The purpose of a fun practice session is to keep up your morale towards your instrument. It takes longer than the regular practice session, but it has a different overall purpose. It brings the joy back to practicing when everything feels a little dull. Jennifer Cluff mentions this kind of practice briefly in this article.
Two Stacks of Music
You should start with two stacks of music – the music that you’re working on and music that you already know and enjoy. The enjoy part is the most important.
Put the stack of music that you already know and enjoy in order of easy to hard. I like to have the first one to be something from a Disney book, like this or this. That way I can do something fun and enjoyable, yet still be able to concentrate on form or tone.
Fun Practice Session Order
Here’s an example of the order in which you would practice on a day you need a fun practice session.
Easy Fun Music (used instead of tone studies for winds)
Scale warm-ups
Easy Fun Music
Technical Studies
Old Repertoire
Etudes
Old Repertoire
Repertoire
Old Repertoire
Old Repertoire
Let’s talk about that old repertoire for a minute. It can be your standard definition of repertoire – music that isn’t an etude or a technical study and you’ve already learned.
Here’s the thing – there’s no reason why it can’t be an old etude that you loved. Why not? It’s your practice session, your rules. I recently pulled out an old Level 3 lesson book to play Irish Washerwoman because I wanted to.
Prevention
Preventing the need for this kind of practice session is easy – make sure that you play something fun at the end of each practice session.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t do the fun practice session just because you want to. Have an unexpected couple of hours? Do this because it’s fun!
Conclusion
Sometimes things get a little too intense in practice, and everything starts feeling dry and boring. We all need a pick-me-up every once in awhile, and this kind of practice session helps remind you how much you love music.
You know that one kid in class who is always asking questions. That kid is ignored by the teacher because the teacher doesn’t want to answer them. Everyone in the class knows that one kid is the smartest student in the room even though he’s not necessarily answering anything.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions
That student who is asking all the questions learns more every time he gets an answer. That builds on itself. It’s a great habit, one that anyone can do, not just smart people. If you do so, I want you to know that it doesn’t make you sound stupid – it makes you sound smart.
In conversations, I’ve noticed that asking questions helps me become a better conversationalist. It also makes the other person feel better about themselves that they know something that I don’t. I always try to build other people up as often as possible. The world does its best to tear everyone down. I would rather be a bright spot in other people’s lives.
It Doesn’t End in School
Every time I come into contact with any type of professional, I figure out a question to ask them. Here is a list of who I ask and what I ask them:
Piano Tuners – buying tips/how a piano works
Instrument Techs – buying tips/instrument care
Other Music Teachers – anything that’s been stumping me lately
Doctors – prevention/care of self
Professional Musicians – practice routine/performance anxiety fixes
There are many more people of whom I ask questions, but they’re far too many to list. I tried to keep the focus locked on the music section of my life in my list. As you can see, asking questions is a way of life for me.
Conclusion
I hope you start to develop this life skill. It makes a bunch of different parts of your life much easier, not just musically.
If you want to send in questions for me to answer, feel free! I’ll keep you anonymous if I feature your answer on the blog.
We get over-scheduled so easily. It’s hard to judge our limits. Sometimes we need a plan to dig ourselves out and learn a large amount of music quickly.
I’ve gotten this question a few times in the past week or so, but not necessarily from students. The people have over-committed and need to learn a large amount of music in a specified time period. I looked at the time period and it’s definitely doable, but they can’t find a way through it.
It’s recital season, competition season, and musical season. What that means is that there’s a ton of stuff going on in the spring. Because of this, quite a few musicians get extra music to play for their activities, their friends’ activities, and maybe even get some extra gigs.
Whoohoo! Extra opportunities to play!
Sometimes this means that we accept too many opportunities to play and we have more to practice than we can handle. Here’s a plan to dig out of that hole.
Step 1: Make a plan
Here’s an old joke that doubles as an adage: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The adage portion of that joke means that if you have too much to do, make a plan.
This doesn’t have to be a formal plan, it can be a process inside your head. Here’s an example.
Practice twice a day (either morning and night or afternoon and evening).
Play through all pieces during each practice session.
Focus on one piece per session, putting extra focus on a different page or section per day.
It’s important to note – if you’re practicing twice a day, you don’t have to practice warm-ups and technique at both practice sessions. Once a day is fine for those exercises.
