When you actually sit down to practice, you need to make every moment count. If you just sit down and start playing without a goal in mind, you're just performing, and chances are, it's a little rough. Here are a couple of strategies I like to use for my own daily practicing (side note: I've been practicing for longer than most of you have been born, and these haven't failed me yet.):
1. Check your assignment sheets and refresh your memory of the goals we set together at your lesson. Now you have a specific focus.
2. Go slow and use your metronome.
3. On the especially hard measures, dissect them note by note, musical element by musical element. Sometimes it's the best to just start with those hard, awesome measures while implementing some of the practice strategies that are listed on the bottom of your assignment sheets.
4. When your brain gets tired, stop. I've found that if I take even a five-minute break to go and get a drink, and then come back to my song, it's so much better. Sometimes a fresh brain is all it takes to master a hard section.
5. PUT YOUR PHONE ON SILENT!! Distractions are one of the best practice killers! If you're constantly checking your messages, I promise, you're barely getting anything done and you're essentially just wasting your time. Plus, your brain is not engaged or focused on your music, so again, you're pretty much just wasting your time.
What have you done to help you with practicing? Share your ideas in the comments!
KEEP PRACTICING, MY PIANO-PLAYING CHINCHILLAS!
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