My Normal Practice Routine

This is about my normal practice routine. I have three basic ways to practice. Normal, Extra Fun, and Rushed. The other two ways will come out later, but I think it’s important to talk about the normal day because that’s what increases your level of ability.

Here’s my basic outline.

1. Warm-ups
a. Tone (flute only)
b. Scales/Chords/Cadences/Arpeggios
c. Technique

2. Meat and Potatoes
a. Etudes (lesson books would count here)
b. Sight Reading

3. Repertoire
a. The piece(s) I’m working on
b. One piece I’ve already learned (keeps things fun).

Here’s Why in a Story

Imagine a medieval army. There are kings, knights, dukes, horses, and catapults.

The tone is the swords because they make you fight better.

The scales, etc, are your shields because they make hard music easy.

The technique is the cavalry (horses) because it attacks the hard music at a different angle.

The lesson book/etudes are the people of your army because that is your basic playing level.

The sight reading is your armor because it keeps your army feeling safe, so your army moves forward faster.

The repertoire pieces are your catapults because they knock down the walls in front of you so it’s easier to move faster through your musical journey.

Amount of Time

I just do one or two items per category, so I don’t have a goal for the amount of time that I practice, I have goals of what I want to cover. The farther along you are in your musical journey, the longer you will practice each day.

While these aren’t hard and fast guidelines, here are some things to expect:

1. First 6 months – 15 minutes per day.
2. 6 months to Early Intermediate – 30 minutes per day.
3. Early Intermediate to Late Intermediate – 45 minutes per day.
4. Late Intermediate to Advanced – an hour or more.
5. College – 2 hours
6. Pro – up to 5 hours.

Notice that there is some overlap? Notice that as you progress, the amount of time gets fuzzier and fuzzier? That’s because it depends upon your repertoire choices, any extra things you want to work on, etc. For example, if you play flute and you want to learn vibrato, you would do vibrato exercises in attition to the tone exercises.

Timing Within Practice Sessions

There is a general rule that if you’re practicing more than half an hour, you need to take practicing in 20 minute chunks. Since I usually practice well over that mark, I set the timer for 20 minutes. When the timer goes off, I take a few minutes to stretch, drink some water, and massage my forearms. Then I set the timer again for 20 minutes and continue my practice.

There are two main reasons for the 20-minute mark. The first reason is that when you work on something for longer than 20 minutes, your brain starts working in loops. This keeps your brain working at an optimal level.

The second reason to keep it at 20-minute chunks is to make sure that you’re not overworking your muscles or accidentally creating tension. It helps prevent injury. This is one reason why I stretch between my 20-minutes sessions.

I hope this helps someone who is looking for a new routine or doesn’t have a routine. How about you? What is your practice routine?