Step 2: Follow Your Plan
Figure out how to fit your practice times into your schedule. Keep a practice journal to keep yourself honest or stack your books in such a way that you know where you are in your process.
Not every day is going to be perfect, and that’s fine. Don’t beat yourself up for it. We’re human. Life happens. If you miss one of your scheduled practice sessions this week, it’s not the end of the world. Don’t miss more than a quarter of your practice sessions per week.
Step 3: Help Your Plan Along
There are several things you can do to help your plan along. Here are a few, I hope you can come up with more.
Take naps between practice sessions. It sounds counter-intuitive, but the naps help your body produce myelin which coats the new synapses you’re making by learning the new pieces of music. There’s more information on myelin here.
Work out every day. The article I just referenced in the last paragraph stated that working out also helps the body create myelin. It also increases blood flow to the brain, making it work more efficiently.
Use practice techniques. I go into this more in-depth here. Practice techniques different ways to work around your mind blocks. When I’m teaching them to kids, I tell them that they work like magic.
Watch your technique. You don’t want pain to sideline you while you’re doing all this extra work. Proper technique reduces tension which also reduces pain.
Take stretching breaks. I wrote in this article about how your brain only works optimally for 20 minutes at a time. Because of this, it’s a good idea to set the timer for 20 minutes and make sure you stretch in between your 20 minute sessions. This practice is actually prescribed to me by my doctor and I can really tell a difference when I forget to set a timer.
Conclusion
We get over-scheduled so easily. It’s hard to say no. It’s also hard to judge your limits. Sometimes we need a plan to dig ourselves out and learn that large amount of music that we promised we’d learn.
The end goal of this plan is to learn from our mistakes. This isn’t information to help you make your situation worse. It’s information to get you through a tough time so you can make better choices in the future.
Some students come to lessons perfectly prepared every week. Some don’t. Those not perfectly prepared don’t prepare for various reasons – schedule, burn-out, going through a low time in the music progression, etc. Not everyone is able to practice perfectly every week. Even those who are normally prepared have off-weeks sometimes.
Expectations
In a normal practice session, you would play each of the following things, depending on your level and instrument:
Tone
Scales
Technical Studies
Etudes
Sight Reading
Repertoire
If you’re curious about this list, I go into more depth about it here.
What Do Good Practicers Do?
A student who is really good at practicing basically works up all their pieces really well the first two days or so of practice, then coasts for the rest of the week.
Coasting looks like them playing through everything once, maybe working on a problem here and there, then finishing practice with things they have already learned and enjoy playing.
This takes a lot of drive for the first two days, but the benefits are fabulous. It makes practicing fun. It saves time in the long run. It makes it so the student can perform better in the lesson.
What if I Don’t Have the Drive to Do That?
You may not have the time, energy, or drive to focus on everything on your practice list any given day. This can happen for various reasons – schedule, feeling burned out, etc.
Focus on one or two categories per day. I’m not saying that you should skip a category. You should at least run through every category at least once, unless you’re in big trouble. Then I would recommend using my time crunch technique.
Take a look at your categories. If your technical studies book is really easy, you probably won’t have to focus on it all week. Just play through it once a day and call it good. If you just got a new section for your repertoire, you might have to focus on that a couple of times that week.
Burn-out
If you are going through a burn-out phase, try using the two-stand method. It will insert some fun and joy into your practice and pull you out of your funk. The two-stand method takes more time, but it works.
If you’re having scheduling issues in addition to the burn-out, then go ahead and focus on one or two things per day, as described above, but make sure you’re playing music that you’ve already learned at the end of your practice session. Pull out an old lesson book. Pull out an old piece that you learned for a recital or contest. Goof off on your instrument. Discipline is great, but remind yourself why your play.
You will find yourself coming out of your burn-out quickly.
Conclusion
Everyone goes through times when they can’t focus as well as normal on their practice. Everyone goes through times when they can’t practice as well as normal. It’s good to have more than one way to do things. It keeps things fresh.
It’s December. Our fast-paced world just got a million times faster. What with holiday parties, extra gigs, Advent services at church, and getting ready for Christmas, everyone is walking around in an exhausted stupor. How will you fit in practice?
Here are some ideas.
Get Up Early
Get up earlier than normal. If you do all your normal stuff, quietly, earlier than normal, then you can practice during the time you normally would get ready. It’s late enough that you aren’t disturbing the household, and it checks that item off your list. Woohoo!
