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Getting Myself to Practice During Coronavirus Lock Down

I have a confession to make: I had a really hard time getting myself to practice during the lock down. I tried all my normal tricks to get myself to practice, besides gigs because…lock down. Nothing happened. I just couldn’t get myself to do it.

I finally did get myself to practice. Here is the information about it.

Aversion to practice was common during lock down – unless you’re a student.

First, let me put this out there: my students practiced more during lockdown than ever before. They were bored and their flutes and pianos were fun. I was very proud of their progress.

I talked to a lot of adults – professionals and semi-pros, and I wasn’t the only one having a hard time practicing during lock down. It was a common problem. Even Two Set referred to it.

Why was I having a hard time getting myself to practice?

For me, I think I had a hard time practicing because all my gigs got cancelled. It completely erased my accountability. I had nothing to practice for except practicing, itself.

In addition to that, my excitement and anticipation were completely gone because 2020 wiped out all my gigs. Normally I have no problem practicing for its’ own sake, but this time everything was such a downer that my subconscious associated practicing with the downer of the virus.

Finally getting myself to practice.

A friend asked me to write an arrangement of a piece, and that got me excited to open up the piano. I love being creative. Once that spark ignited, I started putting my flute together and practicing that, too.

I wasn’t very rusty at all, which was surprising. I made sure that I was either doing the two-stand method or ending with a fun piece. This kept the spark of joy alive from session to session.

What will I do if this ever happens again?

There were three problems that needed solving for this particular situation.

  1. I needed something to work towards.
  2. I needed accountability.
  3. I needed to erase the fallacy that had crept in about practice.

Here are the things that I’ll do if this ever happens again (unlikely, but good to have a plan).

Get Lessons

One easy way to solve all of these problems would be to get lessons. There’s a reason my students weren’t having problems with practicing. They were working towards a goal and I was holding them accountable.

Sightread Fun, Easy Music

I might also buy some fun sightreading music. I bought a Veggie Tales book to sightread and I’ve been having a blast because it’s easy enough for me to sight read and it’s bringing me back to a time when my friends and I loved that cartoon.

Write Music

Writing music worked this time. I’m not sure if that would be reliable for me or not, it depends on the situation or the composition idea. This arrangement that I’m working on is really fun and it pulled me out of the slump.

Conclusion

I’m not pretending to have all the answers. I know what has worked for me in the past. I know, based on the solution, what would have worked for me in this situation. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Maybe this will help you pull out of the Covid practice slump. Maybe you’re reading this five years from now and there’s another slump that’s going on. I just hope this helps you.

The Boss Practice Technique: Slow Down Then Speed Up.

There are a few practice techniques that involve slowing down, especially with a metronome. This article will be talking about the Boss Practice Technique, which has specific steps. This is mostly used for small sections of music at a time.

It’s very reliable – it will get you where you want to go – but it can be frustrating, so use this practice technique as a last resort. I’ve been told it’s called the boss technique because you’re bossing yourself, the music, and your body around.

Step 1

Slow it down to at least half speed, if not slower, with a metronome. I know metronomes are frustrating, but they’re sometimes necessary. I go more into that here.

Step 2

Speed it up with the metronome. Here’s how to tell how much to speed it up:

Easy: up 2 clicks (5-10 beats per minute)
Normal: up 1 click (1-4 beats per minute)
Hard: Stay where you are or go down a click or two.

Step 3

Continue to speed it up until you’re going at least 3 clicks (10-15 beats per minute) faster than your goal.

Step 4

Go your goal speed. It should feel easy, now.

Why Use a Metronome for the Boss Practice Technique?

The metronome is essential to the Boss practice technique because otherwise you’ll go really fast in the easy parts and really slow in the hard parts. It forces you to keep the tempo even. It also forces you to go faster than the goal speed.

The Boss Practice Technique Should be a Last Resort

This practice technique can be very frustrating and should be used as a last resort. It works very reliably, but you should try some of the other small section practice techniques, first, such as practicing backwards, practicing inside-out, or rhythmic changes. Those practice techniques go around the wall that your brain and your body have built around this tough section. The Boss practice technique goes through that wall.

