More often than not, our busy lifestyle gets in the way, and we have little to no time to practice our music. But, every good musician will say that to master an instrument, you must practice A LOT.
So below, we will share a few tips that will help you maximize your practice time!
— August 19th, 2020
1. Set Your Environment
It is always a good idea to set the environment for your practice, especially if you get easily distracted. But, not all settings will work for everyone.
For instance, you might prefer to practice in the comfort of your room, or you may feel more motivated having a designated “practice room.” Whatever the case might be, make sure you have everything you need to get on with your session.
2. Have a Focused Objective
It’s is vital to go into your practice session with an end goal or clear “task” in mind. Having a focused objective will allow you to accomplish something and help your progress truly.
Here are some examples:
- Memorize pages 1 and 2
- Work this section until able to play left and right hand together slowly with no mistakes.
- Work through the problem area at measure 56 until comfortable, then play/sing through the entire song two times.
3. Warm-Up Thoroughly
Warming up is not only essential for a more fluid practice but also for your muscular health and long-term abilities. Even more so, if your vocal cords are your musical instrument.
So make sure you are thoroughly warm-up for a minimum of 10 minutes before starting your session.
4. Practice Smarter, Not Longer
Stipulating a time limit can contribute to practice feeling monotonous. It can also create stress if you aren’t accomplishing what you want to in a specific time limit. So, leave that pressure aside and practice smarter. In other words, practice when you are genuinely committed to doing the work and can be entirely focused.
5. Make Notes in Your Music
Sometimes we have to make visual reminders for ourselves in our music. You can make notes for:
- Fingerings
- Added ornamentation
- Pronunciation of words
- Anticipating page turns
- Dynamic, tempo, key signature, or time signature reminders
- Accidentals
- Repeats, Dal Segnos, Codas
For a full list of other useful tips and tricks, click here.
This article is a re-post, with small modifications, of “Maximize Your Music Practice Time with These 10 Tips,” an article published on musicnotes.com.