Alternate Practice and Something Else
I talk about this a little more extensively in this article. I personally like to use the timer and alternate between housework and practicing. My oldest daughter likes to do this kind of practicing while she’s cooking supper. I endorse this kind of practice to help make homework go faster.
The Time Crunch
Normally you would practice for an hour, but you only have half an hour today. What do you do?
Do a Five Minute Warm Up and run through the toughest pieces that you’re working on. It might be your etude (lesson book) and bits and pieces of your repertoire. Start with the toughest stuff and work from there. That way, if you get to everything, great! If you don’t get to everything, at least you did something.
Mental Practice
This is a good one for during a commute or something like that. Run through the piece in your head, all the way down to what your fingers are doing on each note.
This article explains in better detail how to do it (not an affiliate link, just a fan) and how much it helps.
Practice on a Pencil (Flutes Only)
Sometimes you find yourself waiting or with some dead space in your schedule, but it’s not socially appropriate to whip out your flute in the middle of the Doctor’s Office or the Laundromat. Believe me, I’ve been tempted!
You can still practice your fingerings on a pencil. It’s advisable to also breathe as if you were playing the flute and try to articulate the notes, too.
What’s great about this technique is that it takes out some of the factors that may have been troubling you, like making sure you’re still making a good sound or balancing your flute. In other words, it simplifies things so that when you go back to your flute, you can rock it out.
Listen to your Repertoire
This isn’t practicing per se, but it does help you play things better. It helps your musicianship, your articulations, your dynamics, your phrasings, I could go on and on, but you get it. It helps.
I recommend that my students listen to their repertoire (recital pieces) at least five times per day. Get it stuck in your head. Have the biggest ear worm of all time.
Conclusion
These are all my tricks! If you have a way of fitting in practice that I didn’t think of, feel free to share.
When I was in high school and college, I would practice till my fingers hurt. On purpose. It may have hurt my hands, but I was happy and satisfied afterwards. My band professor in college caught me doing it one time, and he said to never play through pain.
Sports injuries and Carpal Tunnel are common among musicians. We should treat and consider ourselves as athletes by paying attention to form and stretching every 20 minutes of practice.
My Story
As I said before, I used to practice until my fingers hurt on purpose. That’s when my hand pain started. My Senior year of college, my hand pain started coming on earlier and earlier during practice. A year or two later, my hands started to hurt when I wasn’t playing.
A few years ago, someone recommended that I try an Active Release Technique Chiropractor. Dr. Tony Ellis helped me realize that I was holding my flute incorrectly and hand-crossing incorrectly. It caused tennis elbow, which he treated.
Review of Proper Form for Flute
On the flute, you should hold your right hand like you’re taking a book off a shelf. Every finger should be curved, with your fingertips touching the very middle of each key, including your pinky. You will need to adjust your foot joint so that the pinky curves at the same angle as the other fingers. The curvature helps your fingers play fast. The thumb should be holding the flute with the side of the thumb, so you can see your entire fingernail. Holding your thumb so the tip of the thumb is touching the flute is acceptable, too, depending on the size of your hands.
See how you can see the full thumbnail? My fingers aren’t long enough to use the tip of my thumb, but yours might. Everyone is different!See how my pinky matches the curve of the rest of my fingers? I only spent a few minutes finding the correct adjustment for my footjoint, but it was worth it.
For the left hand, use the inside knuckle of your index finger as a shelf to hold up the flute. If you want, you can cut up a gel pencil grip to make a cushion so that vein doesn’t pop out on the side of your knuckle. Each finger should be nicely curved, similar to the right hand.
Here’s the shelf that I’m making with the base of my index finger. As you can see, I’m a thumb Bb person. I didn’t feel confident holding up my flute with one hand while taking a picture with the other, so I used my flute stand.
The entire surface of the lip plate on the body side of the embouchure hole should make contact with your lip and chin. This will help with gripping the instrument as well as tone. I couldn’t figure out how to get a good picture of this concept by myself, so you’ll have to visualize this one. 🙂
The flute should be parallel with your stand, and your feet should be at a 30-45 degree angle from the stand. This prevents the shoulder muscles from cramping up, especially between the angel wings. As with any instrument, your back should be straight.
Please forgive my crude drawing. This is the ideal angle from the stand. If this isn’t possible because you’re in band or orchestra, try putting your stand closer to the person on your left. It will create a similar angle on your body.
