How To Practice:

• I. Goal Planning
  • A. After your weekly lesson, sit down with a piece of paper and decide specifically what major areas of your playing need work. Take two or three major areas and write them down. Do the same for specific sections of etudes, solos, excerpts, and scales.
  • B. Develop a schedule with a desired amount of practice hours and divide the following according to what things need the most work to what needs the least.
    • 1. Technical: Stroke Technique, speed, power, height, interval changes, stickings, crossovers, legato rolls, permutations, etc.
    • 2. Solo Work
    • 3. Excerpts
    • 4. Scales and arpegiated chord exercises
    • 5. Sight Reading
  • C. Decide what specific aspects of these areas are giving you trouble and depending on the amount of work needed, allocate a specific amount of time in your schedule to that area and only that area.
  • D. Plan your practice down to the hour and time of the day that you will be working on these areas.
  • E. FOLLOW YOUR SCHEDULE!
  • F. Write down a long term goal for the year, one for the month, and one for each week.
• II. Practice Correctly
  • A. If you are playing something for the first time, try to play it from beginning to end without stopping (unless you fall completely apart).
  • B. Be conscious of what gave you the most trouble and mark it on the music (specify what the trouble was i.e., rhythms, notes, interval changes, permutations, etc.).
  • C. Start at the beginning of the piece and work on a specific part. Perfect the notes, rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, musicality, tempo, and what ever else you might think of.
  • D. Play things slow at first and use a metronome.
  • E. Do not go on until that area has been corrected or improved.
  • F. Before you move on, take a break. Then return to the music and play it straight through at a comfortable tempo.
  • G. Do not make value judgments about you or your playing. Focus on the task at hand and if an area continuously gives you trouble, analyze what the problem was and try to correct it objectively. (Don’t indulge in useless self talk, "I suck", etc.)
• III. Sight Reading (keyboards)
  • A. Look at the key signature
  • B. Find the shortest note value and set your metronome to the speed at which you can read these notes the most comfortably. This will require experimentation, but after reading for a while, you’ll get to know what your "reading speed" is. For example if you know you can read eighth notes at q=100, then if the etude has sixteenth notes, set your metronome for 50.
  • C. Play the piece three times following these rules:
    • 1. Do not stop, stay in time with the metronome
    • 2. Play all the rhythms correctly. Note accuracy should come by the third time.
    • 3. Do not look away from the music, your eyes should be focused on the music and looking ahead at what you are about to play.
    • 4. Do not look down at the keyboard. You need to develop peripheral vision and a kinetic knowledge of where the notes are. Your music should be low enough so that you can see the keyboard peripherally, without taking your eyes off the music.
  • D. The more you practice, the more your "reading speed" will increase, so adjust your metronome accordingly.
• IV. Visualization and Listening
  • A. The student should listen to something everyday. This should include recordings of their own instrument, other instruments, orchestras, ensembles, and singers.
  • B. The student should always visualize themselves in a stressful situation in order to perform effectively when the situation arises.
  • C. The student should always take time during the day to visualize themselves playing like the best player they can imagine.
• V. Meditation
  • A. The musician should meditate daily.
  • B. Meditation should occur as frequent as possible before a practice session and/or a lesson.
  • C. The meditation should focus on relaxation, visualization, mindfulness, and enjoyment of the aesthetic aspects of music.
  • D. Meditation should also occur away from music and the practice room.
  VI. Tips and Philosophies
  • A. Always practice for a musical reason, the beauty of the music should be the most important thing.
  • B. Frustration just leads to more frustration, fix the problem at hand and know your limitations.
  • C. Analyze everything you play from a historical, theoretical, musical, and practical perspective.
  • D. Read as much on your instrument and the music you play as possible.
  • E. Internalize the music, try to memorize everything you play so that it becomes a part of you.
  • F. It’s OK to take a break when things are frustrating.
  • G. Listen to the greatest players in all instruments. Borrow what things you like and add your own things in order to develop your own style.
  • H. Change the negatives into positives, learn from your mistakes.
  • I. Don’t be a percussionist, brass player, string player or singer, BE A MUSICIAN.
  • J. Do not procrastinate.
  • K. Don’t beat yourself up. Keep your goals in mind and remember that development is a process. A long journey starts with one step.
  • L. Learn to be flexible and receptive to your insights, you are your own best teacher.
  • M. Play just for fun.