Everybody Does the Boss Practice Technique

Whenever I speak to a different musician, I ask what their favorite practice technique is. The Boss technique is the most common that I hear. That’s because it works every time. It may not be as easy, it may not be fun, and it may take a long time, but it works.

Sometimes you have to have a practice technique that works for when nothing else does because no one has thought of the practice technique that is needed for that situation. Sometimes you can’t go around, under, or over the wall that is this problem. You have to go through the wall. This practice technique takes you through the wall.

Is The Audience Being Judgmental?

Back when I was in school, part of what gave me stage fright was that I thought everyone in the audience was being judgmental towards me. I thought that they were going to come up to me and point out everything that I did wrong, or, worse, talk about it behind my back.

I thought they were sitting there, waiting to find something wrong with what I did. Ready to pounce.

My Epiphany

When I was about halfway through college, someone told me that the audience wants me to do well. They aren’t waiting for me to mess up, they’re happy (maybe even excited) to hear me.

It’s been a long road to change my thought process about an audience being judgmental towards me. It’s hard. Every once in awhile, I still catch myself going back into that kind of thinking.

Reminder

Fast forward to now (an undisclosed amount of time, lol). I subscribe to some blogs, a few of which are about psychology because I teach.

A few weeks ago, I saw this quote in an email: “If you feel that people are judging you, it’s really you who are judging yourself.” That quote was to talk about this article from one of the blogs that I follow.

Does that mean I’m judgmental towards myself? Probably, but how am I going to get any better if I don’t assess my playing ability?

It’s good to be able to assess your ability, but this article was a good reminder to not be so hard on myself. Maybe I need to set aside practice times when I only focus on what I did right so I learn how to not be constantly assessing myself.

This article reminded me of that conversation I had back in college. Everyone needs reminders like that. I hope it helps you.

Solving Scary Music with Theory

Ever turn the page in your lesson book and go, “AACK!”? This happens to my students once in awhile. They look at it and their eyes don’t know what to do with it.

Sometimes I direct them to the backwards practice technique, and other times I help them analyze the piece.

What does it mean to analyze a piece?

It can mean a couple of things. Back in college theory class, it meant to figure out the chord structure of the piece. There are more things you can do:

  1. Find the form of the piece (ABA or sonata form, for example) to see how the melody repeats.
  2. Find all the common finger patterns – scales, chords, arpeggios, grupettos, roller coaster scales, finger wiggles, repeated notes.
  3. Find how the phrases might be the same, only slightly ornamented.

How do we analyze the piece together?

Usually, I start at the beginning. We look for the common finger patterns. I point out the patterns and have the student name them.

After the first phrase, I start looking at whether the melody repeats. At the beginning of a new phrase, I check to see if we’ve already done it. Then I point out to the student that it’s the same as before.

Results

After we talk through the piece, the students feel better. It’s not so scary. They say, “I play my scales and chords every day! This piece is so easy!”

Conclusion

Theory is the math of music, and it helps us make sense of it when it’s confusing. I know that theory lessons can be boring or frustrating, but they help make the music easier.

Dude, Just Practice.

I have a lot of clever practice techniques. I love practice techniques because they work so much faster and easier than traditional practice. Whenever I talk to a different musician, I ask what their favorite practice technique is. This is one way that I’ve collected the practice techniques over the years. Another way is that I make them up on the spot.

All the clever practice techniques in the world won’t make up for not practicing. Sometimes you just have to practice the old-fashioned way – play through, stop when you have an issue, work on the issue, and keep on going. Just run through like this once a day and you’ll have it down.

Take your time with the music. It’s a puzzle that you need to figure out. Sometimes you need to just practice and spend some time with the puzzle.

The Octave Practice Technique

The octave practice technique was something I learned from my college piano teacher, Rebecca Mattek. I had worked and worked on hitting this one chord all week, and I just couldn’t get it. She had me do this practice technique and I was able to hit the chord immediately.