In marching band, you’re instructed to carry your flute parallel to the floor and parallel to your body. Don’t do that. It shortens your right shoulder muscles and creates tension (pain). This was part of my problem with pain.
Review of Proper Form on Piano
Piano form is a little less complicated. The fingers should be curved, the wrists should be level with the back of the hand or above (Lizt played with high wrists), your knees should be barely under the keyboard, back straight, and elbows in line with the wrists.
Notice the curved fingers. I was at a weird angle because I was trying to take a picture by myself, so my forearm isn’t as in-line with my wrists as I’d like.
If you have to do hand-crossing, try to keep your forearm parallel to the fingerboard, if the music allows. This way you don’t create tension between your shoulders and in the forearm of the arm that you cross. This was part of my problem with pain.
My arm isn’t quite parallel to the fingerboard, but it’s comfortable. That’s the important part.
It’s Not Always your Instrument
If you’ve reviewed your form and you know that your musicianship is not to blame, it’s time to take a look at other things. Computer? The way you hold your hands while using your smart phone? Other hobbies? Here are some examples from my life.
I had to give up crocheting. I got to the point where I had to choose between crochet and music. I chose music.
When I scrolled through my phone, I used my index finger while my other fingers hovered above the phone. This created tightness, which created pain. I closed my fist except for my index finger so I looked like I was pointing. This solved the problem.
Lately I’ve been getting pain again in my hands. I’ve been paying extra attention to everything I’ve been doing lately to see what’s triggering it. I was on a run the other day and I figured it out.
Proper form in running is to hold your elbows at a 90 degree angle. While I was running the other day, I pointed at something, extending my arm. I felt pain shoot throughout my arm. That tells me that I need to shake out my arms once in awhile during my long runs.
Things That Have Helped Me
Yoga
I do Ashtanga Yoga. This is not just stretching. It’s also strength training and cardio. It is designed to align your body and spine. When body parts are aligned, they work better. Everything is connected.
Tightness creates pain and sports/ligament injuries. Stretching loosens up the tightness. When we do cardio, it forces the blood to even the tightest areas of our muscles, which allows things to heal. When we do strength training, the muscles get stronger and they’re able to do things with less pain.
ART Chiropractor Care
Despite using Ashtanga Yoga since I was 22 years old, some parts of my arms weren’t being stretched or strengthened. This is part of the reason I got tennis elbow, along with the incorrect form I was using. I was going through a lot of pain in my hands and arms.
I was referred to Dr. Ellis and he treated my tennis elbow, along with continuing my chiropractic care for my scoliosis (curvature of the spine). The chiropractor relaxed muscles that I didn’t even know were tight and worked with me to discover in what ways I had incorrect form on the flute and piano.
Stretching
I use stretches designed for carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, neck stretches, and stretches for the shoulders – the top of the shoulder, the portion between the angel wings, and the portion on the bottom of the shoulder blades.
When I take a break every twenty minutes from music or typing, I do these stretches. It keeps the muscles from getting tense, and allows me to practice longer.
Relaxing
In this context, I’m speaking about relaxing the muscles. When I’m playing, I try to pretend that my arms are like spaghetti noodles hanging from my flute or my arms are slinkies hanging from my shoulders over the piano.
I have a problem with cold (icing) – it makes my muscles tense up. Some people need to ice their muscles in order to relax them, but that doesn’t work for me. Here’s what works for me to force my muscles to relax.
Epsom Salt Bath
Heating Pad or Patch
Soaking my Feet (as your feet are, so the rest of your body is)
Massaging my Feet
Conclusion
As more research comes out, we will have to worry about these things less and less because ergonomics will be in mind as everything is designed. In the meantime, do your research. Take care of yourself. Music is intoxicating, but don’t let it hurt your body.
I didn’t know the difference between practicing and playing my instruments until I was in college. I just played through everything that was assigned, usually making lots of mistakes – the same mistakes every time. By doing this, I was practicing the mistakes into my music.
When mistakes are practiced into the music, they get baked in, like a stain that went through the dryer. You can get them out if you know the right way to do it, but it’s really hard. Much harder than if you practiced from the beginning.
Why
Don’t We Learn the Difference Between Practice and Play?
