Practice Tips
I see our job as music educators is to take you on your own musical journey, in whatever form that takes, it could be to achieve exams or just for your own edification. You would be amazed how many people really have no idea how to practice effectively, practice should pave the way for success and growth. In a 30 minute lesson we can show you what to do but it's the practice outside of the lessons where the real progress is made.
Learning an instrument is a wonderful part of life, it has been proven that people who learn an instrument are…
Smarter
Have a richer social life
Less stressed
Have a sense of achievement
More confident
More patient
Improved memory
Increased sense of discipline and time management skills
More creative
*https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/reasons-to-play-a-musical-instrument.
How to do Successful practice
In the years I have been teaching I try to encourage my students to play constantly and with curiosity. Opposed to just sitting and replaying what you were working on with your teacher. I try to encourage exploration of new things, as well as what happens in your lessons. Be curious with your music. To put it bluntly, if you practice is boring, then you are doing something wrong, time to shake it up a little. If this is you, please do discuss it with your teacher, we have all been there and we are happy to share our experience with you.
The keys to successful practice are based around, how much time you spend with your instrument, the structure of your practice and what you work on in your practice. Your instrument should be your happy place, that you want to return to time and time again, not only to do your ‘work’ but also to express yourself and potentially emotionally.
How long should my practice be?
A little practice everyday will yield much better results than a long session once a week however we do appreciate that many of us have busy lives. As our rule of thumb ‘play for one minute everyday for each year that you have been alive’, so for a 10 year old that would be 10 minutes everyday, 70 minutes a week, - bad news for some of our older students!!
This does change once you get to the slightly more serious grades, this table gives you an idea of how much practice you should be doing.
If you can manage this level of practice then in our experience you should be able to complete each grade in one academic year, however if this isn’t possible or you would like to achieve your grades quicker it may be worth considering longer teaching time.
What should I work on in my practice
Probably the most important thing to consider is how you are practicing. Sometimes just playing the piece once and walking away can actually be quite damaging and can reinforce bad habits rather than supporting positive success. What is much more productive is to play a piece through then identify strong and weak areas and then ask yourself the question what do I need to do to make the weak areas stronger,
As a starting point the structure of a graded practice could look a little like this
Now obviously this isn’t set in stone and everyone is different but it can be a nice starting point.
Speaking personally as a busy mum, with a full time job, with many responsibilities and bearing in mind the level of qualifications that I have achieved. I really do understand the age old problem of being ‘time poor’. I find for myself I flick between two practice ideas, one to be ridged with my timetabled work practice time and the second to be fluid to go to my piano whenever the mood takes me. Both have their positives and negatives and it's your job as a musician to find a balance that serves your needs to achieve your goals.
Some children who are struggling with practice times really benefit from practice being part of the daily routine. “I'm going to tidy the living room, I’d love for you to play to me whilst I do it.” Or “your brother is about to have a bath, why don’t you take ten minutes to prepare and we can play show!”
How can parents get involved
I often get asked by parents how they can get involved in their children's music. In terms of being involved with your child’s musical progress, (aside from paying the bill!) what they want is for you to sit and listen to them, tell them what you enjoyed about it.
The first thing I would say is just be a supportive (but yet quite passive) audience, let the teacher be the teacher. I often get children say “Mummy/daddy said this was wrong or this sounded bad” these off the wall comments can actually be very damaging to a person's confidence (especially artists, we are a sensitive bunch!). What is far building in terms of your child’s confidence is ‘that sounded hard for you, can I help you with that?/let’s discuss it with your teacher’.
Far more nurturing in terms of confidence is to share music with your children, here are a few ideas
You could take a video of them playing and send it to the teacher of a friend.
Tell your teacher when there is a birthday/event that is coming, perhaps they could teach them “happy birthday song’ and record it as a special surprise.
Reinforce that you love to hear them play, even if you're not in the room.
Talk to your friends and family about the music they are playing.
Dancing around the kitchen to a tune that makes you happy.
If you can play, play to them; Show them struggles that you have had and how you overcame them.
Sing in the car at the top of your voice!
Sharing fun stories with your children about gigs/concerts that you have been to, get the photos out, laugh about the hair styles/clothes.
If you have a visitor come to the house, set the kids a challenge to prepare a show. (get other siblings involved by nominating them as stage/front of house collecting tickets, draw the curtains, (I’ve never met a child that doesn't love a flashlight!). Most importantly the audience must clap and shout ”Bravo!”
If we (teachers, Students and families) can get the balance right, music can be an amazing addition to your life, one that could support them to become the next Adel or Joe Bonamassa, an emotional outlet, or just simply a wonderful form of self expression that brings joy and happiness.