Every musician has heard the stock set of practice
suggestions. You’ve probably heard them enough that they are starting to get
really old. And as I am putting in more time in the practice room in
preparation for my senior recital, I am finding that I need some more
strategies for making the practice room productive and avoiding practice room
burnout. (Seriously, you don't want this-->
to be you at the end of your practice session!)
Here are the best ideas I have come to this semester for
practice room success.
1. Get out of the practice room
Really, go practice anywhere else you can think of. Most
university music buildings have at least one other rehearsal space that you can
probably get permission to use for half an hour. Hearing yourself in a
different environment can show you a lot of things you maybe weren’t hearing
before. It can also reenergize your mind and focus. But if you really need out,
then literally get out. When was the last time you played a gorgeous
solo underneath a tree? Or in a rose garden? There are also probably some
beautiful local churches around and the office staff are probably more than
happy to let you serenade them from inside their fantastic acoustic spaces.
2. Introduce some noise
White noise, that is. If you are anything like me, there is
nothing worse than trying to tap out a complicated polyrhythm or hemiola when
the (talented and lovely!) soprano in the next room is belting out an aria at
the top of her lungs. If a diagnosis of ADHD could be localized just to the
practice room, that would describe me perfectly.
The best solution I have found to help me focus is to take
my phone and turn on my white noise app. My favorite is the gentle rain sound.
For whatever reason, having a more immediate but non-intrusive, non-musical
sound next to me helps me block out all the sounds coming from the rest of the
music building and channel my focus toward my practice goals.
3. Set an alarm and then forget about time entirely
When you are having to squeeze shorter practice sessions in
between classes, or sessions, or meetings, or work, it can be hard to stop
thinking about “When do I need to pack up and leave? How much time do I have
left?” My solution: As soon as I walk into the practice room, I set an alarm
for when I need to stop playing and start packing up. Then, I put the concept
of a deadline or time limit out of my mind completely. This allows me to get to
a place of deep focus with the music, trusting that I’m not going to be late
for my next scheduled activity because I know the alarm will jolt me back into
my day when it’s time to go.
4. Put your goal physically where you can see it
We have all been told that our most efficient practice will
happen when we go into the practice room with a goal in mind. Some days,
though, my thoughts are disorganized enough that having the goal only in my
mind just won’t cut it. I find it extremely helpful to actually write down my
goals or the spots in my music that need my attention the most and put them
physically in front of my face. Index cards work very well for this. I like to
stick them to the mirror in the practice room, and then, when I am having a
hard time letting go of the rest of my to-do list, everything that I intended
to accomplish in the practice room is staring me in the eyes and there is no
avoiding it.
5. Use a decibel meter to gauge your dynamic contrast
I recently found a great sound meter app for my phone. The
best thing about it is I can have it display a graph of sound levels over time
in seconds. When I put this across the practice room from me and play a phrase,
the shape on the graph should match the shape of the dynamics written in the
music. If the peaks and valleys on my decibel graph are too flat, then I know I
need to exaggerate my dynamic contrast even more to have the shape be apparent
to a listener. The decibel meter is to dynamics as a metronome is to rhythmic
accuracy. It forces you to be right on.
Those are my most recent and innovative practice room
discoveries. Now I want to know, what helps you get the most out of your
practice time?
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