When you first start out, you practice by playing through everything a 1-5 times every day, because everything is too short or easy for the practice techniques. It’s a gradual change to learn how to practice, which not everyone picks up on. On the piano, it usually starts when you learn to play with your hands together. On the other instruments, it’s usually taught in band or orchestra.
The reason not everyone picks up on the difference is because the way the techniques are taught. My teachers showed me how to do the practice technique(s) and figured that I knew how to apply it to my own practice. I didn’t put two and two together.
What
Is the Difference Between Practice and Play?
Practicing means to work on things in a piece that are giving you trouble. There are a ton of different techniques to do this, many of which are described in the General Practice section of this blog. The most common would be to slow down the troubled section in different ways.
Practicing is like doing the dishes. You’re cleaning up the dishes that need to be cleaned. When you play instead of practicing, it’s like pulling all of the clean dishes out of the cupboard and cleaning everything.
Playing means to play through the piece. This is the most fun part of learning your instrument, and the whole reason why you’re learning your instrument. It should be done after the practicing is done. You get to reap the rewards of all your hard work.
When
Should We Practice or Play?
You should end each practice session by playing something you already know. This is your built-in reward and ends your practice session on a good note. Because you end each practice session with something fun, your brain processes the entire practicing session as fun. This helps you come back to practicing over and over. It also helps you keep up the old pieces that you spent so much time learning.
For regular weekly lesson pieces such as etudes or technique, you practice towards the beginning of the week and play towards the end of the week. These are pieces designed to take you only a week to learn.
Repertoire will be practiced for months. Ideally, you would be playing, rather than practicing, the song for the last month or so before your performance. Repertoire is designed to take up to a year to learn, depending on your level.
Conclusion
When
I learned how to practice, my practice time became much more
efficient. Sure, it’s fun to play the music, but it’s not fun to
play with mistakes. Practicing
correctly makes everything more fun.
When
did you figure out the difference between practice and play?
When I took grade school curriculum class in college, the professor said that 5th grade is the hardest. This is because the children are finally fluent in reading, their brains have reached the next stage of development, and the textbooks increase the load. Quickly.
I try to teach the information in this article at the beginning of 5th grade, but sometimes the problem crops up earlier or the student forgets about that conversation. So, I often have the following conversation:
Student: I didn’t practice this week because I had too much homework.
Me: How much homework did you have?
Student: 2-3 hours per night.
Me: Wow, that’s a lot. I completely understand, and your homework is more important than everything else. Can I give you some advice on how to make your homework go faster?
Start with a Piece of Music
Play something. Anything. Play something that inspires you. Something that helps you with any emotions that you’re feeling at the time. Something that you might already know. Play just for the enjoyment of playing.
This supercharges the brain so that you can work at optimal level (an article containing research on that statement is here.), and you are able to do your homework faster from the start.
20 Minutes
Focus begins to wane after 20 minutes (an article containing research on that statement is here, scroll down to the end). Therefore, I recommend that the student sets the timer for 20 minutes and does their homework.
After the timer goes off, they should switch from homework to practicing one piece, whether it be a scale, something from the lesson book, or the current repertoire piece. The student should be away from their homework for at least 5 minutes to allow their brain to reset.
Notice I said, “reset,” and not “rest.” The brain is going to supercharge itself for the next 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes of practice, they can go back to homework for another 20 minutes. Keep cycling in this way until the homework is done.
Here’s what the cycle looks like in list form (I think lists are easier to read).
Play something that’s fun, inspiring, or emotionally cleansing.
Do your homework for 20 minutes, with a timer.
Practice for at least 5 minutes. Usually one item. Scales don’t take long, so it might be scales and something else.
Do homework for 20 minutes, with a timer.
etc.
Results
Over the years I have had several students take me up on this advice. Invariably, they say that their homework time is cut in half. I haven’t timed it myself or witnessed it, but the parents confirmed that it happened.
Some students don’t like this method because they have a tendency to hyper-focus. Hyper-focusing tends to cause loops in thinking, so it’s imperative that a hyper-focused person break up their focus into 20-minute increments (This information is from Healing ADD by Dr. Daniel Amen). This practice technique is something that a parent would have to force on the student because the hyper-focused student wouldn’t allow it for themselves.
From what I’ve seen, most students with attention problems tend to do very well with this method. They love it because they feel that they get part of their lives back. Sometimes these are the ones that report they got their homework done in less than half the time.
