Tag: practicing scales

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.

The “Divide and Conquer” Practice Technique

This is a practice technique that can and should be done from day one of starting a new repertoire piece. It’s simple, it makes you better, and you may realize that you’ve accidentally done it before.

The only time you might not want to do this practice technique is if you’re in the process of learning all your scales. If you have time to do this in addition to learning your scales, go for it.

What You’ll Need:

You’ll need a metronome, a good scale book, and etudes (optional). I can’t make a good recommendation for a piano scale book, but Pares Scales (affiliate link) would be a good place to start on the flute.

If you don’t have a metronome, there are a ton of good, free metronome apps that you can use on a phone or tablet. If you need a real one because you want to reduce screen time, I really like this Matrix one (not an affiliate link). It’s loud enough for me to hear with earplugs and over the piccolo.

Analyze Your Piece

First you have to ask yourself a couple questions:

  1. What key(s) is my piece in?
  2. Does the piece transfer into a different key for awhile using accidentals?
  3. Double-check. Is it Major, minor, both, or modal?

Scales

When warming up, play in the key(s) of your piece all scales, arpeggios, chords, and thirds with a metronome.  Keep increasing the speed of the metronome over the course of the weeks/months that you’re learning the repertoire.

For variety, use the various scale exercises in your scale book. They’re designed to even out your fingers. They’re also designed to practice the common trouble spots that you might encounter in the music.

Etudes (optional)

An optional part of this is to find etudes that are in the same key(s) as your new repertoire piece. Play a new one each week.

Etudes weave into a melody a problem-pattern that is common in your instrument. If you practice etudes that are in the same key as your repertoire piece, the problem-patterns that the etudes bring up are more likely to be the problems you’ll encounter in your repertoire piece.

These are the reasons I can think of that etudes are optional for this practice technique. I’m sure there are more.

  1. You’re going through a lesson book and you need to go through those etudes in the order given (lesson books are etude books).
  2. You have a goal of going through certain etudes. It feels good to say you’ve played all of a certain composer’s etudes, and I’m not one to get in the way of your goals.
  3. It’s hard to find etudes based on key signature, and you don’t have the time or resources to scour etude books for hours on end.

This technique can and should be used in conjunction with all the other practice techniques.  It helps you recognize parts of the song that may look hard at first, but then you realize it’s just a scale.  It also helps you keep your fingers even.

4 Reasons to do Scales Before Playing

Maybe they’re boring, but scales make the rest of the music more fun. It always helps to know the reason behind doing the boring thing so you can get to the fun stuff faster.

When I say scales, I mean the whole shebang – scales, chords, arpeggios, cadences, etc. Everything that you would find in a good scale book.

Why do we do them? What is their purpose? Can we skip them when we’re in a hurry?

Scales may be boring to some people, but I’ve noticed that the boring stuff is easier to do when I know the purpose behind it. There are more, technical, reasons behind it, but these are the philosophical reasons.

1. They make your music easier.

When you’re playing through the music and come across a fast passage, 9 out of 10 times, it’s just a scale or an arpeggio.

You can look at that tough passage and say, “Oh, that’s just a scale!” and play it like a champ.

2. It helps you get into the key signature.

6 flats. Oof.

Why can’t it be 7? It’s easier to remember.

Why can’t it be 5? It makes more sense.

Practicing the Gb Major scale/cadence/chords/arpeggios helps you get into the 6 flat monstrosity of a key signature. Do the relative minor, too, while you’re at it.

3. It helps your brain and your fingers talk to each other better.

Ever have one of those days when your fingers seem to get tangled on each other or won’t move the way you want? The scales help your fingers work smoother and better together.

4. It warms up the muscles in your hands.

You know how in sports, your muscles work better and you’re less likely to get injured if you do a proper warm-up? Scales work the same way. They prevent injury by bringing the blood to the area so the fingers work better.

Conclusion

After reading all these reasons to do scales, would you ever want to skip them? Maybe they’re boring, but scales make the rest of the music more fun. It always helps to know the reason behind doing the boring thing so you can get to the fun stuff faster.