Five tips to improve music practice

It is a skill within itself to know HOW you practice your instrument when at home. Here are some ideas and tips to hopefully make practice feel a little more directed.

1.  Always plan your practice and time it! 

Having a goal and idea of what you want to get done and use that notebook that your teacher writes in each week to tell you what to do. 

Plan for maybe a 10-15minute chunk of practice and use a timer to help with your focus.

2.  Don’t be afraid to break your music down into tiny pieces if that helps you understand your music better. 

Small chunks are much more approachable, focus on tapping the rhythm of a few bars, focus only on correct notes, then put it together when you feel ready. 

Do what makes sense to you! It’s better to know small parts of your music progressively and thoroughly as opposed to feeling overwhelmed by trying to attack an entire piece.

3. Don’t always play from the beginning of your music during your practice. 

We know it’s tempting! especially when you feel really good about how you’re playing that section! 

Unfortunately, all that does is make the start sound great, and the rest of the piece feels unfinished and unprepared. 

We want to make sure you feel great about your practice! 

Avoiding certain sections can make you feel more frustrated and less motivated to play and learn them which can lead to feelings of guilt and feeling discouraged.

4. Think about chords in relation to your sheet music

All of our music that we have EVER learnt is based on a set of chords. 

By learning those chords, it can make learning new music easier to grasp as you’ll know where to place your hands.

5. Record yourself

After all of these steps, when you feel like you’re fluent in playing through your pieces – record yourself. 

What can you pick up? Are you playing dynamics, correct articulation? rhythm etc?

These are just some of the many things you can do to make practice more productive at home. Ask your teacher for more fun tips, and if you’re unsure of anything, bring your questions to the lesson – it’s our job to support you in your learning! We want to help 🙂