Practicing

Your practice session is approaching. You need to get work done. How do you make sure that happens? Here’s a checklist to help you have a successful practice session. Before you start:   __ When and how long? Know, or give yourself, a timeframe for your session. __ Where? Do you have your room set […]

It’s a new day, and your practice is still ahead of you. Maybe you feel a little anxious about it. Maybe you are even dreading it. What can you do to have a good practice day? Here are five essential practice habits that I have found to be helpful. Start with your mindset   “Getting

We musicians can get so caught up in the pressures of learning notes that we often forget to pay attention to our bodies and our mental state. Unhelpful habits of attention, muscular tension, and body imbalance can detract from accomplishing your practice goals and allowing you to experience the joy of the music. I am

Have you ever made a face when you heard something out of tune? Hearing poor intonation must be psychologically very close to tasting something extremely sour, because our facial reactions are the same! Everyone wants good intonation, but how do you go about getting it? If you play a woodwind or brass instrument, here are

We all have to keep on keepin’ on when it comes to playing in tune. Since we are fallible humans playing with other fallible humans, every note we play has a chance to go a little off. Here are a few thoughts about keeping up with the challenge of playing in tune: Don’t rely just

When we practice, we are learning to move our bodies in the optimum way to fulfill our musical intention. We improvise, try things out, experiment with this or that musical intention and find the most efficient and effective way to move to achieve that intent.  When we practice well, we are rehearsing a sequence of

While investigating fascinating snippets that I have read about how taking breaks can help our practice, I came across this gold mine of information about how to practice with much greater efficiency and retention of learning. Dr. Molly Gebrian, a violist and scientist with degrees from Oberlin, the New England Conservatory of Music, and Rice,

Even though it is attributed to Jascha Heifetz, no one really knows who first said, “If I don’t practice for one day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. If I don’t practice for three days, the audience knows it.” But most musicians have said a version of

You probably spend hours every week practicing. For all that commitment of time, you feel like you should get a huge return for your efforts. But sometimes, you may be frustrated by the results: after all that time spent, you still haven’t achieved mastery.  If so, you can benefit from a shift in perspective about