order. Sloppy technique feels awful and can be a constant negative drain on your energy. So keep your technique up and you’ll likely find your practice sessions to be more positive.
Learn to read music well:
For many of us, this is the #1 issue leading to mental fatigue during practice. If you don’t have to use up energy learning where the notes occur you can dedicate your energy toward technical and musical considerations. So make sure to incorporate music reading into your practice sessions.
I usually make students spend a solid year on music reading so that when we begin to focus on harder repertoire they will not find it exhausting.
Record yourself:
There are tons of inexpensive mp3 recorders out there so pick one up because they are great tools. Many students find that listening to there lessons and concerts give them a chance to hear themselves objectively.
Make Musical Friends:
I’ve noticed very clearly the connection between my students who have musical friends and the ones who don’t. The students with music friends are often more inspired and have additional energy and ideas stemming from their musical conversations outside of the lesson. So make contacts by joining a club or orchestra, play some duets with someone, or just go to concerts and introduce yourself.
Because practicing music is a life-long activity, don’t do it alone!
