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Are you getting the most out of your music practice?
We’ve all been there. There’s been this nagging feeling bothering you all week, and you just can't shake it. Then your mom asks if you’re ready for your piano lesson tomorrow. That nagging feeling suddenly turns into a horrible sinking feeling. The look on your face tells the story as you rush off to cram for tomorrow’s lesson.
This sudden burst of practice time may make you feel better, but it probably won’t help you at your lesson tomorrow. Why? Practicing takes more than just moving your fingers over the keys for a few hours. It takes determination, effort, and dedication over a long period of time in order to improve your music. Yes, there are the naturals that can “wing-it”, but somewhere along the way they will be tested and not know how to persevere patiently.
You can get the most out of your practice time if you remember these 5 tips.
1. Practice Consistently
I suggest that my students practice about 3 hours a week. If you break that down, it comes to about 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. This gives you a day to take a much deserved break. What I don’t like to see, is students that cram 3 hours into a few days. Congratulations on achieving the full 3 hours, but you may not successfully perform the music.
For voice, it is essential to stretch your singing time over longer intervals. You need to make sure you are singing at least as long as your lesson time. Many times I find my student’s voices have fatigued in the first 10 minutes of warm-ups. This tells me that they have only been practicing 10 minutes a day or less. I have to precede carefully the rest of the lesson trying to keep their voice from becoming strained with over-use.
Stretching practice over the whole week allows you to focus on the problem areas without worrying about how many minutes you have left. This also gives you the opportunity to spend extra time on fingering, vocal jumps, and coordination. Who knows? You may even accidentally practice longer than 30 minutes. ;)
2. Practice Decisively
The time of day you practice can either help or hinder your musical endeavor. Whatever time you find works for you should be a time when you’re alert. Right after school may not be the best time to practice as the brain is still busy processing bits of information and the body may be tired.
Practicing while tired is not helpful. In fact, it may make you take steps backward in your practicing. (Some of the best advise my professors gave me was to just go and take a nap!) The brain is not focused enough to correct little mistakes. When practiced over and over muscle memory takes over and one tends to go on auto-pilot.
Studies have shown that pairing right brain activities (music) with left brain activities (science or math) actually improves your abilities. You may find practicing music after working on science or math homework helps revitalize your music practice and give you a fresh perspective on a troubling homework problem. Whatever time you choose make sure you stick to that time every day.
3. Practice Responsibly
Sometimes we don’t really have a choice on where we can practice. But the idea is to make sure you are in a place where you can stay focused on the task ahead. *This is where I would like to thank the parents for your dedication and patience as your child practices. Scales, warm-ups, and repetitions are enough to make anyone go crazy, but dear parents, it is all worth that proud moment your see your child perform at recital or competition.
Follow through with the ideas your teacher suggests. A voice student should always have a mirror handy, not for vanity, but to correct the vowel positions. Many times a new student is self-conscious about how big they open their mouth for singing.
I spend a lot of time during lessons just telling students to open their mouths! Imagine if they actually practiced at home with a mirror (like I asked) how much extra time we would have during the lesson?
4. Practice Purposefully
Usually after each lesson, my students will walk away with their music all marked up and a notebook page filled with the areas they should work on throughout the week. Generally, there are small things to work on such as dynamics, some fingering, and some rhythms. Then, there are the bigger problems that need to be worked on: pronunciations of a foreign language, vocal jumps or special techniques, perfecting the right touch to a piece or being sure to memorize a song for competition.
The little things are easy to fix. The larger things take time and must be broken down into small sections or goals. Just the thought of “I will have the pronunciation of this section down before I finish today” helps the student focus on a specific task. It is so easy to begin practicing and forget why you’re working on the piece in the first place.
5. Enjoy the music
Enjoying the music should be obvious, but there are many that do not enjoy what they do. It’s a love/hate relationship. Whether a parent is making them take lessons, or they have just “fallen out of love” with music, it’s hard to make music without enjoying what you’re performing.
You can enjoy the music by understanding why the music was composed or what the composer was going through as he/she wrote the notes. It’s so neat to see that “lightbulb” moment of understanding when my students finally understand the reasons why a composer wrote.
People need to be reminded that all music has a message, and you are the vehicle that carries that message.
So, the next time your mom asks you if you ready for your lesson tomorrow, I hope you can confidently say you are ready because you practiced consistently, decisively, responsively, and purposefully. And don’t forget to enjoy the music!
For more tips on how to practice for your music lessons please visit this link.
