Dealing with frustration during practice is a huge part of having a good practice technique. Who hasn’t given an angry stomp or jumped up and down while growling because you just can’t get that tough lick? How many times have you banged your fist on the piano because your fingers won’t do what you’re telling them to do?
The point is, how do you get past the frustration without giving up? Here is step-by-step what I do.
Step 1: Display Your Frustration
If you’re not alone in the room, skip to step 2.
If you are alone, don’t be afraid to show your frustration. You’re angry with your body, the music, the composer, and yourself. Go ahead and yell. Scream. Growl. Throw a mini-tantrum. This step shouldn’t take longer than one minute, ideally it should be about 20 seconds.
Step 2: Breathe
I usually take a one or two very deep breaths after my 20-second mini-tantrum. This gets oxygen pumping into my brain so that I can work on a solution.
Step 3: Puzzle Mode
If you think of the situation as a puzzle, you will automatically engage the part of your brain that solves problems. What is the source of the problem that you’re encountering? Fingers? Embouchure? Rhythm?
When you’ve figured out the source, you can decide on a good practice technique. I have a bunch of articles describing different practice techniques in this section of my blog if you’re blanking on which one to use.
Figure out two or three different practice techniques to do, starting with the most likely, just in case the first one doesn’t work.
Step 4: Use your Plan of Attack
Go ahead and use the practice technique(s) that you chose. If you need to take another mini-tantrum break, go ahead and do it, but you’re not going to let this problem have the better of you.
Side Note for Gifted Children
Gifted kids tend to have the hardest time of all with frustration during practice. They don’t understand how to handle themselves when they can’t get something right the first time. They’re used to everything coming easy, without effort. Sometimes they don’t even realize they’ve learned something in school because they learn it so quickly.
Many gifted kids don’t encounter a problem they can’t solve or something they can’t easily learn until they’re an adult and then they don’t know how to handle it. This process will help them learn how to logically get them through problems they can’t instantly solve rather than get frustrated and walk away.
This is why learning a musical instrument is especially important for them. They need to learn how to learn. They also need to learn how to solve hard problems.
On top of everything, gifted kids’ emotions have a tendency to run higher, which causes the frustration to instensify. That can be a recipe for disaster, unless you have a process to work through it.
Conclusion
This is my process of how I work through my frustration when I’m practicing on piano or flute. If you have a different process, feel free to share!