This was the first practice technique I ever learned that truly felt like magic. After that, I started to see the magic in all the different practice techniques.

When Do I Use the Octave Practice Technique?

The Octave Practice Technique is supposed to be used when you always miss that one chord. Usually it’s a jump, but sometimes not.

Sorry, winds/strings/percussion, this practice technique is for piano, only.

The Process

Step 1: Play the chord, as written, both hands. You may have to start with the bottom note and add one note at a time until you get to the top note.

Step 2: Play the chord an octave up. If you had one incorrect note, make sure you fix it, then play the entire chord again, correctly.

Step 3: Continue to do Step 2, going up an octave each time, until you run out of room.

Step 4: Do the same process as in steps 2&3 except going down an octave each time until you run out of space.

Step 5: Same process as 2&3, going up from the bottom octave, but stop when you reach the point where the music is written.

Step 6: Back up to the beginning of the phrase and try playing it. If it didn’t work, try twinkling.

Why Does This Work?

Simple answer: repetition.

You just played the same chord in every octave on the keyboard. Twice. How many times did you repeat it?

You also just jumped to that chord in every octave on the keyboard. Twice. You practiced jumping to the chord as many times as you practiced playing it.

Conclusion

This practice technique works like magic. I use it a lot, and I hope you will, too.

Being Lazy Can Be Productive

Being lazy can be productive. I know that I’m opening up a can of worms with this statement, but bear with me. I consider myself lazy. Not a sluggard, but lazy.

Definition of Lazy vs. Sluggard

I am unapologetically a Christian. I know what Proverbs says about being a sluggard. I can hear my dad quoting, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of your hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a thief…” Proverbs 24:33

As with everything, laziness has a spectrum. A sluggard is an extremely lazy person. Someone who is so lazy that they won’t even try. There are no standards of living. As long as there’s food and shelter, everything’s fine. It’s the very bottom end of the spectrum of lazy. I’m not saying this is good at all.

Laziness, in general, is just having a goal of not doing anything as much as possible. The goal is the couch or the recliner.

How Can Laziness be Productive?

The goal is the couch or the recliner, so if something needs to be done, it will be done as efficiently as possible – the fastest, the easiest, and the same quality of work as if I did it the traditional way.

I will spend an extra 5 minutes planning something out so that I can save one minute of doing the task. That seems counter-productive, but what if I have to do that task again? I already spent the 5 minutes figuring out the fastest and easiest way to do it, so that will pay off in the long-run.

Think about all the inventions people have made over the years to make life easier. That even applies to our instruments. Do I *really* need a C# trill key? Hopefully my next flute has one.

How Does This Relate to Music?

My normal practice routine is centered around my version of laziness. I make sure that I do scales, technical exercises, and etudes because they help me learn the repertoire faster. I go into that information in more detail in the linked articles. I call it dividing and conquering.

Another thing I do to increase efficiency is I analyze my music before I play it. I note all the scales (even the modes), the patterns, the form etc., in my head. I know that it helps some people to write it down in the music, but that gets to be too much information on the page for me.

Last but not least, I use a ton of different practice techniques to help me learn my music faster. Here are a bunch of them. I’m always adding more to my list. Sometimes I make them up and sometimes I learn them from other musicians. They’re a way for me to go around, over, or under a wall, rather than try to go through.

Everyone Needs a Lazy Friend

People who aren’t lazy just do things the way they’ve always done them or were taught to do them. Lazy people spend the extra time to figure out the fastest and easiest way to do everything, all the way down to washing their hands. I’ll be your lazy music friend. My goal with this blog is to help you practice faster and easier than you did before.

How to Play with Emotion

Being able to play with emotion is necessary. Being able to fake it is necessary, too. It’s not ideal, but it’s a good skill to know.

Some days you just can’t access that particular emotion, so you need to fake it. Sometimes you haven’t been through enough life to bring the idea across. These are good examples of learning the mechanics behind playing with emotion and learning how to do it on demand.

