Of course, lesssons should be about HOW to practice and your teacher should be good at practicing and transferring that knowledge. But that’s the point. Your music success is not about your raw musicality or how good your teacher is at playing or how fun the lessons are despite all of this being important.
The bottom line is how you practice when you’re on your own.
Here are some questions you need to ask yourself:
Is it rushed?
No good practice gets done unless its slowed right down. Remember that.
Is it lazy?
Skipping ahead past mistakes? Might as well not even pick up the instrument. Honestly.
Do you play from top to bottom?
This is what you do when you want to test the performance quality. If it’s not ready for a performance, there’s not much of a need to do this. It’s still good to do, as long as it’s occasional.
Do you actually repeat your mistakes?
This is the best practice you can do. If you’d spend only 30 minutes JUST repeating your mistakes slowly and correctly, you’d make more progress than most people do in 4 practice sessions.
Do you break down difficult sections into smaller parts?
Take it 1 bar or 2 bars max at a time. If you have trouble with this, take it only two notes at a time. Sometimes your mistakes lie in the bridge between just two notes. If you fix that bridge, the whole bar or section is now perfect.
Do you slow down when you need to?
If great practice could be boiled down to two things, it’s: 1.Practicing the right part 2. Taking it slow. That’s it. Yes it’s boring, but it gets the result you want faster so you can perform and have fun way sooner.
Do you practice only pieces and no technical work?
This is like training sprinting without ever jogging. Or stretching. The technical work teaches how your fingers should move. If you only practice pieces, your fingers won’t learn how to move in the proper fashion to allow for fast, clean playing.
Do you get frustrated?
This is normal, and great. It shows that you care. Just take a deep breath, you’re probably going way too fast. If you go slow enough, nothing it stressful.
Do you get distracted?
Eliminate distractions from your envrinoment. Take your phone out, play when people aren’t home, do what you need to do until your mind is accustomed to focused practice.
Are you just playing the notes and not focusing on tone, dynamics, phrasing, articulation and feel?
This is great when you need to fix your notes or fingers or rhythm. But if that’s already perfect, you need to pay attention to how you actually sound. Is there any life to your music?
Do you record yourself and listen back to analyse where you make mistakes?
This is great for when you think you’re ‘done’ and the piece is without mistakes. There’s always some lingering…Regardless this is a great practice technique.
Are you just practicing on autopilot or are you in control?
Very big one. This will determine whether you repeat mistakes 3 in a row perfectly and are practicing the right sections. Without your own conscious control, your practice sessions will very soon turn into a disorganised solo jam session. Nothing wrong with that if it’s for fun, but if you want progress, you need to exercise control.
Are you visualising the performance environment to prepare mentally?
An amazing technique, imagining that you’re in your exam or performance while performing at home will greatly reduce your nerves in the real moment. Performing for others like family and friends is a superb idea as well.
Like I always say:
Practice your mistakes slowly, 3x in a row perfectly. If you only do this for a whole practice session for all your mistakes, you will make remarkable progress.
