Winter Break – Did You Practice?

In the USA, schools and studios alike are just coming off of Winter Break. Some students took the opportunity to practice every day. Some didn’t touch their instruments. Let’s take a look at this phenomenon a little more closely

The Students who Practiced

These are students who practiced at least three times per week. There are several reasons students practice over winter break.

1. Intrinsic Motivation – this is the goal. This means the students practice because they enjoy playing.
2. Parents – the parents make their children practice. This is a really good reason, too. It will eventually turn into the intrinsic motivation. This was my motivation when I was growing up.
3. Boredom – there’s nothing going on, so I might as well practice. This is a really good one, too. It’s the stage before Intrinsic Motivation. This was also one of my motivations when I was a student living in the country.
4. Habit – this is why the pros practice. They always practice at this time, so it’s habit.

The Students who Practiced a Little

These are students who practiced five times or less in the past two weeks. Their reasons are the same as those above, but their motivation wasn’t as high.

Their practice might have a little more to do with their parents, but that’s just fine. It shows their parents are invested in their musical education.

The Students Who Didn’t Practice

This category accounts for about 25% of my studio. There are three reasons for no practice over Winter Break:

1. The student was on vacation with no access to a musical instrument.
2. The break was over scheduled – Christmas is a time of running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
3. The student didn’t want to practice.

The first two reasons are out of the student’s control. The last reason is the heart of the matter and the most common.

It’s Okay to Take a Break from your Instrument

Everyone gets burned out sometimes. That’s when we need to walk away for a week or two. When you come back, you’ll remember how much you loved it and will be able to play with a zest you forgot you had.

Notice I said a week or two, not longer. As with any discipline, you need to schedule a time to get back into that discipline. Practicing is definitely a discipline.

Getting back into the discipline of practicing will be hard for the first few weeks. You might want to take a look at some of these tactics to help you get back into the swing of things.

Prevent Burn-Out

Make sure you schedule time to enjoy life. I don’t mean video games or television, I mean go outside of your house.

1. Go for a run or a bike ride.
2. Climb a tree.
3. Go to the art museum.
4. Garden.
5. Get together with friends.
6. See a concert.

I’m sure there are plenty of better lists out there, but this is a start. Another thing I do is go online and do a search for “free things to do in [your city here]. ”

Music Is Art

We can’t produce art if we are only practicing all day. We need to go out and enjoy life. Then we use a studio break to take a break, we do just that. Experiencing life gives you the maturity to play better – more emotion, more tone colors, more artistic expression.

Conclusion

If you practiced during Winter Break, I’m proud of you.

If you didn’t practice over winter break, I hope you were able to fill your bucket so you can come back to your instrument and create art.