The Flip Side
Because of the 20-minute focus rule, if a student is practicing for longer than half an hour, I tell them to set a timer for 20 minutes and stop practicing for five minutes or so, then finish it up.
For myself, I stretch and get a drink of water during this five minute break. Sometimes I’ll even foam roll my shoulders. I come back to practice ready to go.
Not only does this make you more productive in practice, but it also gives you more stamina and it’s good for your muscles and joints. Many musicians have sports injuries from playing an instrument. The practice of taking a short stretching break every 20 minutes helps to prevents this, in addition to other things.
Housework
I hate doing housework. When I’m particularly loathing cleaning on any given day, I like to play Lorie Line’s Heritage II book on the piano. First I straighten the house for 15 minutes, then I’ll play the first piece in the book. Then I dust. Then the second piece. So on and so forth until the house is clean.
By the time I’m done cleaning the house, I’ve also played through the whole book. It’s my way of rewarding myself.
I’ve tried practicing flute while doing housework in this way, but it doesn’t work as well for me. Part of the reason is the fact that I’m feeling emotional. Piano moves my emotions and helps me deal with them more efficiently than the flute.
Another part of the reason why piano helps me clean better is the fact that the piano is a standing instrument. It feels easier to get on and off the bench than it does to pick up my flute, even if I leave it put together while I’m doing the next task. I know that it isn’t actually easier, but sometimes you can’t argue with your subconscious.
The final reason I can’t do housework while playing the flute is because I forget that I was cleaning the house because I’m having so much fun playing the flute. I end up playing for an hour or two, look around the house, and say, “Oops!”
Conclusion
Cycling between homework and practice really helps a student be more efficient with their time. I’ve seen it decrease the amount of homework time, reportedly by half. I haven’t witnessed it, but enough students and parents have reported to me how well it works.
I wish I would have known about this back in college when I was struggling to write papers and doing all-nighters. It might have been a little disturbing for my roommate if I pulled out my flute at 3AM, though (mischievous smile). I wonder how many college kids would be knocking down the door of a practice room if they saw the person inside doing their homework.
It’s a way to correct mistakes and problems without nitpicking, so I like to use it with a student who seems demoralized. This is for the student who feels that everything they do is wrong.
This practice technique is very effective, but it isn’t one you can do yourself. You need a partner, preferably one who you want to emulate. I use this as I teach for both flute and piano, so there are sections in here that just apply to flute alone. The other portions apply to both instruments.
What is it?
Practicing music via osmosis is just playing with someone else. It’s a way to correct mistakes and problems without nitpicking, so I like to use it with a student who seems demoralized. This is for the student who feels that everything they do is wrong.
The way this works is the person who needs it automatically adjusts based on what the other person is doing. It’s an involuntary reaction, they don’t even realize they’re doing it.
When do I use it?
There are various times when it’s a good idea to use this practice technique, and I’ll cover each one separately.
You just can’t “get” a section of music.
You want to learn good tone quickly.
You want to learn good technique quickly.
You need to build your confidence.
Someone needs to practice but wont (*whistles innocently*).
You just can’t “get” a section of music.
It’s easier to mimic someone who’s better than you when you’re playing the exact same thing at the exact same time. When playing together, your bodies naturally sync, all the way down to your heartbeats (an article about that is here). This is a good idea for when you’re repeatedly missing a note or a rhythm.
I use this more with piano students than with flutes. If they’re working on a recital piece, need help with rhythm or correct notes, I play the exact same thing right along with them a couple octaves higher on the piano. The issue goes away by the second or third time we repeat that section, like magic.
You want to learn good tone quickly.
This section is for flute alone. Duets work the best for transferring tone. Your tone quality and color should naturally reach towards each other (more on that here).
I’ve seen this work instantly with my students. I’ll play the flute with a new student who still has a beginner tone, and the student’s tone will instantly become the same as mine. Afterwards, the student’s tone will be better than before, but it won’t be the same as my tone.
You want to learn good technique quickly.
The better player sits/stands up straight, so do you. The better player holds their hands in a different way, so do you. You don’t even think about it, you just automatically do it.
Another aspect of this point is that you take on stylistic things that the other player is doing, such as the way they handle their large intervals and their phrasing.
I sing in a church choir. I’m only choir-trained, but ever since I graduated college, I’ve always sat by the best singer in my section. Just by singing next to her, I learned how to hit the high notes without closing my throat, how to choose correct diction for the situation, and how to nail the tough intervals without trying.
