Tag: Practice Motivation

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.

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. 🙂

A Rushed Practice Session

The rushed practice session is a useful tool. It’s for when you have a limited amount of time to practice on a certain day. It can also be used for when you need to devote more time to your repertoire that day. It shouldn’t be used all the time, but can be used until a crisis is over.

This is the last in the series of the three kinds of practice sessions I do – regular, super fun, and rushed.

How the Rushed Practice Session is Set Up

The rushed practice session is pretty simple. It’s a five-minute warm-up followed by the things that you need to learn.

On the other hand, there are different things you can do based on your situation to help things along

Not Enough Time in the Day

When you have over-scheduled yourself and there’s not enough time in the day, just run through everything once. Don’t stress about it, just run through it. It’s the slow way around, but it works. Usually when you do this, whatever you’re working on usually includes a real warm-up. Therefore, you can skip the 5-minute warm-up.

This article will give you some more ideas on how to find more practice time in your day.

Crisis-Learning Repertoire

When you need to use your normally scheduled practice time to concentrate on repertoire, the rushed practice session is the ticket. This, in addition to the rushed practice sesion, also helps.

Too Much Repertoire

Sometimes you get bogged down with too much on your plate – a ton of gigs, recitals, competitions, etc. If you do a regular pracitice session, you might spend a longer time practicing than you should. What that means is that if you’re used to practicing for an hour and you have an hours’ worth of repertoire to practice, you should do the rushed practice session at least once a week. You don’t want to overwork your muscles and tendons.

Here are some more ideas for how to deal with that problem.

Lack of Motivation

Let’s say you’re forcing yourself to practice. This is one way to get yourself to do it. You promise yourself that it’ll be quick, so you just do a rushed practice session.

Here are some other ideas for how to help with motivation. Towards the end of this article, I talked about how to prevent a lack of motivation.

Conclusion

The rushed practice session is a great tool. It shouldn’t be overused, but it’s an option for when you find yourself in a bind.

Are there other situations where you find yourself needing to use this tool?

Practice vs. Play

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?

How to Reduce Homework Time by Half

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).

  1. Play something that’s fun, inspiring, or emotionally cleansing.
  2. Do your homework for 20 minutes, with a timer.
  3. Practice for at least 5 minutes. Usually one item. Scales don’t take long, so it might be scales and something else.
  4. Do homework for 20 minutes, with a timer.
  5. 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.

Practicing Music Via Osmosis

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.

  1. You just can’t “get” a section of music.
  2. You want to learn good tone quickly.
  3. You want to learn good technique quickly.
  4. You need to build your confidence.
  5. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 Don’t Wanna Practice!

How many times have you heard this phrase? How many times have you said this phrase? I know I’m supposed to practice, but I don’t want to. Here are some tactics to get over that hump.

How many times have you heard this phrase? How many times have you said this phrase? I know I’m supposed to practice, but I don’t want to. Here are some tactics to get over that hump.

My big jar of big candy on my piano. The metronome is in the background.

Prevention

First of all, let’s talk about prevention. While everyone gets in a practicing funk sometimes, it’s best to prevent the lack of motivation if at all possible. The way to prevent this is to always end your practice with a song that you know and enjoy. You’re ending your practice on a good note, which sends, “Practicing is fun!” signals to your brain.

The Big Piece of Candy

This is for when you know you will be fine with practicing once you start, it’s just starting that’s the problem. Have some big pieces of candy (jawbreakers, ring pops, etc) next to your practicing area. When you’re done practicing, you get to have a piece of candy.

Little Pieces of Candy

This is for when you are having a hard time getting yourself to practice the right things. You line up M&Ms, Skittles, or whatever you love, and it’s one candy for each item. If you want to practice a certain piece of music twice, you put up two pieces of candy. Eat them as you go.

If you’re playing a wind instrument, make sure to swish your mouth out with water after eating each piece of candy. This method is from Lara Moldenhauer.

Seeing the candy lined up is powerful. If you don’t want to eat while you’re playing, you can put them in a cup and eat them afterwards.

The Two Stand Method

This is for when you’ve lost all the joy of practice. Practice has become a chore. Create two stacks of music – one that you’re supposed to play, and the other that is music that you already know. Alternate between the two stacks of music. It will bring back the joy of playing and remind you of how far you’ve come. This method is from Jennifer Cluff.

The Bossy Friend/Parent

This one is very simple, but it works. It’s for when you’re having a hard time starting, but you know you’ll be fine once you start. Call your bossiest friend or parent and have them order you to practice. They’ll enjoy it and it’ll get you going.

The Alarm

This is for the forgetful people (Guilty!). Set an alarm for a certain time of day to remind yourself to practice. It will become automatic eventually, and this way you’re fitting it into your schedule.

Schedule a Gig

Scheduling a performance will be enough of a motivating factor to get you into the practice room. It will create an intrinsic motivation (motivation from inside of you) because you don’t want to look like a fool for not practicing.

Need ideas for creating a performance?

  1. Ask to play for church.
  2. Sign up for a competition.
  3. Sign up for a performance at a museum at Christmas.
  4. Join a new ensemble.
  5. Find a production for which you need to try out.
  6. Create a recital of your music.

How about you? Are there any tricks that you do to make yourself practice?