Successful practise comes down to more than just the actual practise session. Patience and determination are other key-qualities you should work on to make the most out of your practise.
Here are four steps on how to achieve your practise-goals:
1. Warm up
As simple as it may seem, warming up is a vital component of a productive practise session, and one that is too often skipped once an intermediate level of playing is achieved.
All serious and professional athletes take the time to warm up before working out, and the same should apply to musicians. You're working your muscles and tendons on a much smaller scale; the muscles in your fingers, hands, and wrists are all getting heavy use. Without stretching them out and getting them prepared, you risk performance injury, which can affect your ability to play. In the worst-case scenario, common performance injuries such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome can force you to stop playing completely. Therefore, before rushing through your Chopin etude, consider investing some time into scales, arpeggios and Hanon exercises upfront.
Pick an exercise, a scale, or anything that really gets your fingers moving. Your teacher or local music shop can advise you on must-have warm-up literature. The key is to start slow. Just because you can play your scales in allegro straight away, it doesn’t mean you should. Another good idea is to warm up to a click, especially before going on stage or doing a studio recording. The monotonous click calms down your nerves and allows you to focus on the performance. Also, if you are limited in time, start with the least technically challenging piece to allow the muscles to ‘wake up’.
2. Take short and long breaks
The importance of taking breaks is as important as the playing time itself, especially if you're practicing for extended periods. Even with a solid warm up, take ten minutes to just relax after playing for an hour. This will give your body and mind time to recover from any fatigue and actually allow you to practice longer. Use this break as an opportunity to air the room, change your sitting position, have a drink, stretch your back and arms, rest or close your eyes …
If you practise every day, it’s also a good idea to have one day a week as your designated "break day." Don’t play at all on this day. The same concept applies here as with the shorter breaks during practise sessions: you are allowing your body to recover from all of the stress that has accumulated over the course of the week’s practising. In my experience, this has allowed me to practise in a more focused way. I often set weekly goals, which are concluded with a break (where I make new goals or edit current ones).
3. Record yourself
Another concept that is far from new, yet often forgotten, is listening to a playback of yourself. If you don’t already, record some of your practise sessions with your phone. Recording yourself essentially allows you to be your own private instructor, and with the affordable and easier-than-ever technology available, there is no excuse. As one of my old college professors once told me, "The tape doesn't lie." Your recordings often reveal ugly truths, as all of the small playing errors are right in your face. This is a good thing, however, since it allows you to identify problems in your playing that are difficult to hear otherwise.
This is an absolute necessity for anybody with aspirations of making a career as a studio musician. Recording is much different than playing live, and it's essential that you have some recording experience to get used to how it feels prior to taking professional gigs.
4. Apply your practise
This is probably the most important part of practising.
It doesn't matter how much music theory you have memorised or how many fancy scales you can play if you can’t apply it to the real performance.
Set yourself a long-term goal, apply for an audition or sign up for the annual school recital, a summer masterclass or competition. Applying your practise means getting out there and playing with and for other people. It’s all nice and good practising on your instrument at home but once in a concert environment, your perception and capability to think change rapidly when your nerves kick in. On these occasions you also will get immediate feedback and can even pick up some new ones from the other players.
Here are four steps on how to achieve your practise-goals:
1. Warm up
As simple as it may seem, warming up is a vital component of a productive practise session, and one that is too often skipped once an intermediate level of playing is achieved.
All serious and professional athletes take the time to warm up before working out, and the same should apply to musicians. You're working your muscles and tendons on a much smaller scale; the muscles in your fingers, hands, and wrists are all getting heavy use. Without stretching them out and getting them prepared, you risk performance injury, which can affect your ability to play. In the worst-case scenario, common performance injuries such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome can force you to stop playing completely. Therefore, before rushing through your Chopin etude, consider investing some time into scales, arpeggios and Hanon exercises upfront.
Pick an exercise, a scale, or anything that really gets your fingers moving. Your teacher or local music shop can advise you on must-have warm-up literature. The key is to start slow. Just because you can play your scales in allegro straight away, it doesn’t mean you should. Another good idea is to warm up to a click, especially before going on stage or doing a studio recording. The monotonous click calms down your nerves and allows you to focus on the performance. Also, if you are limited in time, start with the least technically challenging piece to allow the muscles to ‘wake up’.
2. Take short and long breaks
The importance of taking breaks is as important as the playing time itself, especially if you're practicing for extended periods. Even with a solid warm up, take ten minutes to just relax after playing for an hour. This will give your body and mind time to recover from any fatigue and actually allow you to practice longer. Use this break as an opportunity to air the room, change your sitting position, have a drink, stretch your back and arms, rest or close your eyes …
If you practise every day, it’s also a good idea to have one day a week as your designated "break day." Don’t play at all on this day. The same concept applies here as with the shorter breaks during practise sessions: you are allowing your body to recover from all of the stress that has accumulated over the course of the week’s practising. In my experience, this has allowed me to practise in a more focused way. I often set weekly goals, which are concluded with a break (where I make new goals or edit current ones).
3. Record yourself
Another concept that is far from new, yet often forgotten, is listening to a playback of yourself. If you don’t already, record some of your practise sessions with your phone. Recording yourself essentially allows you to be your own private instructor, and with the affordable and easier-than-ever technology available, there is no excuse. As one of my old college professors once told me, "The tape doesn't lie." Your recordings often reveal ugly truths, as all of the small playing errors are right in your face. This is a good thing, however, since it allows you to identify problems in your playing that are difficult to hear otherwise.
This is an absolute necessity for anybody with aspirations of making a career as a studio musician. Recording is much different than playing live, and it's essential that you have some recording experience to get used to how it feels prior to taking professional gigs.
4. Apply your practise
This is probably the most important part of practising.
It doesn't matter how much music theory you have memorised or how many fancy scales you can play if you can’t apply it to the real performance.
Set yourself a long-term goal, apply for an audition or sign up for the annual school recital, a summer masterclass or competition. Applying your practise means getting out there and playing with and for other people. It’s all nice and good practising on your instrument at home but once in a concert environment, your perception and capability to think change rapidly when your nerves kick in. On these occasions you also will get immediate feedback and can even pick up some new ones from the other players.
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