You need to build your confidence.
The confidence of the better player will transfer to you. You will feel the other player exude confidence and your body will pick up on those vibes and take them on. It will only be bit-by-bit. You may not feel it the first few times, but it will come.
The exception to this is when you feel like the better player is perfect and you are the only one who messes up, ever. This is not true, by the way. Everyone messes up, even the pros. Please recognize that this way of thinking is a fallacy and allow the better player to transfer some confidence towards you.
Practice Motivation
Practicing together is a lot of fun. It helps the non-practicer associate practicing with fun. It also forces them to practice.
Here are some examples that I’ve seen over the years.
Sometimes I’ll play with students who aren’t practicing to help them get ready for a contest. This is usually a last-ditch effort, and I make sure that the student knows that this shouldn’t be relied upon.
I know a couple of moms who practice with their kids to get them to practice. They play the exact same thing an octave up or down on the piano or on a different instrument, depending on where their talents lie.
I’ve seen section leaders offer to practice together with that one person who isn’t practicing or their style isn’t meshing with everyone else. This only happens with the really good section leaders or with adults. This last example leads us to…
Ettiquite
Be careful in offering to practice together to help the other person. If it’s done in the wrong way, you’ll easily offend the other person.
If you ask with the attitude of, “Let’s have fun!!!” that will work really well. This works best if you’re just proposing to goof off (and sneakily work on tone).
If you’re in rehearsal, a good way to ask is, “We’re not syncing on this part. Would you mind staying after rehearsal so we can get on the same page?”
If you ask with an attitude of, “You need help with this,” that will only work well if you’re a parent or the teacher. If you’re a peer, you’re asking for trouble.
If you’re the one who wants the help, all you have to do is ask. I’ve never heard of anyone denying someone this kind of help. The other person will be honored that you asked them. They’ll also be excited because it will be fun.
Conclusion
If you decide to implement this in your practice, I know it will work just as well for you as it has for me and my students. I hope this article also gives you the courage to ask for the help that you need.
How about you? Have you seen the magic of this technique in action?
I never forgot how to read music, but every year I have a few students who do. This is what I do to bring them back.
Okay, I never forgot how to read music, but every year I have a few students who do. It happens pretty often, just like 1st graders forget how to read words over the summer.
What Not To Do
Don’t write the notes into your music. You’ll pay more attention to the letters than you do to the notes, and you won’t re-learn the information. You also won’t notice which octave in which to play the notes.
A Grand Staff
Have a grand staff sitting next to your music while you practice. I really like this free one. It may be frustrating to look up the note you can’t remember every time, but this is how you learn. After awhile, you won’t have to look up the notes anymore.
Note Naming Worksheets
These are grueling, but they work. My favorites are these ones. They’re no-nonsense and they’re free.
Anchor Notes
What works well with anchor notes is that once you get those, you can use your intervals to get you around while you gain your fluency..
The Treble (G) Clef circles around the G. The two dots on the Bass (F) Clef are on either side of the F. Middle C is another easily identified note.
When my students are reviewing scales, I use the popcorn method, described here. If a student is struggling with note names, the student must name the note on the flashcard before they play the scale, chord, cadence, or arpeggio. If the flashcard shows a C or a G and the student gets the name of the note wrong, I draw again.
The students want to get a C or a G because in the 5-finger pattern, those are the only two without flats and sharps. This drives them to learn the C’s and the G’s on both staves. That’s a lot of anchor notes.
Flashcards
When I use flashcards with a student, I set the timer for a minute and have them say the name of the note and play it. This helps them understand which octave to put the note into on the keyboard.
I don’t care whether they say the name or play the note first. Usually they’ll name it first then play it, but it shows that they’re becoming more fluent when they play it first, then say it.
Fluency
The eventual goal is to get to fluency. In true fluency, you’re not even thinking note names. The goal is that you look at the note on the page and your finger automatically goes to the note. The name of the note is an afterthought. That is what it feels like to be fluent in the language of music.
Conclusion
I usually use all of these tactics at the same time, but sometimes I only do one or two of them because I can tell the student didn’t forget as much as they think. It’s a tough road, but it works. I usually talk to the students and say what the steps will be and tell them it’s going to be tough, but they can do it. They are usually more than willing to relearn how to read the music.