I’ll talk today about playing with emotion for real and how to fake it. I’ll also talk about how to put emotion into the most bland things in order to make them sparkle.

How to Play with Emotion for Real

Before you start playing, take a minute to bring up old memories or current situations that make you feel the way that this music is trying to emote. Holding that picture in your mind, begin playing the piece.

Allow the part of your mind that holds memories to wander as you play. The piece will hold you in the emotion(s) that the composer wants you to feel. You’ll feel the emotions ebbing and flowing through your body, out your instrument, and into the air.

When you hit the last chord, you will feel free, like everything that your memories were working through were resolved with that last resolution in the last chord.

Notice I only said to allow part of your mind to wander. You still need to concentrate on the notes.

How to Fake Play with Emotion

You’re having a hard time conveying the emotion in this piece. Maybe you haven’t gone through enough in your life so you can’t access those emotions. This is a good thing – it means you have had a good life.

Maybe you’re not an emotional person so you can’t access those emotions. Don’t beat yourself up over that. It’s just not how you’re built. Usually those who are in your boat, though, are really good at following directions. Here they are, step-by-step.

I find that I have to teach 3rd and 4th graders how to fake play with emotion because they just can’t access their emotions on demand, but they’re starting to get into music that requires it.

Step 1: Analyze

Take a moment to analyze each phrase. Each phrase has a sunshine moment. This is usually where the melody goes up, but it can be other things. You get to decide where the sunshine moment is in each phrase because you’re the artist. Draw a sun over each sunshine moment.

Step 2: Dynamics

The piece will crescendo to each sunshine moment and diminuendo away from it. If there are a ton of dynamics already written into the music, these dynamics will be very slight. Same with if it was written before the Romantic Era.

If it’s a piece that doesn’t have much written in there, and it was written after the Classical Era, let her rip. Bring your own dynamics out.

Step 3: Rubato

General rule: Crescendo = faster. Diminuendo = slower.

Rubato should only be used after the Classical Era.

Keep it in good taste, though. It’s all supposed to equal out to the same amount of time in the end.

Adding Emotion to the Mundane and Boring Music

Wait, I’m admitting there are boring things to play? Yup. They’re called scales and technical studies. Sometimes etudes, too.

Scales are a necessary evil – I go into that more here. Technical studies might be even more boring than scales, but they’re also necessary. I go into that more here.

I’ve heard it said that if you don’t play everything musically, then you’re wasting your time. How do you play scales and technical studies musically? Add emotion. You can even make a game of it. Make a list of emotions and alternate between them while you’re practicing your warm-ups.

If you’re having a hard time playing warm-ups with emotion, try faking it, using my directions. It will give you good practice for having to fake your emotions with other pieces.

Conclusion

It’s a wonderful experience to play your instrument with emotion, but sometimes we have to develop that skill. It’s good to have a step-by-step plan to add emotion to anything. It helps with your overall musicianship and adds some sparkle to your music.

Using Different Sounds as a Practice Motivator

Using different sounds is a great motivator for anyone who needs to run through something multiple times, but can’t get themselves to play something more than once. I know that I’m guilty of only playing through everything once!

What do I mean by using different sounds?

Depending on the instrument, you could think about it as experimenting with different ways of playing it – 8va, different tone colors, play loud, play quiet, etc.

I will give examples below for each instrument that I teach.

Electric Piano

It’s probably the easiest to change the sound on an electric piano. You just push a button and it sounds like an organ, a harpsichord, or even a brass band.

You should see the way kids light up when I tell them that they need to use their pieces to help them decide which sound effect they like the best. When they come back the next week, the parents tell me that they went through their pieces 3-7 times per day. Woohoo! Grown-ups can have that fun experience, too.

Acoustic Piano

When my oldest daughter started playing the piano, she loved to practice every piece in every octave on the keyboard.

She started with the bottom octave, moved up to the next octave and played the same piece. Moved up to the next octave. So on and so forth until she got to the top octave, then started over on the process with the next piece.

