Practice? What? How?
aka Practicing 2.0: How do I practice? Why should I practice?
"I'm not a beginner anymore. I don't need help practicing."
NOTE: These practice tips are geared toward beginners in their first year of playing. However, many of the strategies are still useful for more advanced students when they face a particularly difficult passage.
Many times, parents aren't sure what effective practice time looks like and sounds like. You know they are supposed to get out the instrument and play it, but what exactly should they be doing? Much of our lesson time is has been spent on teaching "practice strategies" - so this is a particularly good time to share those with you as well. These same strategies work for more advanced students whenever they encounter a piece of music that does not come easily for them, as well.
What steps are part of an effective practice session?
Warm Ups (about 3-5 minutes):
This is the time to set the stage for good playing and continuous improvement. I ask all students to warm up with scales, finger patterns and bowing patterns. This is a time to play well-known patterns without worrying about reading notes and working out what to play. This frees the mind to focus on some of the more physical and technical aspects of how to play. If students know they are having a particular issue in their playing or posture, they can focus on this while playing something that takes very little thought as it is easy, memorized and well known.
Students will likely have "D scale" on their assignment grid every week for two years. This doesn't mean I think they don't know that scale yet! It means that I know that they DO know it well, and it's a great time to focus on their bow grip, or relaxing their bowing arm, or keeping a straight bow, or careful in-tune finger placement, or keeping the instrument high on the shoulder, or pulling a better tone from the instrument - or whatever their current personal playing issues might be. If they whip through the D scale, and say, "Yup! I know that one!", they are missing the point!
**The idea here is to pay careful focused attention to HOW students are playing.**
(Not what they are playing)
Working out assigned pieces (about 8-10 minutes):
This might be lesson book exercises, and/or concert pieces. Generally, assigned pieces are progressively more difficult - and new notes, scales, keys and rhythms are introduced in each section of the book. This is a time for careful, detailed, step by step playing. I'll outline that process in more detail below. For now, let's just say that trying and seeing if you "get it" yet is the long way to make it through this process. Students should be listening to and analyzing their own playing, and applying a logical, step-by-step process to working out difficult passages. Not just hoping to get lucky!
Playing/Reviewing Well-Known Pieces (about 4-5 minutes):
Careful practice to work out new pieces at a high enough level of challenge to allow growth can take a lot of concentration and hard work. Students should definitely take the time on a regular basis to play some things that they already know well, and can play easily and for fun. If all you ever do is work your way through things that are difficult, and stop playing them as soon as you CAN play them - - that's a recipe for frustration and no fun! It's always ok, and even encouraged, to spend part of your practice time playing old favorites that you can play well. Just don't forget to spend most of your time on the new pieces, because that is where you will grow and improve.