Wednesday, November 8, 2017 by Madeleine King | Pedagogy

The key to success for any musical instrument (and indeed, for acquiring any new skill) is practice. Unfortunately, a lot of the time practicing feels like a chore, and it's easy to procrastinate the week away between lessons, only to find yourself frantically cramming an hour before class.

Here are some ideas to avoid that last minute cram-session, and lift yourself out of a skill-plateau:

1. Keep your instrument within reach.

Ever hear the expression "out of sight, out of mind"? That is true for practicing as well. You're less likely to do it if you have to go and dig your practice chanter out of your pipe case every time. Instead, keep your PC out on the coffee table, on your desk, in the car - wherever you'll spend some time wasting time (during commercials or waiting for the light to change - whatever). Practice scales, exercises, even do a little ear-training and see if you can pick out radio jingles, rock tunes, or whatever else you're hearing around you. 

I have the benefit of having several extra chanters that I sprinkle throughout the house... whenever I'm waiting for a pot to boil, I'm working on exercises or my competition 2/4. If you don't have that luxury, keep your PC wherever you waste the most amount of time - just don't forget to put it back in your case before your lesson!

2. Your smartphone is a great practice tool.

Most people carry their smartphone around with them, and these days, there is an app for just about anything. Need a metronome? Need a tuner? Forgot your sheetmusic? Most of the tools you might need while you're practicing can be downloaded onto your phone and then they're always at your fingertips.

3. Use your inner-voice.

Believe it or not, you can practice even without having an instrument in your hands. Try visualising you music in your mind. Run through it using a pencil rather than a practice chanter. Or just bring the sheet music with you and run through it silently. This is useful in situations where you know you will have time for practice but you can't make any noise. Or it can be used for those impromptu moments of free time that happen while you're out and about in daily life - say, in the waiting room at the dentist, or while you're riding the metro to work - and you haven't brought tools with you.

4. Gamify your practice time.

The concept of "gamification" is becoming increasingly popular for many different applications, for everything from fitness to crowd-sourcing. Why? Because it works. Making your practice time into a game makes it more fun, helps you to set goals, and helps you to self-assess your skills. 

First, decide what you are attempting to do - are you trying to memorize a tune? Are you trying to improve your technique? All of the above? Then, take those goals and break them down into milestones. If your goal is to commit a piece of music to memory, you could break it down into bars or phrases, for example. Next, you can assign points for each of the milestones - example, 1 point for each bar played successfully from memory. As you move through your practice, you give yourself a point-score. With each practice session, try to improve your score.

5. Mix it up.

Doing the same things every time you sit down to practice gets monotonous. Try something different - start the tune from the middle. Practice exercises in the reverse order. It's easy to plateau in your playing when you are bored. In fact, some studies show that if you add an additional challenge - for example, playing a particularly difficult passage while walking or standing on one foot - it will help your brain create additional neural pathways, allowing you to master a skill more quickly and more permanently [1].

Good luck and happy practicing!

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