I’m not saying you have to be that meticulous, but you could do it a couple octaves down or a couple octaves up, just to hear the tone color change. That would be a grand total of three times through.

Flute

When I was in college, I was the piccolo player. I would practice everything on both instruments. My fingers were faster on the piccolo, so sometimes I’d work things out on that instrument then switch to the flute. That would be one option for using a different sound, if you have a piccolo. 🙂

Flutes can change our tone color at the drop of a hat. I wrote about that more in detail here. Why not use that to our advantage? You could try that rhaspy, airy tone that the Irish use on the flute for almost a percussive instrument. Try playing the piece in every tone color of the rainbow, one at a time, and decide which one you like.

All Instruments

Using different sounds as a practice motivator has a lot of different applications for any instrument. Here is a short list of different options, feel free to add to the list.

  • Volume – ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp
  • Emotion – try playing it sad, happy, angry, etc.
  • Articulation – staccato, legato, marcato, accented, etc.

Seriously

I’ve mentioned a few things that serious musicians do to create their own interpretation of the music – dynamics, tone color, emotion, and articulation. They experiment with how they want to play a phrase to get their message across in the best way.

Using different sounds might be a great practice motivator because it’s fun. It’s also serious work. If fun doesn’t motivate you, maybe discovering your interpretation of a piece will be motivating for you.

Conclusion

Everyone likes to experiment with different sounds on different pieces. It not only makes kids light up, it also has a really good purpose. Sometimes that purpose is to convince yourself to, “Play it again, Sam.” Sometimes it helps with your interpretation of the piece. However it helps, don’t be afraid to experiment. 🙂

The Inside-Out Practice Technique

The Inside-Out is a practice technique that I came up with, myself. If someone else came up with it before 2016, then I’m not aware of it. I use it as a secondary practice technique – a safety net, if you will. Hopefully it will help you just as much.

When to Use the Inside-Out Practice Technique

One example of when to use the Inside-Out practice technique is if you tried practicing backwards and you didn’t learn it as well as you wished. You know that your brain needs to spend more time in puzzle mode, but practicing backwards again would just be tedious.

Another example is when there are two lines of 16th notes coming up. You see them, and you hope you can play them. You get to that section, and you fall apart. It wasn’t that you weren’t prepared to play it, you may have even gotten the first couple of notes from that section, but you were so overwhelmed by it that your eyes didn’t know what to do with it.

How to Use the Inside-Out Practice Technique

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using this method.

Step 1: Find the Middle.

It could be the middle page, measure, or note. Count through to find it. Don’t estimate because as you’re counting, your subconscious mind is reading the notes.

What about if it’s an even number? Let’s say you’re going by measure, and there are 8 measures in the scary section. If the last measure looks harder than the first measure, then #5 is the middle. If the first measure looks harder, then #4 is the middle. That way the harder end of the section is played twice.

Step 2: Play Only the Middle.

This is as simple as it sounds. Only play the middle page, measure, or note. See? It’s not that scary.

Step 3: Add On, etc.

In this step, you add the note/measure/page on either side of the middle and play it. You keep doing that until you get to both ends.

My Experience

For myself, I use the Inside-Out practice technique when practicing backwards wasn’t quite enough. I know that I need to practice the whole thing backwards again, but if I do, it would be really frustrating for me.

When I’m teaching, I use it in these situations:

  1. The student needs help practicing and they already know how to practice backwards.
  2. The student’s eyes glaze over when sight-reading a new piece as they crash and burn (overload).
  3. I assign to alternate between practicing backwards and inside-out, every other day, for the week. I usually do this after they’ve gotten the bones of the piece down, but need to spend more focused time with it.

Conclusion

The Inside-Out practice technique is a unique tool for your toolbox. For me personally, I use it as a secondary technique. It’s my safety net for when my favorite doesn’t work as well as normal. Some respond to it better than practicing backwards and use it as their favorite practice technique. How about you?